1.0 Introduction
The number of cellular users has grown exponentially over the last decade. This growth will continue as service providers increase the range of quality of services they offer. To meet the demand and provide high quality service, stakeholders in the cellular industry are building the necessary infrastructures. However, the complexity of cellular networks requires constant surveillance, analysis of behavioral patterns in a system and turning of equipment parameters. The issue of providing high quality services is particularly acute in regions where the demand for real-time and continuous services of cellular data is mission critical.
At the core of all the data transmission within cellular networks are base stations. These are physically installed units pre-configured hardware and software. Each base station represents a cell site (or cell) that administers all the communication processes and parameters within a specific geographical region. Cell sites are responsible for handling calls on different channels and communicating with a central unit to assist the handing of calls from one cell to another as a user travels through the system. At the most elementary level, a cell is a hexagonally shaped region with a base station at its center.
Despite the existence of well formulated algorithms that manage all data communication within cellular networks, configuring and fine-tuning a cellular network still remains an area requiring a high level of data analysis.
Performance engineers need to find an optimum solution for monitoring conflicting characteristics such as coverage area, signal strength, number of blocked and lost calls, and voice quality. A mobile network is an entire network moving as a unit, which dynamically changes its point of attachment to the internet and its reachability in the topology. A mobile network is connected to the global internet via one or more mobile routers (MRS). With a current base network mobility (NEMO) support, all the communications to and from a node in a mobile network must go through the bi-directional tunnel established between the mobile router and its home agent when the mobile network is away from the home.
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