Mobile Association in a Heterogeneous Network

In the future heterogeneous wireless networks with a mixed deployment of macro BS and micro relay stations, different nodes will compete for the same radio resources for providing mobile services. This poses great challenges to radio resource management and coordination. One critical step to achieve the optimal radio resource usage is for the mobiles to connect to the access nodes that provide the best radio conditions to them. This paper proposes a new mobile association mechanism in such a heterogeneous environment that aims to provide the best service to the mobiles on both uplink and downlink while minimizing the interference level. The simulation results show that with the proposed scheme the mobile performance shall be improved compared with the traditional mobile association schemes.