Mobility-Aware Modeling and Analysis of Dense Cellular Networks With C -Plane/ U -Plane Split Architecture

The unrelenting increase in the population of mobile users and their traffic demands drive cellular network operators to densify their network infrastructure. Network densification shrinks the footprint of base stations (BSs) and reduces the number of users associated with each BS, leading to an imp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on communications 2016-11, Vol.64 (11), p.4879-4894
Main Authors: Ibrahim, Hazem, ElSawy, Hesham, Uyen Trang Nguyen, Alouini, Mohamed-Slim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
5G cellular networks
C-plane/U-plane split
Cellular communication
Computer architecture
Delays
Densification
Frequency reuse
Handover
Interference
lean carrier
Network control
network densification
Network design
phantom cells
Radio equipment
Signal to noise ratio
stochastic geometry
Stochastic processes
X2 interface handover
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Summary:The unrelenting increase in the population of mobile users and their traffic demands drive cellular network operators to densify their network infrastructure. Network densification shrinks the footprint of base stations (BSs) and reduces the number of users associated with each BS, leading to an improved spatial frequency reuse and spectral efficiency, and thus, higher network capacity. However, the densification gain comes at the expense of higher handover rates and network control overhead. Hence, user's mobility can diminish or even nullifies the foreseen densification gain. In this context, splitting the control plane (C-plane) and user plane (U-plane) is proposed as a potential solution to harvest densification gain with reduced cost in terms of handover rate and network control overhead. In this paper, we use stochastic geometry to develop a tractable mobility-aware model for a two-tier downlink cellular network with ultradense small cells and C-plane/U-plane split architecture. The developed model is then used to quantify the effect of mobility on the foreseen densification gain with and without C-plane/ U-plane split. To this end, we shed light on the handover problem in dense cellular environments, show scenarios where the network fails to support certain mobility profiles, and obtain network design insights.
ISSN:0090-6778
1558-0857
DOI:10.1109/TCOMM.2016.2609905