Method and apparatus for tracking area planning and optimization in a wireless network

A computer-readable storage device storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for determining an optimal assignment in a wireless network, the operations comprising:

• obtaining a list of base stations, a list of tracking areas, historical data on paging traffic and historical data on tracking area update traffic;
• representing the list of base stations in a first set and the list of tracking areas in a second set;
• representing geographical neighbor relations between each pair of base stations in the first set, and representing in a third set a plurality of potential assignment options for each base station of the first set to tracking areas in the second set;
• representing the historical data on paging traffic among the base stations in the first set via a first parameter, and representing the historical data on tracking area update traffic among the tracking areas of the second set via a second parameter;
• and
• determining for each base station in the first set, the optimal assignment of a tracking area in the second set, in accordance with the first and the second parameters, wherein the optimal assignment for a particular base station assigns a tracking area from among the plurality of potential assignment options in the third set.

An apparatus for determining an optimal assignment in a wireless network, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable storage device storing a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• obtaining a list of base stations, a list of tracking areas, historical data on paging traffic and historical data on tracking area update traffic;
• representing the list of base stations in a first set and the list of tracking areas in a second set;
• representing geographical neighbor relations between each pair of base stations in the first set, and representing in a third set a plurality of potential assignment options for each base station of the first set to tracking areas in the second set;
• representing the historical data on paging traffic among the base stations in the first set via a first parameter, and representing the historical data on tracking area update traffic among the tracking areas of the second set via a second parameter;
• and
• determining for each base station in the first set, the optimal assignment of a tracking area in the second set, in accordance with the first and the second parameters, wherein the optimal assignment for a particular base station assigns a tracking area from among the plurality of potential assignment options in the third set.