User in the Loop: Mobility Aware Users Substantially Boost Spectral Efficiency of Cellular OFDMA Systems

Wireless cellular networks perform with a system spectral efficiency which depends on the user terminal distribution over the cell area. Due to the adaptive modulation and coding schemes used which depend on the signal-to-interference+noise (SINR) ratio, the achievable data rate is typically an order of magnitude higher in the cell center compared to the cell edge. The performance of IMT-Advanced cellular radio systems like IEEE 802.16m and 3GPP LTE-A will strongly depend on algorithms to cope with the low SINR in the service area. The new paradigm introduced in this paper motivates users to opportunistically change location according to operator recommendation displayed on the user terminal to achieve a much better SINR than currently available. Benefits are the increase of network capacity and higher data rates or potentially a financial incentive for the convinced users. Numeric results based on analysis of IMT scenarios are provided suggesting large cell spectral efficiency gains.