Outage Probability Analysis of User-Centric SBS-Based HCNets Under Hybrid Rician/Rayleigh Fading

To model dense user equipment (UE) distribution in heterogeneous cellular networks (HCNets), the Poisson cluster process (PCP) has emerged as a promising tool. In user-centric HCNets where UEs are distributed according to a PCP around a small base station (SBS), the network performance has been commonly studied in literature under a Rayleigh fading environment assumption. However, such an assumption may not hold in user-centric HCNets given the possible existence of a strong line-of-sight (LOS) link between UEs and BSs due to a relatively short transmission distance. This letter analyzes the performance of user-centric SBS based HCNets by considering that the desired LOS link experiences Rician fading whereas interferer links experience non-LOS Rayleigh fading. Numerical results, validated through extensive simulations, demonstrate that the outage probability decreases under this hybrid Rician/Rayleigh fading environment.