Performance Analysis of Small Cells' Deployment under Imperfect Traffic Hotspot Localization

Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets), long been considered in operators' roadmaps for macrocells' network improvements, still continue to attract interest for 5G network deployments. Understanding the efficiency of small cell deployment in the presence of traffic hotspots can further draw operators' attention to this feature. In this context, we evaluate the impact of imperfect small cell positioning on the network performances. We show that the latter is mainly impacted by the position of the hotspot within the cell: in case the hotspot is near the macrocell, even a perfect positioning of the small cell will not yield improved performance due to the interference coming from the macrocell. In the case where the hotspot is located far enough from the macrocell, even a large error in small cell positioning would still be beneficial in offloading traffic from the congested macrocell.Comment: This article is already published in IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) 201

Dynamic Time-domain Duplexing for Self-backhauled Millimeter Wave Cellular Networks

Millimeter wave (mmW) bands between 30 and 300 GHz have attracted considerable attention for next-generation cellular networks due to vast quantities of available spectrum and the possibility of very high-dimensional antenna ar-rays. However, a key issue in these systems is range: mmW signals are extremely vulnerable to shadowing and poor high-frequency propagation. Multi-hop relaying is therefore a natural technology for such systems to improve cell range and cell edge rates without the addition of wired access points. This paper studies the problem of scheduling for a simple infrastructure cellular relay system where communication between wired base stations and User Equipment follow a hierarchical tree structure through fixed relay nodes. Such a systems builds naturally on existing cellular mmW backhaul by adding mmW in the access links. A key feature of the proposed system is that TDD duplexing selections can be made on a link-by-link basis due to directional isolation from other links. We devise an efficient, greedy algorithm for centralized scheduling that maximizes network utility by jointly optimizing the duplexing schedule and resources allocation for dense, relay-enhanced OFDMA/TDD mmW networks. The proposed algorithm can dynamically adapt to loading, channel conditions and traffic demands. Significant throughput gains and improved resource utilization offered by our algorithm over the static, globally-synchronized TDD patterns are demonstrated through simulations based on empirically-derived channel models at 28 GHz.Comment: IEEE Workshop on Next Generation Backhaul/Fronthaul Networks - BackNets 201

On Modeling Coverage and Rate of Random Cellular Networks under Generic Channel Fading

In this paper we provide an analytic framework for computing the expected downlink coverage probability, and the associated data rate of cellular networks, where base stations are distributed in a random manner. The provided expressions are in computable integral forms that accommodate generic channel fading conditions. We develop these expressions by modelling the cellular interference using stochastic geometry analysis, then we employ them for comparing the coverage resulting from various channel fading conditions namely Rayleigh and Rician fading, in addition to the fading-less channel. Furthermore, we expand the work to accommodate the effects of random frequency reuse on the cellular coverage and rate. Monte-Carlo simulations are conducted to validate the theoretical analysis, where the results show a very close match

Improving Resource Efficiency with Partial Resource Muting for Future Wireless Networks

We propose novel resource allocation algorithms that have the objective of finding a good tradeoff between resource reuse and interference avoidance in wireless networks. To this end, we first study properties of functions that relate the resource budget available to network elements to the optimal utility and to the optimal resource efficiency obtained by solving max-min utility optimization problems. From the asymptotic behavior of these functions, we obtain a transition point that indicates whether a network is operating in an efficient noise-limited regime or in an inefficient interference-limited regime for a given resource budget. For networks operating in the inefficient regime, we propose a novel partial resource muting scheme to improve the efficiency of the resource utilization. The framework is very general. It can be applied not only to the downlink of 4G networks, but also to 5G networks equipped with flexible duplex mechanisms. Numerical results show significant performance gains of the proposed scheme compared to the solution to the max-min utility optimization problem with full frequency reuse.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, to appear in WiMob 201

Opportunistic Third-Party Backhaul for Cellular Wireless Networks

With high capacity air interfaces and large numbers of small cells, backhaul -- the wired connectivity to base stations -- is increasingly becoming the cost driver in cellular wireless networks. One reason for the high cost of backhaul is that capacity is often purchased on leased lines with guaranteed rates provisioned to peak loads. In this paper, we present an alternate \emph{opportunistic backhaul} model where third parties provide base stations and backhaul connections and lease out excess capacity in their networks to the cellular provider when available, presumably at significantly lower costs than guaranteed connections. We describe a scalable architecture for such deployments using open access femtocells, which are small plug-and-play base stations that operate in the carrier's spectrum but can connect directly into the third party provider's wired network. Within the proposed architecture, we present a general user association optimization algorithm that enables the cellular provider to dynamically determine which mobiles should be assigned to the third-party femtocells based on the traffic demands, interference and channel conditions and third-party access pricing. Although the optimization is non-convex, the algorithm uses a computationally efficient method for finding approximate solutions via dual decomposition. Simulations of the deployment model based on actual base station locations are presented that show that large capacity gains are achievable if adoption of third-party, open access femtocells can reach even a small fraction of the current market penetration of WiFi access points.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure