Network Planning in Four Dimensions (np4d)

Description

The Network Planning in Four Dimensions (np4d) can quantify the demand-supply relationship for wireless digital connectivity (e.g. 4G or 5G) in Four Dimensions (x, y, z, coordinates + time).

We demonstrate the capability of this software using vehicle traffic flow estimates, and focusing on the demand and supply of data for connected vehicles.

Cellular Network Capacity Margin: The City of Oxford, UK

Setup and configuration

All code for np4d is written in Python and has a number of dependencies. See requirements.txt for a full list.

Using conda

The recommended installation method is to use conda, which handles packages and virtual environments, along with the conda-forge channel which has a host of pre-built libraries and packages.

Create a conda python environment called np4d with gdal:

conda create --name np4d python gdal

Activate it (run each time you switch projects)::

activate np4d

First, install required packages including fiona, shapely, numpy, rtree:

conda install fiona shapely numpy rtree pytest

It helps to deactive and then reactivate the env using:

deactivate

And then:

conda activate np4d

Then for development purposes, run this command once per machine:

python setup.py develop

Or, to install np4d permanently:

python setup.py install

To generate results run:

python scripts/run.py

Contributors

• Ed Oughton (University of Oxford)
• Tom Russell (University of Oxford)