A Heuristic Method for Power Control of Femtocells in LTE Networks

In two-layer heterogeneous femtocell networks co-channel interference is a limiting factor for the overall system performance. In this study, a power management scheme for femtocells in a heterogeneous network, based on the well-known simulated annealing optimization algorithm, is employed to control the transmission power of the femtocell base stations to mitigate the co-channel interference among the neighboring femtocells. The simulation results show that the femtocell average power consumption is reduced whereas any noticeable signal-to-interference plus noise ratio degradation doesn't exist for the femtocell users. Thus, power management is an effective solution to mitigate the co-channel interference for the femtocell users.