Scaling wireless network capacity through ultra-dense small-cell deployment

Abstract

Cell densification is foreseen as one of the main solutions to the capacity crunch problem of wireless networks. Based on the deployment of large number of low power base stations, this solution leverages the density of small-cells to enhance the spectrum reuse over space, which, in turn, provides high throughput gains. The main challenge for cell-densification is the interference, which arises as a consequence of the large number of base stations sharing the same radio resources in the same area. The interference represents a serious issue for wireless networks, as it can severely affect the system performance and, thus, poses a question on the actual gain of dense cell deployments. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to study whether and to what extent the small-cell densification process can solve the capacity crunch problem that future ultra-dense networks will soon have to face. To this end, we examine three key aspects that we believe to be fundamental in order to shed light on the potential of the densification process.