Prediction-based association control scheme in dense femtocell networks

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 12; no. 3; p. e0174220
• Main Authors: Sung, Nak Woon, Pham, Ngoc-Thai, Huynh, Thong, Hwang, Won-Joo, You, Ilsun, Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 22.03.2017; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Cell size; Comparative analysis; Computer and Information Sciences; Computer Communication Networks - instrumentation; Costs and Cost Analysis; Engineering; Engineering and Technology; Information technology; International conferences; Location based services; Physical Sciences; Predictive control; Radio communications; Radio equipment; Research and Analysis Methods; Wireless communications; Wireless communications equipment; Wireless networks; Wireless Technology - instrumentation
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174220

The deployment of large number of femtocell base stations allows us to extend the coverage and efficiently utilize resources in a low cost manner. However, the small cell size of femtocell networks can result in frequent handovers to the mobile user, and consequently throughput degradation. Thus, in this paper, we propose predictive association control schemes to improve the system's effective throughput. Our design focuses on reducing handover frequency without impacting on throughput. The proposed schemes determine handover decisions that contribute most to the network throughput and are proper for distributed implementations. The simulation results show significant gains compared with existing methods in terms of handover frequency and network throughput perspective.