Load Distribution Aware Soft Frequency Reuse for Inter-Cell Interference Mitigation and Throughput Maximization in LTE Networks

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel load distribution aware soft frequency reuse (LDA-SFR) scheme for inter-cell interference mitigation and performance optimization in next generation wireless networks. Our proposed scheme aims to provide a solution to effectively achieve inter-cell interference mitigation while maintaining high spectrum efficiency to all users in the cell. The proposed scheme consists of two novel algorithms: edge bandwidth reuse and centre bandwidth compensation. Using the edge bandwidth reuse algorithm, cell-edge users can take advantage of uneven traffic load and user distributions within each cell to expand their resource allocations. The center bandwidth compensation algorithm, on the other hand, provides a protection mechanism for cell-center users to avoid exhaustive edge bandwidth extension. Applying LDA-SFR to an LTE network and comparing its performance against that of existing soft frequency reuse (SFR) and adaptive soft frequency reuse (ASFR) schemes indicates that LDA-SFR is superior as it achieves fairness between cell-edge users and cell-center users in terms of average throughput improvement.

Distributed transmission power control method based on soft FFR for cellular downlink

“…Optimal power allocation to the protected and nonprotected bands in SFR should be dependent on the user distribution within a cell. However, most of the investigations on FFR including SFR assume a fixed power allocation [5][6][7]. The studies in [8] and [9] investigate the power allocation methods in SFR assuming inter-BS cooperation.…”

“…Fractional frequency reuse (FFR) methods were proposed that allow users under different channel conditions to enjoy different reuse factors [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The FFR methods basically use a lower reuse factor for cell-edge users, since these users are close to a neighboring base station (BS) and severe inter-cell interference is expected if the same frequency is reused.…”

A dynamic subcarrier exchange scheme for SFR-aided LTE networks

“…However, in the ASFR scheme the maximal bandwidth cannot be shared due to the exploitation of a physical resource block (PRB) reuse avoidance algorithm. To resolve such issues, enhanced schemes [17,18] were proposed to optimize the standard SFR parameters, for instance the power ratio and frequency reuse ratio. Furthermore, the issues related to the design of the so-called cell-specific power masks were also discussed [19].…”

“…From the perspective of exploited resource types, static ICIC techniques are mainly based on spectrum arrangement [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][13][14][15][16][17][18], while dynamic ICIC are typically related to power allocation [20][21][22][23][24]. However, many existing frequency planning schemes have poor resource utilization from the system perspective.…”

Performance Evaluation of Joint Power and Frequency-Domain Intercell Interference Coordination in Heterogeneous Networks

“…In the method, a protected band is defined within the overall system bandwidth, which is exclusively used by only pico BSs, in order to alleviate the macro-to-pico interference [1-3, 8, 9]. In the remaining frequency band, which is called the non-protected band in this paper, we employ fractional frequency reuse (FFR) at the macro BSs so that the macro-to-macro ICIC is achieved [10][11][12][13][14]. Furthermore, in [15], the bandwidth allocation to the protected band and the transmission power of the macro BSs are jointly and adaptively controlled from the viewpoint of proportional fairness (PF) [16,17].…”