Optimized Solutions for Deploying a Militarized 4G/LTE Network With Maximum Coverage and Minimum Interference

This work proposes to solve the maximal covering location problem of the Mobile Operations Coordination Center (CCOp Mv), which aims to support the operational command of the Brazilian Army. This problem consists of selecting, in a limited region and with poor communication infrastructure to the ground troops's operating area, the positions of vehicles equipped with Base Transceiver Station (BTS), the amount needed, and theirs transmission power to be set that maximizes the coverage area and reduce the interference due to the overlap of signals. For this reason, analytical modeling based on the mixed-integer linear problem was proposed that guided two optimization solutions: (i) E-ALLOCATOR - Exact ALLOCATiOn seRvice; and (ii) M-ALLOCATOR - Metaheuristic ALLOCATiOn seRvice. The solutions were evaluated in a scenario that employs CCOp Mv to support a rescue operation based on the tragedy in January 2019 in Brumadinho-MG and compared with a heuristic. The performance evaluation results show evidence of efficiencies in terms of quality and resource savings of the proposed solutions. Furthermore, E-ALLOCATOR has been proven to be suitable for a low workload on the network. At the same time, M-ALLOCATOR is suitable for scenarios with a high workload providing almost optimal solutions within the adequate computational time for all problem instances.

Automated summary

This work proposes a solution to the maximal covering location problem for the Mobile Operations Coordination Center (CCOp Mv) in order to improve operational command support for the Brazilian Army. The proposed analytical modeling and optimization solutions, E-ALLOCATOR and M-ALLOCATOR, demonstrate efficiencies in terms of quality and resource savings. E-ALLOCATOR is suitable for low network workload, while M-ALLOCATOR is suitable for high workload scenarios, providing nearly optimal solutions within adequate computational time.