{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,14]],"date-time":"2026-01-14T14:39:46Z","timestamp":1768401586675,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]],"date-time":"2020-04-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1588032000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Centro2020, Portugal2020, European Union","award":["023304"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["023304"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>With the increasing number of mobile subscribers worldwide, there is a need for fast and reliable algorithms for planning\/optimization of mobile networks, especially because, in order to maintain a network\u2019s quality of service, an operator might need to deploy more equipment. This paper presents a quick and reliable way to automatically plan a set of frequencies in a cellular network, using both cloud technologies and linear programming. We evaluate our pattern in a realistic scenario of a Global System for Mobile communications protocol (GSM) network and compare the results to another already implemented commercial tool. Results show that even though network quality was similar, our algorithm was twelve times faster and used four times less memory. It was also able to frequency plan seventy cells simultaneously in less than three minutes. This mechanism was successfully integrated in the professional tool Metric, and is currently being used for cellular planning. Its extension for application to 3\/4\/5G networks is under study.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app10093072","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]],"date-time":"2020-04-28T09:57:21Z","timestamp":1588067841000},"page":"3072","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["A Novel Way to Automatically Plan Cellular Networks Supported by Linear Programming and Cloud Computing"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1212-6597","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andr\u00e9","family":"Godinho","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ISCTE-IUL\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1356-9349","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ISCTE-IUL\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Gabriela","family":"Soares","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Multivision\u2014Consultoria, Rua Soeiro Pereira Gomes, Lote N\u00ba1, 3\u00baC, 1600-196 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9499-0572","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paulo","family":"Pina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ISCTE-IUL\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Pedro","family":"Sebasti\u00e3o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ISCTE-IUL\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4246-3957","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Am\u00e9rico","family":"Correia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ISCTE-IUL\u2014Instituto Universit\u00e1rio de Lisboa, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Telecomunica\u00e7\u00f5es, Av. das For\u00e7as Armadas 376, 1600-077 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0235-2531","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucio S.","family":"Ferreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Multivision\u2014Consultoria, Rua Soeiro Pereira Gomes, Lote N\u00ba1, 3\u00baC, 1600-196 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"INESC-ID\/COPELABS-Universidade Lus\u00f3fona, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Ericsson (2019). Ericsson Mobility Report November 2019, Ericsson. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mishra, A.R. (2007). Advanced Cellular Network Planning and Optimisation: 2G\/2.5G\/3G\u2014Evolution to 4G, John Wiley.","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470057629"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Huurdeman, A.A. (2003). The Worldwide History of Telecommunications, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.","DOI":"10.1002\/0471722243"},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Multivision (2019). Metric Software-as-a-Service, Multivision."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Godinho, A., Fernandes, D., Clemente, D., Soares, G., Sebasti\u00e3o, P., and Ferreira, L. (2019, January 24\u201327). Cloud-based Cellular Network Planning System: Proof-of-Concept Implementation for GSM in AWS. Proceedings of the 22nd International Symposium on Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications, Lisbon, Portugal.","DOI":"10.1109\/WPMC48795.2019.9096082"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Freeman, R.L. (2005). Fundamentals of Telecommunications, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Su, C., Lan, L., Yu, C., Gou, X., and Zhang, X. (2010, January 17\u201318). A new method of frequency planning for new cells in GSM. Proceedings of the 2010 2nd Conference on Environmental Science and Information Application Technology, ESIAT 2010, Wuhan, China."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1016\/j.protcy.2013.12.525","article-title":"Advantages and Challenges of Adopting Cloud Computing from an Enterprise Perspective","volume":"12","author":"Avram","year":"2014","journal-title":"Procedia Technol."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ghani, A., Badshah, A., Shamshirband, S., Aceto, G., and Pescape, A. (2020). Performance-based Service LevelAgreement in Cloud Computing to OptimizePenalties and Revenue. IET Commun.","DOI":"10.1049\/iet-com.2019.0855"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Amazon (2019). Amazon Web Services, Amazon."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mell, P.M., and Grance, T. (2011). The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing. Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology. Technical Report.","DOI":"10.6028\/NIST.SP.800-145"},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Uenlue, M. (2018). Amazon Business Model: Amazon Web Services, Innovation Tactics."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"Roberts, M. (2020, April 04). Serverless Architectures. Martinfowler.Com. Available online: https:\/\/martinfowler.com\/articles\/serverless.html."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"AWS (2018). AWS Lambda\u2014Serverless Compute\u2014Amazon Web Services, AWS."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Altair (2020, April 04). WinProp Software for Wave Propagation and Radio Planning. Available online: https:\/\/altairhyperworks.com\/product\/Feko\/WinProp-Propagation-Modeling."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Forsk (2020). Atoll Radio Planning Software Overview, Forsk."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Infovista (2013). Mentum Planet 5.7 Streamlines Network Planning, Provides Immediate Gains for Mobile Operators, Infovista."},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Morton, G.M. (1966). A Computer Oriented Geodetic Data Base and A New Technique in File Sequencing, IBM Ltd. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Gilbert, J.R., Leiserson, C.E., and Street, C. (2009, January 11\u201313). Parallel Sparse Matrix-Vector and Matrix-Transpose-Vector Multiplication Using Compressed Sparse Blocks Categories and Subject Descriptors. Proceedings of the Twenty-First Annual Symposium on PARALLELISM in Algorithms and Architectures, Calgary, AB, Canada."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"805","DOI":"10.1002\/cpe.630","article-title":"A framework for high-performance matrix multiplication based on hierarchical abstractions, algorithms and optimized low-level kernels","volume":"14","author":"Valsalam","year":"2002","journal-title":"Concurr. Comput. Pract. Exp."},{"key":"ref_21","first-page":"188","article-title":"Parallel construction of quadtrees and quality triangulations","volume":"709","author":"Bern","year":"1993","journal-title":"Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. Incl. Subser. Lect. Notes Artif. Intell. Lect. Notes Bioinform."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Niemeyer, G. (2019, June 21). Geohash| Labix Blog. Available online: https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20080305223755\/http:\/\/blog.labix.org:80\/#post-85."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"MongoDB (2019). MongoDB Manual\u20142d Index Internals, MongoDB."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Hellebrandt, M., Lambrecht, F., Mathar, R., Niessen, T., and Starke, R. (1999, January 19\u201322). Frequency allocation and linear programming. Proceedings of the IEEE VTS 50th Vehicular Technology Conference, VTC 1999-Fall, Amsterdam, The Netherlands."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gearhart, J.L., Adair, K.L., Detry, R.J., Durfee, J.D., Katherine, A., and Martin, N. (2013). Comparison of Open-Source Programming Solvers Linear, Sandia National Laboratories. Technical Report.","DOI":"10.2172\/1104761"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Institut, F., and Statistik, U. (2012). Analysis of Commercial and Free and Open Source Solvers for Linear Optimization Problems, Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie. Technical Report 1."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Tempusenergy (2020, January 21). GitHub\u2014Tempusenergy\/glpk-Lambda-layer: Use an LP Solver in Your AWS Lambda Functions. Available online: https:\/\/github.com\/tempusenergy\/glpk-lambda-layer."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fernandes, D., Ferreira, L.S., Nozari, M., Sebastiao, P., Cercas, F., and Dinis, R. (2018, January 9\u201312). Combining Drive Tests and Automatically Tuned Propagation Models in the Construction of Path Loss Grids. Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), Bologna, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/PIMRC.2018.8580708"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Forsk (1997). Atoll 3.3.0 Technical Reference Guide for Radio Networks, Forsk. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Java (2019). Java | Oracle, Java."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"The Apache Software Foundation (2016). Maven\u2014Welcome to Apache Maven, The Apache Software Foundation."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fernandes, D., Ferreira, S., Soares, G., Sebasti, P., Cercas, F., Dinis, R., Clemente, D., and Cortes, R. (2019, January 22\u201325). Combining Measurements and Propagation Models for Estimation of Coverage in Wireless Networks. Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE 90th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall), Honolulu, HI, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/VTCFall.2019.8891451"},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Makhorin, A.M.A.I. (2019, October 17). GLPK-GNU Project-Free Software Foundation (FSF). Available online: https:\/\/www.gnu.org\/software\/glpk\/."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jain, R., and Yao, P. (2011, January 22\u201325). A parallel approximation algorithm for positive semidefinite programming. Proceedings of the Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS), Palm Springs, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/FOCS.2011.25"}],"container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/10\/9\/3072\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T14:09:21Z","timestamp":1760364561000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/10\/9\/3072"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]]},"references-count":34,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5]]}},"alternative-id":["app10093072"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/app10093072","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-3417"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-3417","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]]}}}