Method and apparatus for determining an interference relationship between cells of a cellular communication system

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for determining an interference relationship between cells of a cellular communication system comprising at least a first cell and a second cell. A method comprises the step of dividing (205) an evaluation interval into a plurality of sub-intervals. For each sub interval, the method proceeds to determine (209) a sub-interval simultaneous occupancy related to the correlation between communication in the first and second cell. The sub-interval simultaneous occupancy is determined from an occupancy of each of the first cell and the second cell. A sub-interval potential interference is then determined (209) in response to the interference characteristics in each sub-interval. An interference relationship is subsequently determined from the sub-interval potential interferences and the sub-interval simultaneous occupancies. The interference relationship provides a measure of the impact of interference between the first and second cell suitable for frequency planning.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.