Performance Comparison of Multi-Connectivity with CoMP in 5G Ultra-Dense Network

Abstract

As one of the emerging technologies for the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, the ultra-dense network (UDN) effectively solves the problems of seamless handover in the network and blind spot coverage. In the UDN, 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) has recognized coordinated multi-point (CoMP) and multi- connectivity are two common technologies to improve resource utilization. CoMP is traditionally in-band while multi-connectivity is across bands. CoMP mostly serves to improve signal-to-interference- plus-noise ratio (SINR) via beamforming or via joint transmission/reception while multi-connectivity mostly serves to provide coverage holes with different spectrums and improve reliability. However, there has been no performance comparison between multi-connectivity and CoMP. Therefore, in this study, performance evaluation between multi- connectivity and CoMP is conducted under UDN scenarios. The results show that the performance of multiconnectivity at low user density is better than that at high user density. Moreover, compared with the CoMP transmission system, multi-connectivity can increase the user average throughput at low user density scenarios. The performance of multi- connectivity depends on the user density, the collaborative set number, and the user equipment speed.