Link level performance evaluation of higher order modulation in Small Cells

In Heterogeneous networks (HetNet), low-power Small Cells (SCs) can serve a good portion of the mobile users. These users are likely to have good Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio (SINR) values, which can be exploited to satisfy the expected demand of huge data rates. In this paper, we investigate the effect of introducing higher order modulation, mainly 256QAM, from a link-level perspective as a possible solution to this data explosion. 256 QAM in ideal channel conditions and high SINR range, achieves higher spectral efficiency compared to 64 QAM. However, due to transmitter and receiver impairments the gain of 256 QAM is questionable. we developed a physical-layer abstraction for the link-level performance of the 256QAM modulation order. Then, we evaluated the performance of 256 QAM in realistic environment including the impairments at the transmitter and receiver. These impairments can diminish the gains of 256 QAM depending on their magnitude.