Adaptive Power Level Setting of Femtocell Base Stations for Mitigating Interference with Macrocells

Motoki Morita, Yasuhiko Matsunaga, Kojiro Hamabe

System Platforms Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation Kawasaki, Japan m-morita@bx.jp.nec.com, y-matsunaga@bl.jp.nec.com, k-hamabe@bq.jp.nec.com

Abstract Femtocells are expected to increase network capacity, extend macrocell coverage, and introduce new services. Because femtocells share the same frequency band with macrocells in many cases, the femtocell base station (BS) must mitigate the interference with macrocells as well as ensure coverage in customer premises. However, conventional femtocell BS transmit power setting have not adequately accounted for the interference with neighboring macrocell mobile stations (MSs), leading to small femtocell user throughput. In this paper, we describe an adaptive femtocell BS transmit power level setting scheme to mitigate the interference with macrocell MSs. The proposed scheme estimates the path loss between the femtocell BS and the neighboring macrocell MSs on the basis of the received power levels from the neighboring macrocell MSs, thereby it mitigates the interference with macrocell MSs while maintaining good indoor coverage for femtocell MSs. According to the system level simulations of downlink LTE, femtocell user throughput of the proposed scheme at the edge of the macrocells is 36 % to 73 % greater than that of the conventional transmit power level setting scheme. Keywords-component; femtocell; adaptive power level setting; interference mitigation to macrocell; penetration loss

a large number of femtocells are expected to be deployed without any assistance from trained personnel from the network operator. Several interference mitigation schemes using femtocell BS power level setting have been investigated. Instead of using the fixed transmit power level, self-configuration of transmit power level based on the measured received signal level from the macrocell BS was developed by Claussen et al [3]. They also develpoed a self-optimization of coverage in accordance with the information on mobility events of passing and indoor users. Li et al [4] used downlink power control to achieve SINR for both macrocell and femtocell users. Standard bodies such as 3GPP TSG-RAN WG4 also investigate interference mitigation for UMTS and long-term evolution (LTE). Guidelines on how to control UMTS Home NodeB (HNB) and LTE Home eNodeB (HeNB) interference by transmit power level setting are given in refs. [5] and [6]. However, these techniques have not adequately accounted for the interference with neighboring macrocell users. As a result, depending on the radio environment where the femtocell BS is deployed, the macrocell performance may be significantly degraded by the interference from the femtocells. This paper introduces an adaptive power level setting scheme based on downlink (DL) reception power from strongest macrocell BS and uplink (UL) reception power from neighboring macrocell mobile station (MS). By using these measurements, indoor loss is estimated for power setting. The proposed scheme mitigates the interference to macrocell MSs while maintaining good femtocell indoor coverage. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with those of current schemes by system level simulations. The paper is organized as follows. Section II introduces conventional two power setting schemes and then describes the adaptive power setting scheme based on the measured signal level from the macrocell BS and macrocell MSs. Section III evaluates the performance of these schemes, including system level simulation assumptions and results. Section IV concludes this paper with a summary of results. II. ADAPTIVE POWER LEVEL SETTING SCHEME

I.

INTRODUCTION

Femtocell base stations (BSs) are small, low-power wireless access points that are typically set at a home or SOHO and connect to mobile operators networks by using residential DSL or cable broadband connections [1]. Because of the ease with which they can be integrated into an existing cellular network infrastructure, femtocells are expected to increase the network capacity, expand macrocell coverage, and introduce new services. One of the major problems regarding introducing the femtocell BS is its interference with existing macrocell network or other femtocell BSs. Femto Forum, an industry consortium to promote femtocells, has published a whitepaper on the study of interference between femtocells and macrocells in various deployment scenarios in UMTS [2]. For example, if a macrocell mobile station (MS) passes by a femtocell, it will receives large interference from the femtocell BS, and the SINR and user throughput are degraded. It is important for the femtocell BS to set its own transmit power appropriately to mitigate the interference with macrocells. Furthermore, it is beneficial that the femtocell BS set the transmit power adaptively depending on surrounding radio conditions because

Proper setting of the femtocell BS transmit power level is essential for controlling the interference with macrocells. In

978-1-4244-3574-6/10/$25.00 2010 IEEE

this paper, the transmit power means the transmit power of reference signal or the maximum transmit power of femtocell BSs unless explicitly stated otherwise. The interference level can be controlled by the transmit power of the reference signal because it is proportional to the maximum transmit power. For conventional transmit power level setting schemes, the fixed power assignment and the power level setting based on the downlink reception power level from the macrocell BS are shown below. Then we will detail an adaptive power level setting scheme based on both the downlink reception power from the macrocell BS and the uplink reception power from the macrocell MS. A. Fixed Power The basic method of transmit power setting scheme is fixed power setting, which is the current practice used in various femtocell BSs. The fixed power value is preconfigured and common for all femtocell BSs regardless of the surrounding RF conditions of macrocells. This scheme is the simplest and used as a reference to be compared with other schemes. Advantages of this scheme are its simplicity and ease of implementation. Disadvantages are its difficulty to adapt to the surrounding RF conditions of macrocells and likeliness to cause large interference. If the fixed power level is too low, the femtocell BSs located close to the macrocell BS have poor coverage because the interference from the macrocell BS is high. On the other hand, if the fixed power level is too high, the femtocell BSs located at edge of the macrocell provide a large interference to the near macrocell MSs because the interference from the femtocell BSs to the macro MSs becomes high. B. Based on Downlink Reception Power from Macrocell BS The second power setting scheme is based on downlink cochannel reception power of the reference signal of the strongest macrocell BS. The femtocell BS measures the reception power at the initial configuration phase or in operational phase and adaptively set the transmit power level accordingly. This scheme corresponds to the measurement based selfconfiguration scheme given in [3]. The femtocell BS sets the transmit power of the reference signal as P_tx = MEDIAN(P_m+P_offset, P_tx_upp, P_tx_low ) (1), where the function MEDIAN() means the returned value is the median of all arguments. P_m [dBm] is the reception power of the reference signal from the nearest macrocell BS measured at the femtocell BS and is dependent on the path loss between the nearest macrocell BS and the femtocell BS which includes the penetration loss at the building wall. P_offset [dB] is the predetermined fixed power offset compensating for the indoor loss. P_tx_upp and P_tx_low [dB] are the upper and the lower limit value of the transmit power. P_tx_upp is needed to limit the interference from the femtocell BS to the macrocell MS. P_tx_low is also needed to guarantee a certain minimum performance for femtocell even if the surrounding macrocell cannot be detected. With this adaptive power setting scheme, the femtocell BSs located close to the macrocell BS have improved quality

because the transmit power becomes relatively large. On the other hand, the femtocell BSs located at edge of the macrocell interfere less with the near macrocell MSs because the transmit power or the interference becomes smaller. A disadvantage of the scheme is that it is not enough for only fixed power offset to compensate for the indoor path loss. Each building where the femtocell BS is set has different properties, such as the penetration loss at the external wall. If the P_offset is set large while the penetration loss is small such as in 1- or 2- story residential houses, the interference from femtocell to the macrocell is increased. In contrast, if the P_offset is set small while the penetration loss is large such as indoor office buildings made of concrete, the indoor quality and the coverage become poor. C. Based on Downlink Reception Power from Macrocell BS and Uplink Reception Power from Macrocell MS The third adaptive power setting scheme, which is our proposal, is based on downlink (DL) co-channel reception power of the reference signal of the strongest macrocell BS and uplink (UL) reception power from neighboring maccrocell MSs. The femtocell BS adaptively measures the DL and UL reception power at self-configuration phase and then optimizes the transmit power during the self-optimization phase by measuring them. The femtocell BS sets the transmit power of the reference signal as equation (2). P_tx = MEDIAN( P_m + P_offset_o + K*LE, P_tx_upp, P_tx_low ), (2) P_m, P_tx_upp, and P_tx_low have the same meaning as (1). P_offset_o [dB] is a predetermined power offset value compensating for the indoor path loss excluding the penetration loss. K is an adjustable positive factor and can be determined by the priority of the femtocell BS operation. LE [dB] is the estimated value of the penetration loss described in detail below. The relationship of parameters in (2) is illustrated in Figure 1. The penetration loss LE is assumed to be ideally estimated. The femtocell BS is located at the centre of the house. The outdoor macrocell MS is located near the house. If K=1, the reception power from the femtocell BS just before being penetrated is nearly the same as the reception power from the macrocell BS at the external wall. The femtocell BS transmit power is constant regardless of the penetration loss. If K=2, the reception power from the femtocell BS just after being penetrated is nearly the same as the reception power from the macrocell BS at the external wall. Interference level from the femtocell BS is constant regardless of the penetration loss. Figure 2 estimates the penetration loss. A macrocell MS is assumed to be located in close proximity to a femtocell BS. This means the distance from the macrocell BS to the macrocell MS is nearly the same as that from the macrocell BS to the femtocell BS. According to Fig. 2, the penetration loss LE can be calculated as follows:

LE =

1 (Ptx _ 2

Prx _

La )

(3)

Ptx_f [dBm] is the UL transmit power virtually calculated by the femtocell BS. This power is based on the assumption that UL power control is applied for both macrocell MS and femtocell BS as a MS. Then the UL transmit power can be calculated by the DL propagation loss from the surrounding macrocell BS to the femtocell BS utilising the reception power measurement. Prx_f [dBm] is the UL reception power from the macrocell MS measured at the femtocell BS. La [dB] is open air propagation loss between the macrocell MS and the femtocell BS excluding the penetration loss. La is a predetermined value and is assumed in advance so that the distance between the macrocell MS and the femtocell BS can be minimized under the conditions in which the interference from the macrocell MS to the femtocell BS is tolerable. When the path loss between the macrocell MS and the femtocell BS excluding the penetration loss is within La, the penetration loss in (3) is estimated to be smaller than its real value and the transmit power is suppressed. When the path loss is outside La, the penetration loss is estimated to larger than the real value and the transmit power is released.
Outdoor External Wall Penetration loss Indoor LE

This power setting scheme can resolve the problem of the second power setting scheme. If the penetration loss is small, the transmit power is estimated to be small so that the interference with the macrocell can be mitigated. On the other hand, if the penetration loss is large, the transmit power is estimated to be large so that the indoor quality or coverage can be good. III. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The performance of the proposed adaptive power setting scheme and other two schemes in the previous section is evaluated with system level simulations based on DL LTE system. A. Simulation Assumptions Table and II summarize the simulation assumptions and parameters of macrocell and femtocell respectively [7].
TABLE I. MACROCELL SIMULATION ASSUMPTIONS

Parameter Cellular Layout Cell Radius Number sites Carrier Frequency Carrier Bandwidth Path loss from macrocell BS to macrocell MS Path loss from macrocell BS to femtocell MS/BS Log-normal shadowing standard deviation Antenna pattern

K=2 K=1 P_offset_o

Macrocell BS

Rx Power

Assumption Hexagonal grid, 3 sectors per site, reuse 1. 0.289, 2 km 7 (=21 cells) with wrap-around. 2000 MHz 5 MHz 15.3+37.6log10(R) [dB] R [m]: Distance 15.3 + 37.6log10(R) + PL [dB] PL [dB] : Penetration Loss 8 dB
A ( ) = min 12

Interference Macrocell MS Distance

Pm

3 dB

, 20

dB ,

Femtocell BS

where - 180 < 180 3dB is the 3dB beamwidth (70)

Figure 1. Image of proposed power setting scheme

Rx Power [dBm] Ptx_f UL Rx power of Macrocell BS from Femtocell BS (Virtual)

La

BS antenna gain after cable BS noise figure MS Antenna gain MS Noise Figure Total BS TX power Traffic model MS distribution Minimum distance between MS and cell MS speeds of interest
TABLE II.

Penetration Loss Penetration Loss Prx_f UL Rx power of Femtocell BS from Macrocell MS Distance from Macrocell MS (Log scale) Femtocell BS Femtocell MS

14 dBi 5 dB 0 dBi 9 dB 43 dBm Full buffer with 10 macrocell MSs per sector. Uniform >= 35 m 3 km/h

UL Rx power of Macrocell BS from Macrocell MS Distance from Macrocell MS or Femtocell BS (Log scale) Macrocell MS

FEMTOCELL SIMULATION ASSUMPTIONS

Parameter Cell Radius Femtocell Frequency Channel Distribution of femtocell BS Min separation between femtocell BS to macrocell BS

Assumption 10 m Same frequency and same bandwidth as macrocell layer Random uniform within macrocell coverage area 35 m

Macrocell BS

Figure 2. Estimated penetration loss between femtocell BS and macrocell MS

Antenna pattern Antenna gain Penetration loss of exterior wall Path loss from femtocell BS to femtocell MS

Omni 0 dBi 10, 30 dB 38.46+ 20 log10(R) + 0.7*d [dB] d [m]: distance inside the house (The number of penetrated floors is neglected by set to 0) max(15.3 + 37.6log10(R), 38.46 + 20log10(R)) + 0.7*d + PL [dB] max(15.3 + 37.6log10(R), 38.46 + 20log10(R)) + 0.7*d + 2PL [dB] (The same PL is counted twice) 4 dB 8 dB 20/-20 dBm Between 50 and 110 dB 1 100 dB Full buffer 1 10 Uniform 10 cm

smaller. This may be drawback for the scheme based on the reception power. Figure 4 shows the simulation results for the macrocell radius of 2 km and the penetration loss of 10 dB. All three schemes showed similar performance. Because the penetration loss in Fig. 4 is smaller than that in Fig. 3, P_m of the scheme based on the reception power from the macrocell BS is larger, which leads to larger transmit power. As a result, the scheme based on the reception power from the macrocell BS can reach the same performance level as the other two schemes. Figure 5 shows the simulation results for the macrocell radius of 0.289 km (Inter site distance is 0.5 km) and the penetration loss of 10 dB. This case corresponds to the strongest interference between the macrocell and the femtocell. In this case, the fixed power setting scheme always performed worse than the proposed scheme. Femtocell average user throughput of the proposed scheme is 73 % greater than that of the fixed power setting scheme at 0.27 Mbps of macrocell 5 % user throughput. The fixed power setting scheme cannot always compensate for the high interference from the macrocell when compared with the proposed scheme which can adjust the transmit power based on P_m in (2). If the fixed transmit power tries to increase to the upper limit, the macrocell 5% user throughput becomes much smaller. This may be drawback for the fixed power setting scheme. Figure 6 shows the simulation result for the macrocell radius of 0.289 km and the penetration loss of 30 dB. All three schemes showed similar performance. Because the penetration loss in Fig. 6 is larger than that in Fig. 5, the interference from the macrocell BS is smaller, which leads to larger SINR in the fixed power setting scheme. As a result, the fixed power setting scheme can reach the same performance level as the other two schemes. According to Figs. 3-6, the proposed scheme has better performance regardless of the environmental conditions such as the radius of macrocell and the penetration loss of the building where the femtocell BS is deployed.

Path loss from femtocell BS to macrocell MS Path loss from femtocell BS to femtocell MS in another femtocell Log-normal shadowing standard deviation BS Noise figure Upper/Lower limit value of the Tx power P offset /P offset o K La Traffic model Number of active femtocell MSs per femtocell Number of femtocell BSs per macro sector Distribution of femtocell MS within femtocell Min separation between femtocell BS and femtocell MS

B. Simulation Results Figures 3-6 show the relationship between the macrocell lower 5-percentile (5 %) user throughput and the femtocell average user throughput of three power setting schemes depending on the radius of macrocell (CR) and penetration loss (PL) of the building where the femtocell BS is deployed. The macrocell 5 % user throughput is evaluated because this typically indicates user throughput at the edge of the macrocell where femtocell-to-macrocell interference becomes relatively large. Each plot of graphs is obtained by changes in power offset or transmit power values. La in (3) is 100 dB. For reference, the results are also shown for when only macrocell users exist and femtocells do not. Figure 3 shows the simulation results for the macrocell radius of 2 km and the penetration loss of 30 dB. This case corresponds to the environment that had the weakest interference between the macrocell and the femtocell. In this case, the scheme based on the reception power from macrocell BS always performs worse than the proposed scheme. Femtocell average user throughput of the proposed scheme is 36 % greater than that of the scheme based on the reception power at 0.27 Mbps of macrocell 5 % user throughput. The scheme based on the reception power from the macrocell BS cannot always compensate the very small P_m in (1) by the power offset, and P_tx often reaches the lower limit. If the power offset tries to increase to compensate the large path loss to the same level of femtocell average user throughput of the proposed scheme, the macrocell 5 % user throughput becomes

Figure 3. Femtocell and macrocell throughput evaluation in macrocell radius of 2 km and penetration loss of 30 dB

IV.

CONCLUSION

Figure 4. Femtocell and macrocell throughput evaluation in macrocell radius of 2 km and penetration loss of 10 dB

This paper described an adaptive power level setting scheme based on autonomous received power measurements to estimate the penetration loss. The proposed scheme mitigates the interference to macrocell MSs while maintaining good femtocell indoor coverage for femtocell MSs. According to the system level simulations of the downlink LTE with 5 MHz bandwidth, in conditions in which the interference between the macrocell and the femtocell is comparatively weak (cell radius=2 km, penetration loss=30 dB), femtocell average user throughput of the proposed scheme at the edge of the macrocell is 36% greater than that of the scheme based on the reception power from macrocell BS. Furthermore, in conditions in which the interference between the macrocell and the femtocell is comparatively strong (cell radius=0.289 km, penetration loss=10 dB), femtocell average user throughput of the proposed scheme at the edge of the macrocell is 73% greater than that of the fixed power setting scheme. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] Femto Forum. [Online]. Available: http://www.femtoforum.org. Femto Forum, Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells, 2008. Holger Claussen, Lester T. W. Ho, and Louis G. Samuel, Selfoptimization of Coverage for Femtocell Deployments, Wireless Telecomunications Symposium (WTS), 2008, pp.278 - 285 Xiangfang Li, Lijun Qian, and Deepak Kataria, Downlink Power Control in Co-Channel Macrocell Femtocell Overlay, Conference on Information Sciences and Systems (CISS), 2009, pp.383 - 388 3GPP TR 25.967, Home Node B Radio Frequency (RF) Requirements (FDD) (Release 9) , v9.0.0. 3GPP TR 36.921, FDD Home eNode B (HeNB) Radio Frequency (RF) requirements analysis (Release 9), v9.0.0. 3GPP R4-092042, Simulation assumptions and parameters for FDD HeNB RF requirements, Alcatel-Lucent, picoChip Designs and Vodafone.

[4]

[5] [6] [7]

Figure 5. Femtocell and macrocell throughput evaluation in macrocell radius of 0.289 km and penetration loss of 10 dB

Figure 6. Femtocell and macrocell throughput evaluation in macrocell radius of 0.289 km and penetration loss of 30 dB