Performance Evaluation of Pico Cell Range Expansion in LTE-Advanced Heterogeneous Networks

Abstract

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) allows operators to use new and wider spectrum and complements 3G networks with higher data rates, lower latency and a flat, IP-based architecture to deal with sudden increase in demand for mobile broadband services and to further improve the broadband user experience in a ubiquitous and cost-effective manner 3GPP has been working on various aspects of the LTE Advanced standard. LTE-Advanced which is based on heterogeneity concept is using a mix of macro, Pico, femto and relay base-stations, thats enable flexible and low-cost deployments and provide a uniform broadband experience to users anywhere in the network. A heterogeneous network (HetNet) with macro base stations (BSs) together with low power small cells, such as Pico BSs and femto BSs, is a promising solution to enhance network capacity. In HetNet, the transmission ranges of Pico BSs are limited due to the large transmission power difference between macro and Pico BSs, and thus Pico BSs are typically underutilized. Cell Range Expansion (CRE) is a way to increase the opportunity of the user equipment (UE) associations to Pico BSs so that more traffic from the macro cell can be offloaded to the Pico cells. This thesis investigates using MATLAB simulation how associating more users to the Pico cells by range expansion can enhance the network performance and improve user experience (at number of users equal to 40 users) by enhancing data rate by 60%, bandwidth utilization by 22%, throughput by 17%, and spectral efficiency by 2%.