Chapitre4 :INTERCELL INTERFERENCE COORDINATION

1.Static Intercell interfererence coordination :

1.1 Fractional frequency reuse  (FFR):
Inter-cell interference becomes a problem when the same frequency band is used for
adjacent cells , This type of interference can be reduced by allocating different frequency
bands to adjacent cells (frequency reuse), but this narrows the band that can be used by
each cell, which reduces throughput. To resolve this issue, a method called fractional
frequency reuse (FFR) was developed. As shown in Figure 4.1(c), the FFR method separates
the frequency bands allocated to the areas near a base station where no signal interference
from adjacent base stations occurs from the frequency bands allocated to the areas far from
the base station where signal interference from an adjacent base station can occur. The
transmit power is reduced and the frequency-reuse factor is set to 1 for the frequency band
allocated to the cell area where no signal interference from adjacent base stations occurs,
and conversely, the transmit power is increased and the frequency-reuse factor is set to 3
for the frequency band allocated to the cell area where signal interference from an adjacent
base station can occur. This improves the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) and
throughput for users located at the cell edge without degrading spectral efficiency.

Figure4.1 :frequency reuse methods

1.1.1.Fractiona frequency reuse ressource block allocation :

Ressource block scheduling can reach a good trade-off between throughput and fairness. the
priorities for each user at each resource block (RB) are firstly calculated. Then the maximum
priority is found, and the corresponding user with the maximum priority is scheduled at the
corresponding RB. Then the user with the maximum priority at remaining RBs is scheduled
until all RBs are used or all users don’t need RBs.
The priority of the k-th user over the j-th RB at time n is calculated as follow : (1)

where DRC(n) denotes the achievable data rate for the k-th user over the j-th RB at time n,
and Rk(n) denotes the low-pass filtered averaged date rate of the k-th user.
FFR, there are may be two methods :
1) The priorities of the cell edge users at RBs with reduced power are zeros. The
priorities of the cell edge users at RBs with high power and the cell center users at
the entire RBs are calculated according to the Formula(1). The generating priority
table is a single table . In the figure, the ‘1’ denotes that priority is calculated
according formula (1) and the ‘0’ denotes that the priority is zero. The users at cell
center and at cell edge are scheduled at the same time. The cell center users may use
the RBs with high power. As a result the cell edge users may don’t have RBs to use.
So for the method, the cell edge users’ performance may be worse than without
interference coordination.

Figure4.2 :Method 1 using fractional fresuency reuse

2) In order to avoid the situation that the cell edge users don’t have RBs to use. Another
schedule scheme is proposed. The cell edge users are scheduled firstly, and then the
cell center users are scheduled at remaining RBs.
 Figure 4.3 : Fractional frequency reuse method 2 table 1

Figure 4.4 : fractional frequency reuse method 2 table 2

1.2 Softer frequency reuse (SerFR)

In order to achieve more frequency selective scheduling gain, a SerFR scheme is proposed. In
the scheme, the frequency reuse factors at cell center and at cell edge are both one.
The high power frequency band is different between neighboring cells.
 Figure 4.5 :Power and frequency planning for SerFr (fequency reuse 1)

1.2.1 Softer frequency reuse ressource allocation :

In order to increase to data rate at cell edge, the cell edge users should have more
probability to use the frequency band with high power and that the cell center users have
more probability to user the frequency band with low power.thus the priority Forrmula is
calculated as follow :

The γ is defined as follow:

The advantages of SerFR compared with SFR are :

1) The larger peak rate at cell edge;
2) The more frequency selective scheduling gain;
3) The simpler scheduler;
4) Facilely adjust priority factor to accommodate the service distribution unbalance;
5) Facilely adjust the fairness among users to meet the QoS need of users.

Figure 4.6 : Priority table for softer frequency reuse SerFr

1.3 Dynamic Intercell interference coordination standardization :

Traditional static ICIC method problem is when the cell edge users of the serving cell are
overloaded,that means more RBs will be allocated for the serving cell edge users wich means
overlapping RBS and this may cause intercell interference :
So to avoid this case of intercell interference,a eNBs should coordinate over X2 interface :
1.3.1 Downlink icic
The signal used for interference coordination in the downlink is called relative narrowband
transmit power (RNTP). This signal can take a value of 0 or 1 and is sent to multiple base
stations serving adjacent cells for each resource block (RB). Specifically, this value is set to 0
if the ratio between the transmit power of the downlink signal allocated to the RB and the
average transmit power of the system frequency band is guaranteed to be under a certain
threshold and to 1 otherwise.

Figure 4.7 : RNTP over X2 interface principle

This scheme enables a base station to learn about an RB that may be transmitting at high
power in an adjacent cell and to reduce interference by avoiding allocating that RB to a user
experiencing poor reception. Increasing the transmit power above the system average for a
user experiencing poor reception should also improve the quality of that user’s reception.

1.3.2 Uplink icic

There are two types of signals for interference coordination in the uplink: high interference
indicator (HII) and interference overload indicator (OI). The HII signal is used by a base
station to notify to multiple base stations serving adjacent cells of the uplink RB it has
allocated to a cell-edge user. This enables cell-edge users in adjacent cells to be allocated
different bands, the same as in the downlink approach, which means that improved
throughput can be expected for these cell-edge users. The OI signal, on the other hand, is
used by a base station to notify to multiple base stations serving adjacent cells the results of
measuring interference power for each RB and classifying those results into multiple levels.
Thus, the base station of a cell that receives notification of high interference power from an
adjacent cell can reduce the transmit power of its users and thereby reduce the amount of
interference created in the adjacent cell.

2.ICIC Methods for LTE Advanced

The main problem of the ICIC methods is that they are limited to data channels. So, the
standard does not provide sufficient protection for the downlink control channels in the two
mentioned severe interference scenarios(figure 4.8 and figure 4.9) .the case of macro-pico
the agressor is considered the macro cell,and in the case of femto-macro the ageessor is
considerer the femtocell. therefore new approaches have been made to avoid this case of
interference :carrier aggregation icic,time domain icic and coordination multipoint(comp)
icic.

Figure 4.8 : PIco-Macro scenario

Figure 4.9 :Femto-Macro scenario

2.1 ICIC based on Carrier Aggregation:

Carrier Aggregation is one of the most important features of LTE Advanced. Unlike LTE, it
enables an LTE-A UE to connect to several carriers simultaneously. It not only allows
resource allocation across carriers, it also allows scheduler based fast switching between
carriers without time consuming handover. A simple principle in a HetNet scenario is to
partition the available spectrum into e.g. two separate component carriers and assign the
primary component carriers (PCC) to different network layers :

Figure4.10 : Cross carrier scheduling for carrier aggregation

The primary component carrier is the cell that provides the control information(like PDCCH,
PCFICH, PHICH).
The primary component carries the PDCCHs both for primary component carrier and
secondary component carriers while the secondary carries carry no PDCCH. In the presence
of cross-carrier scheduling, where downlink PDSCH or uplink PUSCH is transmitted on an
(associated) component carrier other than the PDCCH, the carrier indicator in the PDCCH
provides information about the component carrier used for the PDSCH or PUSCH.

By assigning this to different frequencies, interference on control channels like PDCCH,

PCFICH, PHICH and also BCH or RACH between network layers can be avoided.
There is another carrier aggregation using spatial approach is where the macro layer uses
only the PCC frequency, while the pico layer schedules its UEs served in CRE mode on its PCC
and its cell-center UEs on its SCC. Similarly the MeNBs might serve UEs in very favorable
positions with reduced Tx power on their SCCs.

2.2 Time domain techniques :

2.2.1 Pico cell range extension
To optimize system capacity, it is primordial to push more users of the macro to the more
spectrally efficient pico cells. This is typically carried out by range extension (RE) for the pico
eNBs. During the cell selection process, a user equipment (UE) gets connected to that cell
which demonstrates a higher reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement. To
increase the pico cell coverage area, a cell-specific positive bias (offset) is applied to UE pico
measurements thereby biasing the UE attachments to the pico. The optimum bias for each
pico cell is typically unknown and can be optimized depending on the traffic characteristics.
The macro–pico cell selection dilemma can be given by:

where REi = 0 dBm for macro and REi ≥ 0 dBm for pico. Although favoring pico selection
increases the HetNet system capacity in most cases, too much bias results in pico cell-edge
UEs experiencing higher interference from the macro layer and thus a reduced pico SINR.

Figure 4.11 : pico-macro without cell range expansion scenario

 Figure 4.12 :pico-macro with cell range expansion scenario
2.2.2 Time domain eICIC
During a co-channel operation, both the macro and pico transmit data at the sametime.
Higher transmission powers of the macro cells result in higher pico cell-edge UE
interference, which is even more exaggerated by pico range extension. To protect thepico
cell-edge UEs by providing interference mitigation, time domain (TDM) eICIC hasbeen
proposed.

Figure 4.13 :subframe interference with full data transmission

TDM eICIC involves restricting the macro layer subframe transmission to a fraction of the
total subframes. During the fraction of subframes when the macro is not transmitting
(muted), preference is given to the pico cell-edge UEs to transmit. The restricted macro
subframes are called “almost blank subframes” (ABS) as the control signals necessaryfor
maintaining UE connections are still transmitted during the muting :
  Primary and secondary synchronization signals (PSS and SSS)
 Common reference symbols (unless configured as MBSFN subframe)
 Physical broadcast channel (PBCH)
 SIB-1 and paging with their associated PDCCH

Figure 4.14 : Strict almost blanck subframe sending only CRS with no data transmission

Strict time and phase synchronization and ABS pattern information exchange is ensured
being made possible over the X2 interface between the pico and the macro cells employing
TDMeICIC.

Figure 4.15 :subframe synchronization in pico-macro scenario using TDM eicic

UEs that are exposed to severe interference from another cell using TDM muting and that
should hence rather be scheduled in subframes muted in the corresponding aggressor cell.
In the macro-pico scenario, these are cell-edge pico UEs, in the macro-femto scenario, these
are macro UEs in the vicinity of the HeNB.
 Figure 4.16 :subframe synchronization in femto-macro scenario using TDM eicic

2.2.2.1 Almost blank subframes with MBSFN configuration

In an MBSFN subframe, the UE will not expect a downlink transmission except for the first
two OFDM symbols. By configuring the MBSFN subframes, only the CRS in the first two
OFDM symbols needs to be transmitted. Therefore, by configuring the ABSs and MBSFN
subframes at the same time, the CRS interference on data channel is reduced. The control
channel spans one to three OFDM symbols, followed by the data channel. Therefore,
although the interference from the CRS to the data channel can be avoided by configuring
the ABSs and MBSFN subframes at the same time

FFigure4.17 : Almost blank subframe with MBSFN

2.3 Space domain techniques
2.3.1 Coordinated multi-point (CoMP)

Figure 4.18 intra-cell and inter-cell COMP ICIC scenario

In coordinated multi-point ,two transmission schemes are mainly considered: Joint
Processing (JP) and coordinated scheduling/beamforming (CS/CB). In CoMP transmission the
related control channels, including the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), are
transmitted only from the serving cell regardless of the transmission scheme.
2.3.1.1 Joint Processing
JP is further categorized into Joint Transmission (JT) and Dynamic Cell Selection (DCS),In JT
the same Resource Block (RB) of the PDSCH is transmitted from multiple cells associated
with a UE specific demodulation reference signal (US-RS) among coordinated cells (i.e., from
non-serving cell (s) as well as the serving cell). For instance, JT is achieved by codebook-
based precoding to reduce feedback signal overhead. In principle, the best precoding
matrixes for intercell site coordination are selected in addition to the individual selection of
the best precoding matrix at each cell site so that the received signal-tointerference-plus-
noise power ratio (SINR) is maximized at a UE set among the predetermined precoding
matrix candidates. Other implementation methods are also considered to achieve the
principle operation. A UE set feeds back a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) based on the
combined received SINR to the serving cell, and then an RB is dynamically assigned to the UE
by fast scheduling at the central BS. Since the transmission power resources of multiple cell
sites can be used through coherent transmissions, the cell edge user throughput is improved
significantly.
 Figure 4.19 :Downling Joint transmission COMP

In DCS an RB of the PDSCH associated with a US-RS is transmitted from one cell among the
coordinated cells, and the cell transmitting the PDSCH with the minimum path loss is dynamically
selected through fast scheduling at the central BS. Then, for instance, the other cells among the
coordinated cells are muted (i.e., they do not transmit the RB), so the cell edge UE does not receive
other-cell interference. Therefore, the maximum received signal power is obtained, and the
interference from neighboring cells is significantly mitigated.

Figure 4.20: Downlink Dynamic cell selectiin COMP

2.3.1.2 coordinated scheduling/beamforming

Unlike the aforementioned DCS, a resource block (RB) of the PDSCH is transmitted only from the
serving cell together with the PDCCH. Hence, an RB is assigned to the UE with CS/CB by scheduling of
the serving cell. However, scheduling/beamforming is coordinated among multiple coordinated cells.
In this case transmit beamforming weights for each UE set are generated to reduce the unnecessary
interference to other UE scheduled within the coordinated cells. Therefore, in particular, the cell
edge user throughput can be improved due to the increase in received SINR.
 Figure 4.21 :coordination beamforming COMP

2.3.2 Active antenna syystems intereference management

An AAS involves arrays of antenna elements each of which can be electronically phased to obtain a
unique radiation pattern for the array by using capacity and coverage optimization (CCO) . The
advantage of the AAS lies in having the flexibility to electronically form the antenna beams by
changing antenna tilt, azimuth, or beam shape, thus providing flexibility and control over the
interference and the performance of the network in terms of coverage, capacity, and quality of
service (QoS)