Performance evaluation of inter-cell interference coordination and cell range expansion in heterogeneous networks for LTE-Advanced downlink

In Long-Term Evolution (LTE)-Advanced, heterogeneous networks where femtocells and picocells are overlaid onto macrocells are extensively discussed in addition to traditional well-planned macrocell deployment to improve further the system throughput. In heterogeneous network deployment, combined usage of inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) and cell range expansion (CRE) is very effective in improving the system and cell-edge throughput. In this combined usage, the fraction of the sets of user equipment (UEs) connected to the picocells, which are controlled through CRE, and that connected to macrocells affect the gain from the ICIC. Therefore, this paper evaluates the performance of ICIC and CRE in picocell deployments in the LTE-Advanced downlink. Simulation results (4 picocells and 30 UEs are located within 1 macrocell) assuming a full buffer model show that when the CRE offset value is set between 8 to 20 dB, almost the same user throughput performance is obtained by allocating the appropriate resources to protect UEs that connect to the picocells.