A performance study of Fractional Frequency Reuse in OFDMA networks

Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is considered as the most possible candidate for next generation mobile communications. LTE networks offer high capacity and are specified and designed to accommodate small, high performance, power-efficient end-user devices. One limiting factor that influences LTE performance is the interference from neighbor cells, the so called Inter-Cell Interference (ICI). Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR) has been proposed as a technique to overcome this problem, since it can efficiently utilize the available frequency spectrum. This paper analyzes the FFR scheme and proposes a dynamic FFR mechanism that selects the optimal frequency allocation based on the cell total throughput and user satisfaction. In detail, the mechanism divides the cell into two regions (inner and outer) and selects the optimal size as well as the optimal frequency allocation between these regions with main target to maximize the overall throughput and user satisfaction. The mechanism is evaluated through several simulation scenarios that incorporate users' mobility.