Hierarchical network abstraction for HetNet coordination
Published in 2017 IEEE 28th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), 2017
Recommended citation: Sergio Lembo, Junquan Deng, Ragnar Freij-Hollanti ; Olav Tirkkonen ; Tao Chen. Hierarchical network abstraction for HetNet coordination, 2017 IEEE 28th Annual International Symposium on Personal, Indoor, and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), Montreal, QC, Canada, 2017, pp. 1-7. PIMRC 2017. http://dengjunquan.github.io/files/PIMRC2017.pdf
We consider a user-centric network-level coordination architecture for 5G heterogeneous Radio Access Networks (RANs), based on RAN softwarization and a centralized coordination framework. We describe the RAN as a set of logical RAN entities, related to cells in a Heterogeneous Network (HetNet), under the control of a central coordination entity. This description allows the creation of Network Functions (NFs) with an abstracted view of the network. We describe a centralized coordination framework, and then develop a NF for InterCell Interference Coordination (ICIC) in a 5G HetNet, optimizing the radio resource usage at network-level. We construct a Network Graph to abstract the problem of resource allocation and cell offloading, with the NF seeking for an optimal solution based on this abstraction. Simulations are performed in a HetNet scenario with a Tabu Search algorithm. Results show the feasibility of performing network-level coordination through a modular NF, with an abstracted view of the network. Download paper here