Joint Low-Power Transmit and Cell Association in Heterogeneous Networks

In heterogeneous networks (HetNets), mobile users are proactively offloaded to small cells by association bias. To alleviate the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) degradation to offloaded users, resource partitioning and transmit power reduction are proposed in Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A), which is known as enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC). In this paper, we develop a tractable framework for performance analysis of eICIC with joint cell association, resource partitioning, and transmit power reduction by using stochastic geometry. We derive the downlink coverage probability of the network. Numerical results are provided and we give some valuable insights and guidelines for eICIC in cochannel HetNets.