Interference Coordination for 5G New Radio

The arrival of the 5G NR provides a unique opportunity for introducing new inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) mechanisms. The objective is twofold: to better exploit the benefits of ICIC in coherence with the rest of radio resource management (RRM) principles in 5G, and to support new services and deployment scenarios. We propose several enhanced techniques. In the uplink, inter-cell coordination of the pilot sequence configuration mitigates the inter-cell interference problem of such pilots, which is especially severe for cell-edge users. In the downlink, coordinated small cell DTX aims at network interference control and energy consumption reduction, whereas intercell rank coordination can unleash the potential of advanced receivers with minimal control overhead. Besides, on-demand power boosting and coordinated muting can be tailored to meet URLLC requirements. The simulation results quantify the performance benefits of the different techniques under heterogeneous key performance indicators (KPIs). We also discuss the standardization effort required for having each of these techniques included in the 5G NR specifications.