Integrated Interpolation and Matrix Completion for Radio Map Estimation: A Convex Optimization Approach

Radio map estimation (RME) is crucial for effective planning and optimization of wireless networks. Traditional approaches such as interpolation excel at capturing local smoothness in densely populated data but struggle with sparse or irregular data. Conversely, matrix completion (MC) approaches utilize global structures but require huge number of samples and may produce non-smooth estimates. To integrate these strengths, we propose a convex optimization approach for RME (IIMC-RME) that merges interpolation with MC. This approach formulates the RME task as a low-rank MC problem constrained by interpolated results. Additionally, we have developed a convergent algorithm utilizing the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) to efficiently solve the IIMC-RME problem. Experimental evaluations on both synthetic and real-world datasets have shown that IIMC-RME surpasses existing approaches, thereby achieving superior accuracy in RME.