Improving data capacity in cellular networks through utilizing partially overlapping channels

With recent advancements in Software Defined Radio technology the usage of partially overlapping carriers (POCs) has become a viable option to better utilize available spectrum resources. Thus the need has surfaced to truly understand the impact of POCs on system performance. In this paper, we first propose a generalized spectrum channelization characterization that will be instrumental in systematically investigating the effects of carrier overlapping and then use this framework for analyzing the capacity gains due to POCs in cellular networks. In analyzing cellular networks, we consider total system data capacity evaluated at the capacity maximizing channel allocation. Our initial experiments with limited number of base stations indicate that the POC based network design increases the capacity gain ratio for noise dominated regimes.