Semantic Mobile Base Station Placement

TL;DR

This paper introduces a semantic-aware base station placement method using aerial imagery, 3D modeling, and multi-objective optimization to improve coverage in complex terrains.

Contribution

It presents a novel placement pipeline combining semantic segmentation, 3D modeling, and genetic algorithms for better base station deployment in challenging environments.

Findings

Irregular BS placement enhances coverage in high elevation and dense building areas.

The proposed method outperforms traditional placement strategies in SINR and throughput.

Semantic and 3D modeling improve the accuracy of optimal base station locations.

Abstract

Location of Base Stations (BS) in mobile networks plays an important role in coverage and received signal strength. As Internet ofThings (IoT), autonomous vehicles and smart cities evolve, wireless net-work coverage will have an important role in ensuring seamless connectivity. Due to use of higher carrier frequencies, blockages cause communication to primarily be Line of Sight (LoS), increasing the importance of base station placement. In this paper, we propose a novel placement pipeline in which we perform semantic segmentation of aerial drone imagery using DeepLabv3+ and create its 2.5D model with the help ofDigital Surface Model (DSM). This is used along with Vienna simulator for finding the best location for deploying base stations by formulating the problem as a multi-objective function and solving it using Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The case with and without prior deployed base station is considered. We evaluate the basestation deployment based on Signal to Interference Noise Ratio (SINR)coverage probability and user down-link throughput. This is followed by comparison with other base station placement methods and the bene-fits offered by our approach. Our work is novel as it considers scenarios where there is high ground elevation and building density variation, and shows that irregular BS placement improves coverage.