Optimized dual relay deployment for LTE-Advanced cellular systems

LTE-Advanced adopts relay deployment to support higher data rates and better coverage, especially at the cell edges which suffer from inter-cell interference. The solution of relaying is attractive because of its low cost and easy deployment. In this paper, we show that deploying just two relays per sector can significantly improve system capacity and coverage. We optimize the geometric deployment of relays that maximizes the spectral efficiency of the worst users or minimize outage. We consider the effects of different backhauling techniques such as wirelessly connected relays or wired radio remote heads. We also investigate the effect of different downlink frame structures and their impact on the system capacity or outage. The paper shows that the proper choice of the geometric deployment, frame structure and backhauling technique of the relays can improve the performance of LTE-Advanced.