The Sector Offset Configurations Concept and its Applicability to Heterogeneous Cellular Networks

Wireless data traffic is increasing in an exponential manner, and thus vendors and operators are looking for costeffective solutions to meet user equipment demands. In this paper, a joint optimisation of both small cells and macrocells is presented through the novel concept of sector offset configuration, which helps to significantly improve UE performance. The proposed sector offset configuration complements Release 10 enhanced intercell interference coordination, and further increases its interference mitigation capabilities. Simulation results for LTE show that compared to a network that uses standardised Release 10 Almost Blank Subframe (ABS), the proposed configuration can improve expanded-region User Equipments (UEs) performance by 50 %. The proposed configuration can mitigate handover failures by 46 %, since handovers start at a higher signal quality due to alleviated interference conditions. These benefits come at the cost of an increased number of antennas at the macrocell site to achieve the sector offset configuration. The concept is fully compatible with current mobile devices and cellular standards, and is in general easy to implement.