Is multicell interference coordination worthwhile in indoor wireless broadband systems?

The rapid growth in demand for mobile and nomadic wireless access forces the use of more and more base stations (BSs). In such dense networks, various techniques for multicell interference coordination have been investigated. However, whether or not the interference coordination provides cost benefit compared with a loosely coordinated system is not obvious because the tight coordination at PHY-layer is likely to need an expensive high-speed backbone infrastructure. In this paper, we assess the worthiness of the tight interference coordination, referred to as coordination gain, in various indoor environments. We compare a hypothetical interference-free system as an upper bound with a simple interference-limited system opportunistically avoiding interference. The range of possible coordination gain is examined for various wall losses, path loss exponents, building shapes, and deployment density. Results show that substantial gain can be achieved in dense deployment at open areas with low path loss exponent, e.g., lightly furnished offices partitioned with soft walls. Nevertheless, the coordination gain significantly drops in the presence of marginal wall loss regardless of the other environmental factors.