Adaptive downlink coverage management for hybrid macro/femtocell networks

OFDMA femtocell networks are widely recognized as a promising technology for future cellular networks. However, the hybrid utilization of macro/femto networks brings resource management and interference issues. When a femto base station (fBS) is close to a macro BS (mBS), the mBS may generate strong interference to nearby mobile stations (MSs) which are getting service from fBS. In contrast, when a fBS is in the macrocell edge area, nearby MSs may achieve better throughput from the fBS rather than from the mBS. Therefore, we propose an adaptive downlink (DL) coverage management algorithm where fBSs increase their downlink coverage as their distance from the mBS increases. From simulation results, we show that our algorithm achieves better throughput results while reducing interference.