Inter-cell Interference and Frequency Reuse in Heterogeneous Networks

In heterogeneous networks, small cell base stations are deployed overlaid on the existing macro cells to offload network traffic, optimize coverage and improve the overall network capacity. Due to the disparity in cell sizes, the existing intra-tier inter-cell interference management (among macro cells) mechanisms will not be effective for the inter-tier inter-cell interference management (between macro and small cells). As a result, the full potential of frequency reuse gained by deploying small cells will be diminished. We propose a mechanism to analyze the inter-tier interference in terms of frequency reusability.