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Applied Mathematics Science Fair Project

Cell Tower Placement and Profit in Kern County

Hard
Cell Tower Placement and Profit in Kern County | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Can math find the best spots to build cell phone towers? This project uses a mathematical model to figure out where towers should go in Kern County. You assign each possible location a value based on population density and highway traffic. Three different models come out of the math. One picks the most profitable spots with fewer towers. Another spreads towers out for the widest coverage. A third balances profit and coverage. You also adjust for population growth to see how the best locations shift over time.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that the optimal arrangement of cell phone towers in Kern County will generate the best service coverage and the most profit.

Method & Materials

You will create a list of nodes that represent possible tower locations, assign each a population density value, establish points that correspond to major highways, determine the total population and length of highway within the range of each tower, assign an optimization value to represent the number of potential customers a tower could support, and allot each highway node a value that represents the average traffic density for that location.
You will need a list of nodes, population density values, points that correspond to major highways, optimization values, and values that represent the average traffic density for each location.

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Results

By using a mathematical model to determine the optimal arrangement of cell phone towers in Kern County, we can generate the best service coverage and the most profit. This model produces networks with relatively few towers positioned in key locations that provide service to the most densely populated areas.

Why do this project?

This science project is interesting and unique because it uses a mathematical model to determine the optimal arrangement of cell phone towers in Kern County.

Also Consider

Experiment variations to consider include recalculating the models with different population density values to represent population growth and using different optimization values to represent the number of potential customers a tower could support.

Full project details

Additional information and source material for this project are available below.
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