Scalable and Self-sustained Algorithms for Femto-Cell Interference Mitigation

Cellular networks are reaching their physical limits providing capacity that is almost near the Shannon theory. However, cellular usage is still increasing exponentially with hungry applications demanding higher data rates. As a result, designers are facing significant challenge in meeting the required demands. One promising solutions, being fostered by the 3GPP, is to increase the spectral efficiency through higher frequency reuse using smaller and denser network cells such as femto, pico and nano cells. One of the main challenges behind using smaller cells is managing interference. In this paper, we propose two novel solutions that alleviate the interference of femto-cells on macro-cell user equipment (MUEs). The solutions do not rely on any additional information exchange or signaling, nor do they rely on the backhaul and it’s delay. The first proposal is Femto-cell Power Control Scheme (FPCS) that utilizes an analytical approach to adapt the femto base station’s transmit power based on Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) reports from affected MUEs. The second method is Random Physical Resource Block Selection Scheme (RPSS) that allocates the femto-cell’s resources from a random subset of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) so that the MUEs benefit from a reduced interference level. Our evaluations have shown that the two proposals do alleviate the femto-cell interference significantly, increasing the SINR and enhancing the end performance. To the best of our knowledge, no similar work exist in literature that addresses the femto-cell’s interference without information exchange.