Modelling and performance analysis of 3-D heterogeneous cellular networks

Cellular networks are usually described by two-dimensional (2-D) models. These models are appropriate for rural or suburban areas but are not suitable for dense urban environments, where a large number of heterogeneous small cells are deployed to satisfy the rapid increase in mobile subscribers and communication service demands. In this paper, a new general 3-D model for heterogeneous cellular networks is proposed. The 3-D Poisson point process (PPP) is used to describe the positions of the picocells and femtocells in the network. We derive the average coverage probability expressions of downlink heterogeneous cellular networks for a given set of parameters. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to evaluate the analytical results and the advantage of the proposed 3-D model when compared to the traditional 2-D model. The results confirm the accuracy of the proposed model which presents an efficient description and tractable model of dense small cells deployment in heterogeneous cellular networks.