A Picocell Deployment Case Study in a Mixed Multicarrier LTE Network

The case study in this paper compares various options for deploying picocells in a three-carrier LTE macrocell network in a suburban North American city. Beginning with a single carrier macrocell network on a 5 MHz FDD carrier in LTE band 25 (2 GHz), a 20 MHz TDD carrier in band 41 (2.6 GHz) is added to significantly increase capacity. An additional 5 MHz FDD carrier in band 26 (875 MHz) enhances coverage. The picocell deployment options include placing picocells in band 25, in band 41, or on a dedicated band 41 20 MHz TDD carrier. In addition, picocells may be split between the FDD carrier and the dedicated TDD carrier to simulate a phased rollout as spectrum becomes available. Since the band 41 carrier has a larger bandwidth, network capacity is higher when picocells are placed on this carrier (compared to band 25) even though the number of picocells required to maintain a constant network outage is similar. Dedicated band picocell deployment requires fewer picocells and has higher capacity due to reduced interference.