An Enhanced Multiview Transformer for Population Density Estimation Using Cellular Mobility Data in Smart City

This paper addresses the problem of predicting population density leveraging cellular station data. As wireless communication devices are commonly used, cellular station data has become integral for estimating population figures and studying their movement, thereby implying significant contributions to urban planning. However, existing research grapples with issues pertinent to preprocessing base station data and the modeling of population prediction. To address this, we propose methodologies for preprocessing cellular station data to eliminate any irregular or redundant data. The preprocessing reveals a distinct cyclical characteristic and high-frequency variation in population shift. Further, we devise a multi-view enhancement model grounded on the Transformer (MVformer), targeting the improvement of the accuracy of extended time-series population predictions. Comparative experiments, conducted on the above-mentioned population dataset using four alternate Transformer-based models, indicate that our proposed MVformer model enhances prediction accuracy by approximately 30% for both univariate and multivariate time-series prediction assignments. The performance of this model in tasks pertaining to population prediction exhibits commendable results.