Tradeoff between Spectrum and Densification for Achieving Target User Throughput

Dense deployment which brings small base stations (BS) closer to mobile devices is considered as a promising solution to the booming traffic demand. Meanwhile, the utilization of new frequency bands and spectrum aggregation techniques provide more options for spectrum choice.Whether to increase BS density or to acquire more spectrum is a key strategic question for mobile operators. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between BS density and spectrum with regard to individual user throughput target. Our work takes into account load-dependent interference model and various traffic demands. Numerical results show that densification is more effective in sparse networks than in already dense networks. In sparse networks, doubling BS density results in almost twofold throughput increase. However, in dense networks where BSs outnumber users, more than 10 times of BS density is needed to double user throughput. Meanwhile, spectrum has a linear relationship with user throughput for a given BS density. The impact of traffic types is also discussed. Even with the same area throughput requirement, different combination of user density and individual traffic amount leads to different needs for BS density and spectrum.