Optimal user association based on topological potential in heterogeneous networks

In traditional cellular networks, User Equipments (UEs) always connect to the strongest Base Station (BS), which offers either the maximum Signal to Interference Plus Noise Ratio (SINR) or the best Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP). However, in heterogeneous networks, due to a large difference of transmit power between macrocells and low power nodes, the user association methods mentioned above may lead to unbalance of user distribution between the two kinds of BSs. The goal of our research is to balance the user association between macrocells and picocells while maintain the network performance. We solve the user association problem by introducing the topological potential between UEs and BSs, from which both the channel condition and the number of severing UEs in each cell are considered. Since maximizing the topological potential in network-wide is NP-hard, a heuristic method is proposed to reach a suboptimal. Finally, the tradeoff between association fairness and network throughput is discussed via system level simulation, and a better fairness user association is given compared to the range expansion method in the same condition of network throughput.

[1]  Rudolf Mathar,et al.  Dynamic cell association for downlink sum rate maximization in multi-cell heterogeneous networks , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[2]  Sagar Naik,et al.  A new fairness index for radio resource allocation in wireless networks , 2005, IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference, 2005.

[3]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  User Association for Load Balancing in Heterogeneous Cellular Networks , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[4]  Jun Wang,et al.  Optimized Fairness Cell Selection for 3GPP LTE-A Macro-Pico HetNets , 2011, 2011 IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Fall).

[5]  Ismail Güvenç,et al.  Fair and QoS-oriented resource management in heterogeneous networks , 2013, EURASIP J. Wirel. Commun. Netw..

[6]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  Heterogeneous cellular networks: From theory to practice , 2012, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[7]  Jian-Min Wang,et al.  Community Discovery Method in Networks Based on Topological Potential: Community Discovery Method in Networks Based on Topological Potential , 2009 .

[8]  3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (e-utra); Further Advancements for E-utra Physical Layer Aspects (release 9) , 2022 .

[9]  Jeffrey G. Andrews,et al.  Seven ways that HetNets are a cellular paradigm shift , 2013, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[10]  Tony Q. S. Quek,et al.  Enhanced intercell interference coordination challenges in heterogeneous networks , 2011, IEEE Wireless Communications.

[11]  Gan Wen.  Community Discovery Method in Networks Based on Topological Potential , 2009 .

[12]  He Nan,et al.  Evaluate Nodes Importance in the Network Using Data Field Theory , 2007, 2007 International Conference on Convergence Information Technology (ICCIT 2007).

[13]  Lei Jiang,et al.  Resource allocation for eICIC scheme in heterogeneous networks , 2012, 2012 IEEE 23rd International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications - (PIMRC).