Abstract
This paper considers self-similarity in data traffic, handover, and frequency reuse to estimate the spectrum requirements of mobile networks. An approximate average cell capacity subject to a delay requirement and self-similar traffic is presented. It is shown that handover traffic can be an additional load. Spectrum requirements are calculated based on carrier demand instead of spectral efficiency, as at least one carrier is necessary to transmit even 1 bit. The cell-split operation is considered under frequency reuse of one. Estimation methods are presented using cell traffic in two cases. First, a procedure is presented that estimates cell traffic from previous networks. Second, cell traffic is assumed to follow probability distributions. Numerical examples demonstrate the impact of self-similarity, handover, and the proportion of cell-split occurrences on the spectrum requirements.