Data Upload in LTE-A Mobile Networks by Using Shared Segmented Upload

Abstract

There have been ongoing efforts focused on improving mobile networks standards to support the ever-increasing user demands of high data rate services. These efforts are more crucial for cell-edge users where their long distance from their serving Base Station (BS), and the higher interference from the neighbouring cells, degrades their performance. Contemporary communication standards, proposed for Fourth Generation (4G) of mobile telecommunication standards, use different techniques to deal with these bottlenecks. Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), is a promising standard for 4G mobile networks, and it uses different technologies to enhance users’ performance regardless of their location in the coverage area. LTE-A employs Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technique particularly to provide high data rate services for cell-edge users. In this context, we present Shared Segmented Upload (SSU), a novel method for uploading large files from User Equipment (UE) to multiple BSs in a CoMP communication scenario. We use Discrete EVent System Specification (DEVS) formalism to model an LTE-A mobile network using SSU. In addition, we employ DEVS to simulate a conventional non-cooperative algorithm to evaluate the effectiveness of SSU in two scenarios: rural and urban area settings. The simulation results show that, compared to the conventional method, SSU improves cell-edge users’ uplink performance and reduces the latency for a UE to upload its data to the network.