A MOBILITY-AWARE RESOURCE ALLOCATION SCHEME IN FEMTOCELL NETWORKS

Abstract

Macrocells’ coverage deteriorates in indoor environments where most data traffic originate. Use of femtocells has enhanced indoor coverage and network capacity. However, user mobility dynamics in resource allocation becomes a barrier to a successful deployment of this type of network. This paper considered resource allocation in femtocell network with special attention to impact of user mobility on quality of service. Specifically, user mobility dynamics incorporated  in  existing  scheme  in  terms  of  connections  considering  the  variation  in  time  of  their  positions. Mobility-aware  Femtocell  Cluster-based  Resource  Allocation  (M-FCRA)  algorithm  is  presented.  The  approach consists of formulation of the resource allocation scheme as a Min-Max optimization problem and an appropriate hybrid  centralized/distributed  algorithm.   M-FCRA  outperforms  Femtocell  Cluster-based  Resource  Allocation (FCRA) algorithm in terms of throughput satisfaction rate by 5% ± 0.15% at Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR)  of -25dBm  in  when  mobility  of  users  is  considered  at  a  speed  of  0.5  to  1km/h.  In  conclusion,  a  high congregate  of  femtocells  in  urban  areas  is  expected,  user  mobility  becomes  an  important  factor  in  resource allocation  to  ensure quality  of service  is  achieved.  M-FCRA  has  improved  on  throughput  rate  while considering user mobility in resource allocation in femtocell networks.

Key words: Femtocell, user mobility, resource allocation, clustering, quality of service