UE Role in LTE Heterogeneous Networks

Dino Flore
April 1, 2012

Deployment Model Vision: Heterogeneous Networks

Target coverage with macro eNBs for initial deployments Pico cells, Home eNBs and Relay nodes added for incremental capacity growth, richer user experience and in-building coverage
These low power nodes can offer flexible site acquisition Relay nodes provide coverage extension with no incremental backhaul expense

Core Network

Backhaul

Relay Backhaul

Internet

HeNB

Pico

Macro

Relay Pico

Pico

Need for Flexible and Low-Cost Network Deployment Using Mix of Macro, Pico, Relay, RRH and Home eNBs
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Heterogeneous Networks: Goals

Maximize gains from the addition of new nodes to macro-network
Looking for cell-splitting gains
More servers providing service to same UE population

Enough UE population needs to be associated with new low power nodes Performance metrics of interest: mean vs. median throughput

Enable self-configuration / self-adaptation to

Different densities of new nodes Distribution of UEs in the network
Number of UEs close to hot-zones, etc.

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HetNets Deployment choices: co-channel

High power nodes (macro cells) and low power nodes (picos, HeNBs, relays) share the same resources
Co-channel deployment Large power disparity between high power and low power nodes
Could have a 30x power disparity (30W vs. 1W)
Low power nodes in disadvantage

The capacity gain offered by the deployment of low power nodes is limited
Very few terminals will associate with the low power nodes

Pico

Macro and pico cells deploy using same resources Macro

Pico Pico
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HetNets Deployment choices: resource partition

Macro cells limit their transmissions to some set of (time/frequency) resources: S1
Macro cells give away some resources with the expectation that there will be a net network capacity gain Resources given away by macro cells experience no interference from macro network and become prime resources for low power layer Effectively expands the coverage of low power nodes: cell rage expansion
Shift to the right of the geometry distribution of low power layer

S1 No macro tx on resource set S2 reduces interference and increases coverage of Pico layer on these resources

S2 S1
Pico

S1 Macro S1
Pico
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S2

S2

Pico

How can the resources be partitioned?

FDM of different power class nodes (multi-carrier)
f1: for macro cells, f2: for pico cells Note that an additional carrier could be required for femto/CSG cells to avoid coverage holes FDM (multi-carrier) approach characteristics:
Coarse granularity Semi-static in nature

TDM of different power class nodes (time-domain partition)

Set 1 of subframes: for macro cells, Set 2 of subframes: for pico cells
Use of Set 1 of subframes for pico cells also permitted (limited gain)

Femto/CSG cell operation may require exclusive resources to avoid coverage holes TDM approach characteristics:
Does not require multiple carriers Finer granularity: Can adapt to different partitioning more easily Requires network time synchronization
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Issues to resolve with TDM approach

Hearibility: initial acquisition, regular control and data reception
Need to enable acquisition, measurement and reporting of weak cells

Association: serving cell determination

Best DL SINR may not be the best association technique
Smallest pathloss minimizes interference on UL

Handover biasing providing the network the ability to offload traffic to low power nodes
How aggressive the biasing can be depends on UE capability (discussed later)

Resource specific UE feedback

Channel quality on different subframes can change considerably

Resource partition: what subframes are given to each power class

Adaptive resource partitioning
For different/changing densities of low power nodes across the network For different UE distributions across the network or over time Resource partitioning and association techniques interact with each other
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Small Caveat
Due to UE legacy support issues subframes can not be blanked out
Therefore, we have almost blank subframes (ABS)

Taking a closer look almost blanks subframes are not that blank:
The following signals are transmitted to ensure backward compatibility
CRS (pilot signal) PSS/SSS (synchronization signals) SIB1/MIB (broadcast information)

CRS/PSS/SSS/SIB1/MIB still cause strong interference In a ABS, no unicast data or control is transmitted

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Small Caveat
Subframe, 0 Subframe, 1,2,3,4,6,7, 8,9 Subframe, 5

Physical broadcast channel (PBCH) Secondary synchronization signal (SSS) Primary synchronization signal (PSS) . . .

Slot Subframe

CRS antenna port 0 resource element (subcarrier) CRS antenna port 1 resource element (subcarrier) Data resource element (subcarrier) Control resource element (subcarrier)

. . .

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Implications of ABS
The fact that ABS subframes are not really empty poses new challenges
The interference caused by the transmission of legacy signals affects the reception of weak signals in ABS
Limited cell range expansion regime unless this interference is removed at the UE

A UE can convert an ABS subframe into blank by cancelling the interference

This becomes the main role of the UE for HetNets

How aggressive the handover biasing can be at the network depends on how well the UE can cope with the interference from legacy signals
This determines the cell range expansion regime 3GPP recently agreed on 9dB handover bias for which UE performance requirements will be standardized as part of Rel-11

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Conclusions
Heterogeneous Networks are a cost effective approach to significantly enhance capacity of LTE cellular networks
Macro cells ensure broad coverage and low power nodes provide additional capacity

Three design features are crucial for HetNets

Interference management as severe interference limits the coverage area of low power nodes Cell range expansion through adaptive resource partitioning as it enables traffic load balancing between high and low power cells (traffic offloading) Interference cancellation receiver in the terminal as it ensures that weak cells can be detected and legacy transmissions can be removed

All three components together are needed to exploit the full potential of HetNets

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Annex (some simulation results)

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Throughput Gains by CRS IC Colliding RS

CollidingRS-TxMode3 6000 CellID0-TxMode3 5500 CellID0-TxMode3-CellID96-TxMode3-16dB CellID0-TxMode3-CellID96-TxMode3-IC-16dB

5000

4500

4000

Throughput (Kbps)

3500

3000

2500

9 dB Gain

2000

1500

1000

500

CRS IC Gains for colliding RS in non-MBSFN ABS

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Serving cell C/I (dB) 20 22 24 26 28 30 32

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Throughput Gains by CRS IC Non-colliding RS

N on c o l l idi n g RS -T x Mo d e 3 60 0 0 Ce l I D0 -T x Mo d e 3 55 0 0 Ce l I D0 -T x Mo d e 3 -Ce l l I D1 2 1 -T x Mo d e 3 -1 6 d B Ce l I D0 -T x Mo d e 3 -Ce l l I D1 2 1 -T x Mo d e 3 -I C-1 6 d B 50 0 0

45 0 0

40 0 0

Th ro u g h p u t ( Kb p s)

35 0 0

30 0 0

25 0 0

3.5 dB Gain
20 0 0 15 0 0

10 0 0

500

CRS IC Gains for Non-colliding RS in non-MBSFN ABS

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 S e rv i ng c e l l C/ I (d B )

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Reliability of PBCH with PBCH IC

SINR=-18dB

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Performance with IC Receivers Hotspot Scenario

Simulation Assumptions

Served Throughput in Hotspot Scenario

Macro only 40
Served Throughput [Mbps]

Hotspot scenario with two pico cells per macro cell randomly placed 2/3 of the UEs located within 40m radius of the two pico cells User arrivals follow Poisson process 1 Mbytes download file size Cell range expansion of SIR = -18 dB by CRS/PSS/SSS/PBCH IC Served throughput = total amount of data for all users / total amount of observation time / number of cells

2 Picos, no Resource Partitioning

2 Picos, Resource Partitioning

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

130% Gain

Macro Cell Resource Utilization [%]

Gains up to 130% at 75% load achievable by aggressive cell range expansion, adaptive ABS allocation and advanced receivers

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