Multiple base-stations location based load-sharing scheme in EGPRS: feasibility

This paper analyses the feasibility of an enhanced EGPRS system allowing better integration of high QoS users (high data rate and time-sensitive applications) in the downlink. With the coming deployment of QoS guarantee in GPRS cellular networks, such users are expected to cause a significant capacity problem. Here we propose to distribute when possible the capacity needed for each high QoS user over several base-stations in order to minimize QoS degradation for other users within the network. The performance of such a scheme depends on the possibility for a mobile to be served jointly by several base-stations. Therefore feasibility is established through multiple base-stations joint coverage statistics: probability for a mobile user to be served simultaneously at a given location by several base-stations, and normalized joint coverage area are evaluated. Statistics of joint coverage are investigated for typical sectorized EGPRS layouts under lognormal shadowing. Influence of shadowing, network load and sectorization on the joint coverage statistics are presented. It is shown that under quite general circumstances and assumptions for system configuration and channel conditions high QoS is achieved when a mobile is served by multiple base-stations.