PREDICTING FIFTH GENERATION (5G) NETWORK COVERAGE USING LEAST-SQUARES OPTIMIZATION METHOD IN URBAN AREAS OF OYO AND OGBOMOSO, NIGERIA

Abstract

Propagation path loss modelling plays an important role in the design of cellular systems. A good number of researchers have worked to investigate and predict suitable propagation models for 5G network in Nigeria, but none of such works have been targeted to cover Oyo and Ogbomoso towns in Oyo state. This research aimed at providing suitable transmission models, to drive the implementation and deployment of 5G technology in these two major towns. To achieve this, four existing models, namely; Ericsson, Egli, Cost-231 and Okumura-Hata were used to investigate the performances of the selected three networks, namely GLO, MTN and AIRTEL in six different locations of the two towns. Drive test was carried out using Test Mobile System (TEMS). The models’ accuracy and suitability were statistically evaluated with Agilent 89600B VSA software. The average RMSE was 53.87 dB for the Ericson model and 29.33 dB for the Okumura model. The higher Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values, exceeding the desirable 6 dB threshold across all tested models, indicates that no single model can effectively predict signal strength across all scenarios. To achieve accurate predictions, Ericsson model and Okumura-Hata model having lowest RMSE in most sites leading to the conclusion that they offer better signal prediction were optimized, for improved performance.