Channel occupancy cognition based adaptive channel access and back-off scheme for LTE system on unlicensed band

Abstract

The fifth-generation (5G) mobile network is facing severe challenges of the traffic demand surge and spectrum scarcity. To improve the network capacity and data rate, the deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular system on unlicensed band is considered as one of the promising solutions. But the interference problem among LTE and WiFi system on the same unlicensed band hinders the deployment process, which is a critical issue unsolved for network operators. Therefore, a novel channel access scheme integrating the energy detection scheme and back-off mechanism in LTE system has been proposed in this paper, to minimize the interference to WiFi system. The throughput of both LTE and WiFi systems and the optimal sensing time and back-off time are theoretically analyzed with proofs. Furthermore, an efficient adaptive reconfiguration strategy of access parameters is proposed based on the channel occupancy cognition results. Simulation results verify that the proposed channel access scheme with optimal back-off time can double the throughput of WiFi system when coexisting with LTE system on unlicensed band.