Mobility Performance of LTE-Advanced Heterogeneous Networks with Control Channel Protection

Recent studies reveal that mobility in heterogeneous environments is more challenging than in conventional macroonly networks, due to potentially more complicated interference scenarios, steeper SINR degradation as user devices enter or leave small cells, and so on. The paper aims at analyzing the mobility enhancement in heterogeneous networks (HetNet) via control channel interference mitigation supported by LTE Rel-10 and above. Specifically, we investigate the impacts of time-domain dynamic almost blank subframe (ABS) coordination and frequency-domain partitioning combined with cross-carrier scheduling. A detailed performance comparison in terms of the handover failure rate and ping-pong rate is provided. Furthermore, we propose a method of control region planning for HetNet deployment, exploiting the cross-scheduling properties. The evaluation is carried out by system level simulation following the general assumptions and agreed models in 3GPP.