Self-configuring Switched Multi-Element Antenna system for interference mitigation in femtocell networks

This paper introduces a Switched Multi-Element Antenna (SMEA) solution for interference mitigation in femtocell networks. While the main objective is to protect the femtocell users against uplink interference, the downlink interference from femtocell base stations to the other users is simultaneously reduced as a by-product of this technique. A tailored form of reinforcement learning is used to allow for self-configuration of the femtocell base station and to adaptively select the optimal antenna configuration in a time varying environment. Compared to the traditional Omni-directional antenna systems, the results show an average of 2.5dB gain in uplink direction in terms of reduced transmission power and approximately 1dB of gain in the downlink channel.