Performance of well-known frequency reuse algorithms in LTE downlink 3GPP LTE systems

Intercell interference (ICI) is one of the major factors that limit the performance of wireless cellular network systems. Soft frequency reuse (SFR) as well as its modified algorithms such as Soft fractional frequency reuse (Soft FFR) and Distributed fractional frequency reuse (Distributed FFR) have been introduced as an effective way to optimize spectrum and control the ICI. However, the comparison between these algorithms has not fully been presented by the researchers proposing the models. This paper presents a comparison of the performance of well-known frequency reuse algorithms in term of system throughput, average packet loss ratio and average packet delay. The simulation results indicate that the simplest scheme, i.e. Soft FR, archives the highest system performance comparing to Soft FFR and Distributed FFR. Hence, it is noticed that one of the effective methods which optimize frequency reuse is to reduce the algorithm complexity.