Design Flexibility of Picocells in HetNets with Respect to Number of Picocell-Sectors

Downlink three-dimensional beamforming (3D-BF) operates in two dimensions, horizontally and vertically, and can enhance the precision and adaptability of the downlink signal transmission. In heterogeneous networks (HetNets), picocells operating at millimeter-wave band should be divided into sectors to allow more efficient use of radio resources, especially in areas with high user terminal density. This paper considers the design flexibility and methodology for sectorized picocells equipped with 3D-BF in HetNets. We investigate the average and 5-percentile user throughput of HetNets with respect to the number of picocell-sectors as well as the effects of downlink 3D-BF, using system-level computer simulations. Based on these results, we discuss about the design flexibility of sectorized picocells in HetNets from the user throughput perspective.