Cell Load Coupling Framework for Load Balancing and ICI Coordination in OFDMA Cellular Networks

In this paper, we develop a cell load coupling model for load balancing and interference coordination in OFDMA based cellular networks. An inter-cell interference (ICI) model which captures the coupling between resource utilization (or cell load) of different cells and dynamic ICI in the presence of shadowing and small scale fading is presented. Further, a method to estimate the cell load from the distribution of Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio is proposed. A user association policy which minimizes the network wide resource utilization is described considering both streaming and elastic traffic parameters. We also show the impact of arrival rate of streaming and elastic traffic on the system performance.