A Hybrid Selection Approach Based on Advanced Antenna Technologies for Cellular LTE-A

While addressing cellular network performance issues, resolving problems with coverage and capacity is critical. The coexistence of cellular networks and smaller femtocells working within the macrocell area is among the alternative solutions. The simultaneous functioning of macrocells and femtocells, however, introduces new technical challenges that pose serious concerns about the efficiency of cellular networks. Therefore, this work proposes a hybrid approach based on variant advanced antenna technologies including MIMO methods and antenna systems for the deployment of femtocells and macrocells. To accomplish this, three distinct LTE-A network models with and without femtocells are set up with different architectures for high-density areas. The models further cover tri-sector and omnidirectional antenna systems to analyze the relevant effects on the performance of the LTE-A macrocells as well as femtocells. Also, to extend the analysis, integration of different MIMO methods for the models is provided. The networks are implemented and the link performance evaluation is carried out with regard to spectral and energy efficiency, cell and user throughputs, fairness, and SINR. The results contribute to determining the performance gains and energy saving of the LTE-A femtocells as well as macrocells by employing different advanced antenna technologies.