Authors
Dr. Marlene Smith
University of Colorado Denver
Objective
Determine whether wind speed and barometric pressure are related to phone call performance (percentage of dropped or failed calls) and use the resulting model to predict the percentage of bad calls based upon the weather conditions.
Background
What impacts cellular phone call performance? Physical obstructions, such as buildings and mountains, can interfere with radio signal signals. More recent scientific studies suggest that radio waves can also be influenced by the effect that wind has on vegetation. Wind-induced movement of large trees, for example, can create a moving barrier between a radio transmitter and the signal destination. The result is called wind-induced fading, which predicts that higher wind speeds will result in degraded cell phone performance.
Knowing the impact of wind-induced fading has important business implications for Reliable Wireless, a mobile phone company in a Midwestern city in the U.S. If wind-induced fading is impacting the quality of cell phone service to customers, this must be considered when deciding how best to improve service. Although Reliable Wireless has no control over climatic conditions, decisions can be made about things such as data call capacity, number and configuration of base stations, band spectrums, and choice of wireless technologies. Knowledge of the impact of wind-induced fading on call performance should factor into the overall decisions about capital expenditures on equipment and technology.
The Task
What do the data have to say about the impact of wind-induced fading and barometric pressure on cell phone call performance at Reliable Wireless?