Interference avoidance in 3GPP femtocell networks using resource partitioning and sensing

Interference problems in cochannel femtocell networks may cause significant performance degradation for certain femtocell/macrocell users. These problems and potential solutions are recently being investigated within the 3GPP. The goal of the present paper is to review the simulation framework for femtocell networks in 3GPP and briefly summarize some of the important inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) techniques that have been discussed. Then, a new intercell interference avoidance (ICIA) method is proposed for femtocell networks which is based on resource partitioning and sensing. Different than prior art techniques, the proposed approach does not require the use of X2 interface or over-the air signaling, both of which may be infeasible/costly for femtocells with the available releases of the 3GPP.