Radio resource management in heterogeneous deployments: A system level perspective

New multimedia services such as HTTP live video streaming [1] demand for higher capacity, especially in mobile networks. In fact, about 50 % of data in mobile networks is currently video traffic, and this number is expected to increase to 70-80 % by 2015 [2]. To enhance the capacity in cellular networks even further, several study items were defined [3] to target peak data rates of up to 1 Gbit/s in the downlink and 500 Mbit/s in the uplink. The different techniques are currently being discussed within the 3GPP for LTEs evolution called LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). A promising approach to enhance the capacity in cellular access networks even further is to create smaller cells [4]. This represents a shift in paradigm from Macro cells to a more heterogeneous ecosystem consisting of a combination of different cell sizes and transmission powers and thus coverage, referred to as Macro-, Pico-, and Femto-cells.