An opportunistic approach for coverage and capacity optimization in Self-Organizing Networks

Self-Organizing Networks (SONs) have been introduced in LTE in order to configure and optimize the network in an autonomic manner. However, in some situations the reconfiguration of the entire network is not the most cost-efficient solution. Consequently, Opportunistic Networks have been introduced as operator governed, coordinated extensions of the infrastructure that are created dynamically where and when they are needed, exploiting the radio-environment. This work proposes a solution that can enhance SON mechanisms with opportunistic features and is utilized in a coverage and capacity optimization use case, where small cells are deployed in order to extend the capacity of a macro base station (BS). Users opportunistically exploit the resources (i.e. resource blocks) of the small cells. In addition, the small cells are configured to the optimal power level in order to maximize the users' throughput without causing interference to the other users. Furthermore, apart from maximizing the users' throughput, emphasis is given on the fairness among the users and on the Quality of Service provision through a proper resource allocation. The evaluation proved that when small cells are introduced the system's throughput is increased by 15-47%.