Evaluating ICIC Performance in LTE-A Systems

LTE-A technology incorporates Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) methods in order to enhance performance and mitigate interference. These methods include frequency allocation techniques that allow neighboring cells and femtocells in heterogeneous networks, to coordinately share and reuse available spectral resources, in order to avoid performance degradation for interference suffering cell-edge users. In this paper we evaluate the performance of the ICIC methods in LTEA multi-cell systems using a simulation framework integrating several frequency reuse techniques and providing a user-friendly graphical presentation of the results. The optimal frequency reuse configuration for the examined network instance is also determined, based on overall performance and fairness index metrics.