Classification and comparative analysis of inter-cell interference coordination techniques in LTE networks

Frequency reuse-1 model is required to satisfy the exponential increase of data demands in mobile networks, such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of Universal Mobile Terrestrial radio access System (UMTS). However, the simultaneous usage of the same frequency resources in adjacent LTE cells creates inter-cell interference problems, that mainly affect cell-edge users. Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) techniques are proposed to avoid the negative impact of interference on system performance. They establish restrictions on resource usage, such as Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR), and on power allocation such as Soft Frequency Reuse (SFR). In this paper, we classify the existing ICIC techniques, and investigate the performance of reuse-1, reuse-3, FFR, and SFR schemes under various user distributions, and for various network loads. Performance of cell-center and cell-edge users are inspected, as well as the overall spectral efficiency. System level simulations show the advantages and limitations of each of the examined techniques compared to frequency reuse-1 model under different network loads and user distributions, which helps us to determine the most suitable ICIC technique to be used.

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