Cell association in cellular networks has traditionally been based on the
downlink received signal power only, despite the fact that up and downlink
transmission powers and interference levels differed significantly. This
approach was adequate in homogeneous networks with macro base stations all
having similar transmission power levels. However, with the growth of
heterogeneous networks where there is a big disparity in the transmit power of
the different base station types, this approach is highly inefficient. In this
paper, we study the notion of Downlink and Uplink Decoupling (DUDe) where the
downlink cell association is based on the downlink received power while the
uplink is based on the pathloss. We present the motivation and assess the gains
of this 5G design approach with simulations that are based on Vodafone's LTE
field trial network in a dense urban area, employing a high resolution
ray-tracing pathloss prediction and realistic traffic maps based on live
network measurements.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, conference paper, submitted to IEEE GLOBECOM 201
