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.