Cell Selection Mechanism based on Interference Behaviour in Femto-Macro Heterogeneous Network

Abstract

In Femto-Macro heterogeneous network, femtocell user equipment (FUE) has main priority in resource allocation compared to macro users equipment (MUE). MUE will suffer severe interference when they are placed near or within the femtocell area range at the cell edge. This condition occurs due to the distance is far from its serving macro base station (MBS) to receive good signal strength. Cell selection scheme is one of the techniques that can improve the network performance and ensure achievable user data rate. In this study, cell selection mechanism is proposed to ensure MUEs also have a priority in resource allocation from the closest femto base station (FBS) to mitigate interference. The mechanism includes measuring the closest FBS distance, Signal to Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio (SINR), physical resource block (PRB) availability and node density level for base station selection with the aim of resource block can be allocated fairly to MUEs based on user demands. Hence, the higher network throughput can be achieved.