Octagonal-square tessellation model for masting GSM network: A case study of MTN Kumasi-East, Ghana

Masting in GSM network design is one of the most challenging problems in cell planning. The effect of uniform design pattern has been proven geographically to be hexagonal using uniform cell range. In this paper, we present a new uniform greedy semi-regular tessellation model called the octagonal square tessellation model (OSTM) to address the problem of global minimum overlap difference and area. Data from MTN Kumasi-East Ghana was collected and analyzed using the developed model. The original layout for the 0.6 km cell range accounted for an overlap difference of 937.66 m and a total area of 21.41 km2 for 50 GSM mosts whereas the OSTM model accounted for an overlap difference of 1316.95 m with an area of 34.23 km2. This is a 59.87% reduction of the original total area. Our solution is shown to be optimal in overlap difference and area for non-uniform cell range.