Heuristics for the optimized deployment of small cells in next-generation networks

Abstract

Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) have been introduced as an alternative means of improving the overall network capacity. However, HetNets increase the complexity and cost of transport due to the large number of smallcells (SCs) that have to be connected, and hence, it is essential to investigate the best way to plan the joint deployment of radio and transport resources. For this reason, some planning strategies have been put forward in the literature with the aim of reducing both the number of SCs and amount of transport. These systems are generally based on OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) which uses a radio frequency range from 2 to 20 GHz. However, those papers do not evaluate path loss, which is a major component in the analysis or how to design the link budget of a telecommunication system. In this paper, we examine a heuristic for the joint planning of radio (i.e., SCs) and transport resources (i.e., point-to-point fiber links) by using suitable propagation models for next generation networks. Through the proposed heuristics, it is possible to save up to 12% of the total costs of the network deployment incurred by other systems found in the literature.