A Survey on Het-Nets: Challenges and Solutions for Enhanced Capacity and Energy Efficiency

Abstract

The proposed work will address the capacity problem in the cellular network as the exponential data traffic growth cannot be satisfied anymore with traditional ways by building new base stations or leasing new spectrum bands, which is costly from the operators' point of view. There is growing interest from the operators’ side in enhancing the capacity and reducing the consumed energy of the cellular networks by re-configuring their topologies, which involves Heterogeneous Networks (Het-Nets). Heterogeneous elements like micro cells, pico cells, relays and femto cells are distinguished by their coverage, transmit power, backhaul, propagation characteristics and physical size. Another trend is using the unlicensed band such as Wi-Fi to form small cells in Het-Net to boost the capacity through offloading data.  This research is a comprehensive survey on the current state of art in capacity enhancement and energy efficiency approaches through Het-Net. The paper highlights some of the challenges and proposed solutions related to various Het-Net topologies. 

Index Terms— LTE, Wi-Fi, Offloading, Het-Net, Challenges, Small Cell, Capacity, Interference, Energy efficiency, Power control.