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Published: 07 February 2013
Inter-cell Interference Modeling in LTE

Systems
Chiara Risi & Dereje Assefa Wassie
Wireless Personal Communications 72, 389–404 (2013)

627 Accesses 1 Citations Metrics
Abstract
Traditionally, inter-cell interference in wireless

cellular systems has been modeled as a zero-mean
random variable with variance equal to the average
power of the interference. While this model is
appropriate for code division multiple access-type
systems, in orthogonal frequency division multiple
access-based systems, such as long term evolution
(LTE), it does not hold anymore. This paper
considers the problem of interference modeling for
the downlink of LTE systems. It is shown, through
analytical and numerical studies, that the
interference can be deemed as a gaussian random
variate with random variance (i.e., the variance
depends on the strength of the interference itself),
thus implying that it is actually a non-gaussian
random variate.
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Introduction
With the advent of packet-based mobile broadband

systems, Third-Generation Partnership Project
(3GPP) introduced the long term evolution of
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS) to remain competitive against new 802.16e
standard of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers), better known as Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX).
Goals for the evolved standard included improved
capacity and coverage, high peak data rates (100
Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink for a single
antenna configuration), low latency, reduced
operating costs, multi-antenna support, flexible
channel bandwidth, seamless integration with
existing systems, and support for mobile speed up to
350 km/h. To reach these goals LTE adopts a
completely new orthogonal frequency-division
multiplexing (OFDM) air interface in lieu of
wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA)
used in the previous standard.
Receiver performance requirements for W-CDMA

based networks were defined relative to known levels
of Gaussian noise. Indeed, in W-CDMA systems all
transmissions occupy the entire channel bandwidth
and a Gaussian noise accurately models the effect of
inter-cell interference. The aggregation of such
interference signals creates a uniform Gaussian
interferer even when the individual transmissions
may be intermittently present due to packet
scheduling. The use of different spreading codes
rather than transmission power as the primary
method of altering data rates further adds to the
uniform nature of the interference.
In OFDMA systems, the primary method for varying

data rates is partial allocation of the resource
scheduling block (RS) in the channel. This coupled
with the time division multiple access (TDMA) nature
of allocations creates a much less uniform
interference signal. Depending on the traffic mix and
use of frequency-selective scheduling, the resulting
interference signal could vary widely in both
frequency and time as compared to the interference
generated by W-CDMA systems. Initial simulations
suggest that additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN)
is an accurate predictor of performance for users near
the cell centre but for cell edge users, AWGN may
overestimate throughput by 50 % compared to a
more realistic interferer [11, 12].
Interference modeling for cellular systems is an

important research topic, since it permits to carry out
an accurate performance analysis by avoiding the
complexity to simulate all the details of the entire
network. When considering the downlink, the goal of
interference modeling is to replace the actual signals
arriving to the victim cell from the interfering cells
with a simpler and reasonable model that captures
the cumulative effect of such an interference.
Related Works
An abundant literature addressing the problem of
interference modeling in OFDMA-based systems is
available. Most papers propose an accurate statistical
model of the inter-cell interference through a
physical layer analysis. As an example, in [1] and [2],
the pdf (probability density function) of the
interference is derived exploiting a collision1 model,
assuming that the distances between transmitters
and receiver and the number of interfering cells are
known. Papers [1] and [2] thus showed that the inter-
cell interference can be modeled as complex Gaussian
distributed with random variance. A similar
approach, based on a collision model, is used in [3],
wherein a Poisson process is used to model the
arriving calls, so that the distances between
transmitters and receiver are random variables. In
[4], instead, the conditional pdf of the inter-cell
interference given the shadowing and the network
load is derived. Other strategies to solve the inter-cell
interference modeling problem can be also found in

[5–10].
Following on this track, the present paper proposes a

new model for inter-cell interference in the downlink
of LTE systems. Considering the fact that the channel
does not vary as fast as assumed in all the previously
cited works, it will be shown that inter-cell
interference in any resource element (RE) can be
accurately modeled as a Gaussian random variable
with random variance, thus implying that it is indeed
non-Gaussian.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. A

brief overview of LTE fundamentals is presented in
the next section. In Sect. 3, the new model for the
inter-cell interference of LTE systems is proposed,
while simulation results are shown in Sect. 4. Finally,
the conclusion are drawn in Sect. 5.
Brief Overview of LTE
The purpose of this section is to give a brief overview

on LTE fundamentals with a greater attention to
physical layer issues. The content of the section is of
course limited to the key concepts which will be
needed in the sequel of the paper. More details can be
found in [14–19] and [20].
In November 2004, in order to remain competitive

against the new packet based wireless broad systems,
such as WiMAX, the project called LTE was started.
It is a pre-4G or 3.9G standard. Aiming to achieve the

aforementioned objectives, 3GPP adopted a new air
interface based on OFDM: OFDMA in the downlink
and single carrier-frequency division multiple access
(SC-FDMA) in the uplink. Furthermore, LTE adopted
multi-antenna techniques and integrated frequency
division duplexing (FDD) and time division
duplexing (TDD) radio access mode.
Physical Channels
In order to carry user and system information,

physical channels and physical signals are defined at
the physical layer, as the name suggests. In
particular, the physical channels carry information
blocks received from the higher layers, while the
physicals signals are used for channel estimation, cell
search and time-frequency synchronization.
Subsequent developments of this paper will refer to
the physical channel which occupies almost all the
available resources: the physical downlink shared
channel (PDSCH), which is the channel used to
convey the users’ data on the downlink.
OFDMA Downlink Transmission

OFDM has become the most favoured technique for
broadband wireless systems due to its robustness
against signal dispersion under multipath conditions.
Indeed, OFDM is a modulation scheme that splits the
total available bandwidth in several orthogonal
subcarriers over which information is simultaneously
transmitted. Each subcarrier is modulated at low

symbol rate with a conventional modulation format
(QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM for the PDSCH) and it is
narrow enough to experience flat fading. Otherwise
stated, in the time domain the OFDM symbol
duration is much longer than the typical channel
dispersion, leading less ISI (Inter-Symbol
Interference). This latter, however, is limited only to
the initial part of the neighbouring symbol. Hence, it
can be avoided by adding a cyclic prefix (CP) to each
transmitted symbol; it is required that the CP length
is slightly longer than the longest expected delay
spread in the radio channel. In LTE systems, two CP
configurations are possible: normal and extended.
The normal CP is 4.69 μ s long and it enables the
system to cope with up to 4.69 μ s of delay spread
which corresponds to a path delay difference (not
absolute path length ) of 1.4 km. Note that the CP
does not carry any new information leading to a loss
in capacity of about 7 % .
OFDMA, the multiple access technique used by LTE

in the downlink, is a multiuser version of the OFDM.
According to it, a subset of subcarriers per symbol are
assigned to each user.
LTE Frame Structure

As anticipated above, the physical layer supports
paired and unpaired spectrum (FDD and TDD). As a
consequence, we have two different definitions of the
frame structure: type 1 for FDD and type 2 for TDD.

Due to its greatest use, the paired spectrum will be
considered here.
As depicted in Fig. 1, an LTE frame has an overall

length of 10 ms and it is divided into a total of ten
equally sized subframes. A subframe consists of two
consecutive slots and, in turn, each slot contains
N symb OFDM symbols.
Fig. 1
Frame structure of type 1
For the modeling approach used in this paper, it is

more convenient to look at the LTE frame as a time-
frequency grid. Each element in the grid, called
resource element, is the smallest unit in the physical
layer and corresponds to one complex-valued
modulation symbol. Then, one time slot of N symb
OFDM symbols per N sc consecutive subcarriers (with

a bandwidth of 180 kHz) forms one resource block
(RB). The number of subcarriers (N ) and of OFDM sc
symbols (N symb ) in a RB depends on the cyclic prefix

configuration (Table 1, where Δf is the subcarrier
spacing). Figure 2 shows the RB structure

considering a normal cyclic prefix configuration.
Finally, a basic scheduling unit (resource scheduling
block) is defined as two RB.
Proposed Model
In order to build up a model for the inter-cell

interference, we start by considering the smallest
unit: the resource element. The discrete-time
baseband equivalent of the received signal at a given
RE can be written as
I

N
−−
y = √ehx + ∑ √ek hk xk + n,
k=0
(1)
where the quantities without subscript are associated

to the desired signal whereas the others to the
interfering signals. In particular, x is the symbol sent
to the victim user from the desired BS, with
2
E[|x| ] = 1, h ∼ C N (0, 1) is the Rayleigh channel
coefficient, and e is a lognormal random variable
taking into account path loss and shadowing. Both h
and e represent the channel coefficients for the link
between the desired user and the desired BS.
Analogously, h and e are the channel coefficients
k k
for the link between the k-th interfering BS and the

desired user, while x is the interfering symbol sent
k
from the k-th BS. n ∼ C N (0, N 0 ) stands for the
additive Gaussian noise and N is the number of

colliding base stations (BSs). Moreover, all these
quantities are assumed to be independent from each
other.
Table 1 Number of subcarriers (N ) and sc
number of OFDM symbols (N ) in a symb
resource block. The downlink transmission

is considered
Fig. 2
Resource block structure under normal cyclic prefix

configuration [13]
Differently from related works on interference

modeling, the following key assumptions are made
here:
– The interfering symbols x are approximated ask
complex Gaussian with zero mean and unitary

variance;
– The channel coefficients (Rayleigh fading and

shadowing) will be considered constant in time
over each channel coherence time while in
frequency it varies from subcarrier to subcarrier.
Note that we are considering here a more
realistic scenario than that examined in related
works.
Considering only one summand of the interference

term I in (1), it is possible to note the Gaussianity of
the term √−−
e h k k xk given e , i.e.,
k
I |E ∼ C N (0, E ),
(2)
where E = ∑
N
k=0
ek is a random variable because
first, it depends on the number of interferers
experienced transmitting on the given RE and
second, there is the shadowing. Otherwise stated, the
random nature of the variance reflects the unknown
and variable interference scenario.
The problem to obtain an accurate statistical model

for the interference is very complex, mainly for the
different scale variations of the involved random
variables. It is thus convenient to look for a simpler
simulative model, which can replace the real
interference as well as the statistical model.
It has been already said that the interference can be

considered Gaussian with random variance. In order
to find a statistical model for such a variance E, we

assume that the channel coherence time is 10 ms
(like the duration of the LTE frame), so that the
channel coefficients change from frame to frame in
the time domain and from subcarrier to subcarrier in
the frequency domain. Furthermore, dividing a radio
frame in a time-frequency grid of N sb
× N c N sc units
(N sb is the number of subframes in a frame and N is c
the number of frequency channels formed by N sc
subcarrier), using i as the subframe index, j as the

subcarrier index and assuming that all the cells
transmit in a synchronized manner, the variance on
the resource at the position (i, j) can be expressed as
NI
j − 1
E (i, j) = ∑ wk (i, ⌊ ⌋ + 1) ek (j),
N sc
k=1
(3)
where w is a random matrix, called activity factor,

k
that models the RS allocation in a frame for the k-th

interfering BS; a realization of w is thus a matrix k
where the element of position (i, l) is
1 if RS (i, l) is ON;

wk (i, l) =
0 if RS (i, l) is OFF.
(4)
In (4), l is the RS index in the frequency domain.
Characterization of w . As mentioned before, w is a k
random process which represents both the traffic and

the scheduling behaviours. For the sake of simplicity,
the subscript k will be omitted, i.e., the analysis will
be carried out on a given interfering cell. Several
types of scheduler can be used in LTE, but a rigorous
analysis of them could be difficult. In addition, there
is also the uncertainty about the type of schedulers
used by the neighbour eNBs (evolved Node-B). These
reasons lead to the choice of a random RS allocation.
Two types of allocation will be considered:
memoryless and with memory. While in the
allocation without memory the state of a RS
(ON/OFF) does not depend on the state of the
previous RS, in the allocation with memory it does.
In turn, two types of random RS allocation without
memory will be considered: pure random and
random of compact type. All those allocation
strategies are listed below.
– Pure random allocation: each resource

scheduling block in the frame is occupied with
probability ν , where ν is the load in the cell. An
example of allocation is depicted in Fig. 3. This
is a naive way of scheduling, but it helps
averaging out the inter-cell interference;
– Compact random allocation: this is still a
random allocation among the users but the
resource allocation is concentrated at the
beginning of the frame as follows. At the first
stage, one frequency channel out of N is c
randomly selected and the first RS on this

channel is occupied. Then, a new channel is
randomly selected and, if it is completely
unoccupied, the first RS on this channel is
allocated, otherwise, the second resource
scheduling block is allocated. This procedure
goes on selecting one channel randomly and
allocating the first empty RS on that channel
until it is full, i.e., all the N sb RSs are occupied,
or, until ν N sb N c RSs have been occupied in the
entire frame. This allocation reflects the idea to
transmit the data as soon as possible. In Fig. 4, a
realization of this process is shown.
– Allocation with memory: one way to add
memory is to use a Markov process which sets
the ON/OFF state of the scheduling block on a
channel based on the previous RS state. In
particular, we denote by α the probability to
have a transition from state OFF to state ON
and by β the probability to have a transition
from ON to OFF. Let us thus consider a simple
ON/OFF model and let us set the load ν
(fraction of resource occupied in one frame).
The probability of being in ON state is thus:
α
μ ON = = ν
α + β
(5)
Note that for fixed ν , there are many values (

α, β ) that can satisfy the above equation.
However, different values of (α, β ) result in
different behaviours of the ON/OFF model, that
could represent several types of traffic. For
example, small values of α and β (while giving
the same ν ) will result in longer average
duration of the ON/OFF periods. The issue of
how to apply the ON-OFF model across the
time-frequency grid is explained next. Label the
time frequency-grid by the index (i, j), where
i = 1, … , N sb is the time index and
j = 1, … , N c is the frequency index. Start from
(1, 1) and select it to be ON with probability
μ ON and OFF otherwise. Let us say that it was
picked to be ON. Then go to (2, 1 ) and make it
ON with probability 1 − β and OFF with
probability β. Then, continue to (3, 1 ), until
coming to (N sb , 1 ). The reason for moving in the
time dimension is that we want to model the fact
that, in the same frequency channel, there can
be a burst of several consecutive blocks sent to
the same user (in the interfering cell). After
arriving at (N sb , 1 ), then go to (1, 2). Again, the
state can be chosen independently from
frequency channel 1, by again sampling the
initial state to be ON with probability μ ON and
then continue in the time dimension (2, 2 ), (
3, 2 ), etc.
Fig. 3
Pure random RS allocation
Fig. 4
RS allocation of compact type
All these types of RS allocation will be compared in

Sect. 4.
Once has been defined the distribution of the

interference on a given RE, the interfering signal is
generated as follows: for each symbol time, a
frequency sample per RE is generated according to

the distribution on the subcarrier and the subframe
where the RE belongs to; then, from the frequency
domain signal, the time-domain signal can be
generated using an inverse fast Fourier transform
(IFFT).
In order to validate the model, in Sect. 4, the

performance of the system in a real interference
scenario will be compared to that of the system
considering the modeled interference.
Simulation Results
In this section we validate the proposed model

through simulation results.
Simulation Setup
Let us consider a cellular network with hexagonal
cells, two tiers of interferers and universal frequency
reuse. As shown in Fig. 5, there is a victim cell,
denoted as cell 0, and there are eighteen interfering
cells, denoted as cell 1, cell 2, ..., cell 18. For the sake
of simplicity, however, we consider only the first tier.
The inter site distance (I S D) and the cell radius (R)
are also shown in the figure. They are defined as the
distance between two neighbouring BSs and the
radius of the circle in which the hexagon is inscribed
in, respectively. Furthermore, the enumeration of the
cells is chosen in such a manner that the cell 1 is the
nearest one to the victim user, the cell 2 is the second
nearest cell to the victim user and so on ...In order to
validate the model in the worst case, which is critical

for the overall network performance, the victim user
is positioned in proximity of the cell-edge and a
perfect synchronization among the cells is assumed.
Finally, each BS transmits at the same power level.
Table 2 summarizes all the considered simulation
parameters.
Fig. 5
Cellular network with 19 cells
Table 2 Simulation parameters
For the sake of brevity, we omit giving a thorough

description of the control frame indicator (CFI).
Implementation of the Simulator

For the sake of validating the model proposed in Sect.
3, the performance obtained using the modeled
interference will be compared with that obtained
under realistic interference conditions, i.e., by
generating the actual transmitted signals from each
interfering BS. The Agilent software “SystemVue ESL
(Electronic System Level)” has been used. In Fig. 6,
the schematic which allows to obtain the
performance under realistic interference condition is
shown. In the upper part of the figure, all the system
blocks involved in the downlink transceiver chain of
the desired cell are shown. As a detailed description
would be too lengthy, only the names of the blocks
will be listed. From the left side to the right side, the
chain is formed by the following system blocks:
random bit generator, LTE downlink signal source ,
Complex to Real and Imaginary Converter, oscillator,
modulator, wireless channel model, noise density,
demodulator, Real and Imaginary to Complex, LTE
downlink baseband receiver. The same transceiver
architecture is used to generate the interference
signals (two in the example in Fig. 6), which are
simply added to the desired signal at the baseband
level.
Fig. 6
Schematic used to calculate the BER (bit error rate)

when two real interferers are considered
In the schematic of Fig. 7, instead, in place of the real

interference, the newly proposed interference model
is used. In the interference chain there is thus a
Matlab block which generates the interference signal
for each resource element. The first N c N sc symbols
are those to be mapped on the N c N sc subcarriers of
the first OFDM symbol time. The second group of
N c N sc symbols corresponds to that of the second
symbol time and so on. Then, the Matlab block is
followed by:
– OFDM modulator: for each symbol time it takes

the N c N sc frequency samples and generates the
time domain signal.
Fig. 7
Schematic used to calculate the BER when the

interference model is considered
– Downlink slot multiplexer: this model is used to

multiplex 3GPP LTE downlink slot. The cyclic
prefix of each OFDM symbol is added here.
– LTE spectrum shaper: it is used to shape the
spectrum of the transmitting signal by FIR
filtering or time domain windowing.
For a better understanding of these blocks, refer to

the LTE physical layer specification.
Simulation Results
Exploiting the schematics described in the previous
subsection and under the assumptions made in Sect.
4.1, some simulation results testing the validity of
proposed model are presented here. Other two
further hypothesis are made: the RS allocation of
compact type is employed and the channel coherence
time is 10 ms. In what follows, the BER will be
chosen as an indicator of the performance.
Figure 8 shows the BER experienced by the victim

user versus the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) for both
the modeled interference and the real interference
scenarios. The SNR, in dB, is defined as
Pt − P L − N 0 , where P is the power transmitted
t
from the desired BS, P L is the attenuation due to the

path loss for the link between the desired BS and the
desired user, and N is the noise power. Several
0
values of interferers number are considered: one,

three and four. In all the cases, the predominant
interferers are chosen. Furthermore, the curve of the
BER versus the SNR in a free-interference situation is
also plotted as a reference benchmark. Despite a little
deviation, the curves clearly show the validity of the
proposed model.
Fig. 8
BER of the victim user versus SNR for both the modeled
interference and the real interference scenarios. Number
of interfering BSs: one, three and four
In order to give an insight into the dynamics of the

interference, Fig. 9 shows the BER versus the load in
the interfering cell when the SNR = 10 dB and
considering only the predominant interferer. Again,
the behaviour of the model is quite similar to that in

the real environment.
Fig. 9
BER of the victim user versus the load of the interfering

cell at SNR = 10 dB. The BER obtained using the model
is compared with that obtained by deploying the real
interference. Only the predominant interferer is
considered
Different User Velocities

The previous results were obtained assuming an user
speed of 3 km/h. We consider now the case of
variable user velocity. The compact allocation is still
used here.
It is well known that a change in the user velocity

leads to a change in the coherence time of the
channel. The relationship between the user velocity
and the coherence time for a carrier frequency of 2

GHz is depicted in Fig. 10 [16].
Fig. 10
Channel coherence time at 2 GHz [16]
Assuming that the shadowing varies as fast as the

Rayleigh fading and setting the channel coherence
time as a function of the user speed, it is possible to
set up several simulation scenarios, each for a
different velocity. Figure 11 depicts the BER
experienced by the victim user versus the SNR at the
velocities of 3, 20 and 50 km/h considering only the
predominant interferer. It is shown that, when the
user speed is 3 km/h, the proposed model can replace
very well the real interference. The channel
coherence time here is around 13 ms. This helps to
justify why the performance of the proposed model in
Fig. 8 deviates slightly from that of the real scenario:

the channel coherence time was assumed to be 10 ms.
Good results are also obtained considering the user
speed equal to 20 km/h. Finally, when the user
moves at 50 km/h, the bit error rate obtained using
the model is a little bit far from the real BER of the
system. However, the maximum error is about 14 %
thus implying that the model can be still considered
acceptable.
Fig. 11
interference and the real interference scenarios. One
interfering BS is considered. User velocity = 3, 20 and
50 and km/h
Fig. 12
interference and the real interference scenarios. One
interfering BS is considered. The pure random allocation
and the allocation with memory are compared
Resource Allocation
We now compare the three types of resource
scheduling block allocation discussed in Sect. 3: pure
random allocation, random allocation of compact
type and allocation with memory. According to the
assumptions in Sect. 4.1, considering only the
predominant interfering BS and assuming a channel
coherence time which varies from frame to frame,
Fig. 12 compares the random resource allocation and
the allocation with memory through a BER versus
SNR plot. The benchmark curve is always that
corresponding to the real interference scenario. It is
evident that the two types of allocation have almost
the same behaviour. Further, comparing them with
Fig. 8, it can be seen that these two types of allocation

are better than the compact type allocation. Indeed,
the pure random allocation and the allocation with
memory are more able to average out the
interference.
Conclusions
The objective of this work was to capture the most

important features of the OFDMA-based LTE
networks that can serve as a basis for defining
interference modeling and, based on these, to
propose a possible interference model. From
analytical and simulative studies, it has been
observed that the conditional probability distribution
of the interference given the variance is Gaussian.
However, the probability distribution of the variance
varies from RE to RE because it depends on the
degree of interference experienced on each of them.
Extensive simulation results have shown the validity
of the proposed model.
Notes
1. A collision appears when a neighbour cell uses

simultaneously a given subcarrier on the same
carrier frequency.
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19. 3GPP TS 36.211. (2008). Physical channels and

modulation. V8.5.0.
20. 3GPP TS 36.213. (2008). Physical layer

procedures. V8.5.0.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Jonathan Duplicy,

Petar Popovski, Elisabeth De Carvalho, Stefano Buzzi
and Moray Romney for their helpful advices.
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Authors and Affiliations

University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale,
Cassino, Italy
Chiara Risi
Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Dereje Assefa Wassie
Corresponding author
Correspondence to Chiara Risi.
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Risi, C., Assefa Wassie, D. Inter-cell Interference Modeling in

LTE Systems. Wireless Pers Commun 72, 389–404 (2013).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-013-1019-x
Published Issue Date

07 February 2013 September 2013
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-013-1019-x
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Keywords
Long term evolution (LTE)
Inter-cell interference modeling OFDMA
Random variance SystemVue
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1/3/23, 5:34 PM Inter-cell Interference Modeling in LTE Systems | SpringerLink

Published: 07 February 2013

Inter-cell Interference Modeling in LTE

Wireless Personal Communications 72, 389–404 (2013)

Traditionally, inter-cell interference in wireless

With the advent of packet-based mobile broadband

Receiver performance requirements for W-CDMA

In OFDMA systems, the primary method for varying

Interference modeling for cellular systems is an

interference modeling problem can be also found in

Following on this track, the present paper proposes a

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. A

The purpose of this section is to give a brief overview

In November 2004, in order to remain competitive

It is a pre-4G or 3.9G standard. Aiming to achieve the

In order to carry user and system information,

OFDMA Downlink Transmission

transmitted. Each subcarrier is modulated at low

OFDMA, the multiple access technique used by LTE

LTE Frame Structure

frame structure: type 1 for FDD and type 2 for TDD.

As depicted in Fig. 1, an LTE frame has an overall

Frame structure of type 1

For the modeling approach used in this paper, it is

OFDM symbols per N sc consecutive subcarriers (with

symbols (N symb ) in a RB depends on the cyclic prefix

spacing). Figure 2 shows the RB structure

In order to build up a model for the inter-cell

where the quantities without subscript are associated

for the link between the k-th interfering BS and the

from the k-th BS. n ∼ C N (0, N 0 ) stands for the

additive Gaussian noise and N is the number of

Table 1 Number of subcarriers (N ) and sc

number of OFDM symbols (N ) in a symb

resource block. The downlink transmission

Resource block structure under normal cyclic prefix

Differently from related works on interference

– The interfering symbols x are approximated ask

complex Gaussian with zero mean and unitary

– The channel coefficients (Rayleigh fading and

Considering only one summand of the interference

The problem to obtain an accurate statistical model

It has been already said that the interference can be

to find a statistical model for such a variance E, we

the number of frequency channels formed by N sc

subcarrier), using i as the subframe index, j as the

where w is a random matrix, called activity factor,

that models the RS allocation in a frame for the k-th

where the element of position (i, l) is

1 if RS (i, l) is ON;

In (4), l is the RS index in the frequency domain.

Characterization of w . As mentioned before, w is a k

random process which represents both the traffic and

– Pure random allocation: each resource

stage, one frequency channel out of N is c

randomly selected and the first RS on this

Note that for fixed ν , there are many values (

Pure random RS allocation

RS allocation of compact type

All these types of RS allocation will be compared in

Once has been defined the distribution of the

frequency sample per RE is generated according to

In order to validate the model, in Sect. 4, the