Enhanced base station assignment approach for coping with backhaul constraints in OFDMA-based cellular networks

In this paper we extend the base station (BS) assignment problem to incorporate backhaul related constraints into the assignment decision. This is motivated by the fact that the deployment of more spectral efficient radio access technologies are currently imposing stringent bandwidth requirements at cell sites, and there is a growing concern that backhaul network can become a new network bottleneck in certain deployment scenarios. Unlike existing assignment approaches, we propose a BS assignment algorithm envisioned as a suitable technique capable to cope, at some extent, with possible backhaul congestion situations in OFDMA-based systems. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can provide the same system capacity with less backhaul resources so that, under backhaul bottleneck situations, a better overall network performance is effectively achieved.