Hybrid access control with modified SINR association for future heterogeneous networks

The heterogeneity in cellular networks that comprise multiple base stations’ types imposes new challenges in network planning and deployment of future generation of cellular networks. The Radio Resource Management (RRM) techniques, such as dynamic sharing of the available resources and advanced user association strategies, determine the overall network capacity and efficiency. This paper evaluates the downlink performance of a two-tier heterogeneous network (consisting of macro and femto tiers) in terms of rate distribution, i.e. the percentage of users that achieve certain rate in the system. The paper specifically addresses the femto tier RRM by randomization of the allocated resources and the user association process by introducing a modified SINR association strategy with bias factor for load balancing. Also, the paper introduces hybrid access control mechanism at the femto tier that allows the authorized users of the femtocell, which are part of the Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) on the femtocell, to achieve higher data rates up to 10 times compared to the other regular users associated in the access. Keywords— Heterogeneous netwotks; femtocells; RRM; user association; load balancing; access control;