A Dynamic Load Balancing Algorithm in Heterogeneous Network

Heterogeneous network (HetNet) is one of the key architectures in 3rd Generation Partnership Projects (3GPP), in which lower-power but more flexible Pico base station (PBS) is appended. The original homogeneous base station stays the same and is called Macro base station (MBS) in HetNet. The traditional network admission and handover is performed by the reference signal received power (RSRP), which is positively related to transmission power. Consequently, the lower-power PBS will be unattractive to user equipment (UE), resulting in feeble performance enhancement of HetNet and imbalance load between MBS and PBS. This paper investigates a dynamic load balancing algorithm to solve this load-imbalance problem that deteriorate 3GPP LTE network system performance. The algorithm is based on the heterogeneous network access function (HNAF) which is deduced from network fairness analysis according to load status of different bases. Meanwhile, the algorithm is realized through traffic transfer scheme, and is designed as a suboptimal but practical solution. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm gains a better performance on throughput, access success rate and the interlayer fairness compared with existing scheme.