Modeling and event-driven simulation of coordinated multi-point joint transmission in LTE-advanced with constrained backhaul

Inter-cell interference (ICI) is considered as the most critical bottleneck to ubiquitous 4^th generation cellular access in the mobile long term evolution (LTE). To address the problem, several solutions are under evaluation as part of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), the most promising one being coordinated multi-point joint transmission (CoMP JT). Field tests are generally considered impractical and costly for CoMP JT, therefore the need to provide a comprehensive and high-fidelity computer model to understand the impact of different design attributes and the applicability use cases. This paper presents a novel approach to the modelling and simulation of an LTE-A system with CoMP JT by means of discrete event simulation (DES) using OPNET modeler. Simulation results are provided for a full buffer traffic model and varying the characteristics of the interface between cooperating points. Gains of up to 120% are achieved for the system throughput when using CoMP JT.