Hybrid Data-Sharing and Compression Strategy for Downlink Cloud Radio Access Network

This paper studies transmission strategies for the downlink of a cloud radio access network, in which the base stations are connected to a centralized cloud computing-based processor with digital fronthaul or backhaul links. We provide a system-level performance comparison of two fundamentally different strategies, namely, the data-sharing strategy and the compression strategy, which differ in the way the fronthaul/backhaul is utilized. It is observed that the performance of both strategies depends crucially on the available fronthaul or backhaul capacity. When the fronthaul/backhaul capacity is low, the data-sharing strategy performs better, while under moderate-to-high fronthaul/backhaul capacity, the compression strategy is superior. Using insights from such a comparison, we propose a novel hybrid strategy, combining the data-sharing and compression strategies, which allows for better control over the fronthaul/backhaul capacity utilization. An optimization framework for the hybrid strategy is proposed. Numerical evidence demonstrates the performance gain of the hybrid strategy.