Adaptive cell range control in heterogeneous network

With Cell Range Extension in a heterogeneous network, the users in the range extension area usually suffer from high interference from macro cell. This may degrade the cell-edge user downlink performance if the resource provided in the Low Power Node can not compensate for the loss from the increased interference. This paper proposes an adaptive algorithm to dynamically adjust the coverage area of the Low Power Node. By using this algorithm, the coverage area of the Low Power Node is extended dynamically according to the varying traffic situation in the network so as to avoid any unnecessarily increased interference from range extension. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm can ensure a nearly optimal cell-edge user performance in all tested traffic load situation.