Cell-Specific Uplink Power Control for Heterogeneous Networks in LTE

This paper provides an assessment of 3GPP standardized LTE/LTE-A uplink power control procedures in case of a co-channel operation of different types of base stations. Especially the case of femtocell deployment with an overlaying macrocell is considered. Imperfections of the currently accepted procedures in case of such networks are pointed and a modified solution is proposed. It is shown that in case of heterogeneous networks more cell-specific configuration can lead to 8% and 14% performance improvements in capacity and coverage of local cells respectively, without harm for overlying macrocells. The evaluation of the proposed scheme has been done on case of a macro and femto co-channel deployment, but should be also valid for other cell types.