The Place Coverage (TPC) - Three-Stage User Association and Rate Maximization for 5G SD-RAN Systems

Abstract

This paper analyzes the problem of optimum user association and sum rate maximization for software defined radio access networks (SD-RANs) with access node diversity for fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. We consider four complementary types of access nodes namely, a massive multiple- input multiple-output (MIMO) base station (BS), MIMO BSs, small cells (SCs), and indoor and outdoor distributed antenna systems (DAS). The SDRAN user association problem is solved through a novel three-stage optimization scheme called the place coverage (TPC). TPC divides the user equipment (UEs) into two sets of indoor and outdoor UEs. Initially, TPC associates indoor UEs with the indoor DAS access nodes. Next, outdoor UEs are associated with the outdoor DAS access nodes, SCs, MIMO BSs, and the massive MIMO BS. Finally, the remaining resources of indoor and outdoor access nodes are used to serve the UEs that have not been served. The scope of TPC is multifold. First, TPC reflects the closest model to a real-world diverse 5G network. Secondly, servicing the indoor UEs with iDAS antennas results in lower power load per user for the access network resulting in better coverage, quality, and data speed. Thirdly, TPC provides reduced radiation levels for indoor UEs. Numerical results show that TPC provides significant sum rate and fairness gains over the received signals strength (RSS) based association schemes [1]. Moreover, TPC provides comparable performance levels as the optimum association scheme based on exhaustive search while bringing significant complexity reduction.