A flexible backhaul architecture for LTE-Advanced

The proliferation of data-hungry smart electronic devices, such as smartphones and intelligent vehicles, has driven the capacities of current mobile communication systems towards their limits. To tackle this formidable challenge, 3GPP Long Term Evolution has recognized network densification with low-power small cells (SCs) as a key paradigm in the upcoming 5G communication system. In this article, we introduce a novel wireless backhaul framework for small cell networks by introducing a new backhauling component, which is referred to as Type-A relay. This new entity is capable of communicating simultaneously with two macrocells by leveraging the downlink resource of one cell as well as the uplink resource of the other, which effectively operates in full-duplex mode without incurring additional costs to acquire carrier resources. The proposed approach offers increased architectural flexibility and substantial capacity enhancement over the current LTE relaying-based solutions. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the strong potential of the proposed approach in future 5G communication systems.