17th Telecommunications forum TELFOR 2009 Serbia, Belgrade, November 24-26, 2009.

Fractional Frequency Reuse Schem e W ith Two an

Three Regions For Multi-cell OFDMA Systems
Abdelhalim Najjar, Student Member, IEEE, Noureddine Hamdi and Ammar Bouallegue, Member, IEEE
Communication Systems Lab, ENIT
Manar University, Tunisia
abdelhalim.najjar@gmail.com
noureddine.hamdi@ept.rnu.tn
ammar.bouallegue@enit.rnu.tn

Abstract—The co-channel cell interference (CCI) becomes the 3/7 and 4/7 are adopted with difference-set in each cell but
giam sut nhan
major performance degradation to for multi-cell OFDMA
factor without sectorization. The performance of the scheme II is
systems. In this paper, we propose two fractional frequency reuse
compared with the scheme given in [4] where the FFR of /13
(FFR) schemes that can efficiently avoid the CCI in the cell edge:
scheme I where each cell is divided into two regions: the central
has been applied in the cell edge. Also, the proposed scheme
region and the edge region. In the central region, the frequency can achieve an optimal dimension of the central region by
reuse is set to 1. In the edge region, according to a difference-setm axim izing the average to variance ratio of the received SINR.
and using the sectorization technique, the FFR of 3/7 and 4/7 Numerical results show that the proposed FFR scheme has
have been applied. In the scheme II, each cell is partitioned into better performance than the classical frequency reuse scheme
three regions: the central region, the middle region and the edge
tuong ung where the frequency reuse is set to 1 and the scheme given in
region. The FFR of 1, 2/3 and 3/7 are used correspondingly to
the three regions. In tw o proposed schemes, an optimal dimension [3] and [4].
of the central region has been achieved by m axim izing the average The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: In
to variance ratio. In the cell edge of two proposed schemes, by section II, the system model is introduced. The parameters for
using the difference-set notion and adding more antenna, the
switching between different regions are given in section III .
FFR of 3/7 and 4/7 can provide more diversity gain in selecting
the serving sector than the classical schemes with reuse 1 and Simulation results are shown in section IV and we conclude
3. in section V.
Simulation results show that the proposed scheme is a powerful
solution for CCI avoidance in the edge of the cell. II. S YSTEM MODEL
keywords- Fractional Frequency Reuse, OFDMA, Co-channel
We consider a multi-cell OFDMA system with 19-cell
Cell Interference.
structure. The cell of our interest is the cell 0 when the
I. I NTRODUCTION considered user moves away from the base station.
O rth og on al freq u en cy d ivisio n m u ltip le x in g (O FD M ) is onA. e Channel model
o f th e p ro m is in g m o d u la tio n te ch n iq u e fo r ne xt g e ne ra tion o f
The channel model considered in this paper consists into
m o b ile c o m m u n ic a tio n sy s te m s d u e to its a b ility to c o m b a t th e
mobile wireless channel with L moving scatters. The Fourier
in te r-sym b ol in te rfe re n ce (ISI) res ultin g fro m th e fre q ue n cy
transform of the channel response is the time varying fre-
selective fading. However, OFDM is very sensible to co-
quency response which can be described as
ch an n el in te rfe re nce (C C I) fro m n e igh b orin g cells cau se d by
th e use o f th e sa m e fre q u ency ch an ne l. To com ba t the e ffect
of the (CCI) in the cell edge, several frequency reuse schemes L −1

have been studied such as [1] when a cooperative scheme H (t , f ) = hl(t) exp (−j2πf τl) (1)
u s in g a fre q u e n c y reu s e fa c to r (F R F ) e q u a l to 1 ca n a ch ie v e a n l=0

a v e ra g e (C C I) le v e l in th e c e ll e d g e a lm o st s im ila r to (C C I) where
of hl and τl are respectively the complex amplitude and
th e no n -co o p e ra tive sch e m e w ith FR F = 3 . In [2 ] a n e ffi cie nthe c y time delay of the lth path.
reuse of the radio spectrum has been achieved through a The frequency response at subcarrier m of the kth OFDM
se t o f sp ecific seg m e nt a llocatio n se qu e nces. H o w e ve r, the se
symbol corresponding to user n can be expressed as
sc h e m e s su ffe r fro m c o m p le x ity a n d n e e d fu rth e r in v e s tig a tio n
L−1
for im plem entation. W hile the trad itional FR F’s are fixed at
H (kTs, mwf ) = hl(k∆ts)exp(−j2πmwf τl) (2)
1, 3 or 7, som e of fractional num ber like /7, 3/7
4 and
l=0
2/3 are used in [3 ] and [4 ]. In this pap er, w e propose tw o
s
fra c tio n a l fre q u e n c y re u se sc h e m e s: sc h e m e I a n d sc h e m ewhere
II. ∆ts and wf = ∆t−1 are respectively, the OFDM
The m ain contribution given by the two proposed schem e symbol duration and the subcarrier spacing. For simplicity,
is the exploitation of the notion of difference-set [5] w ith we denote H (k∆ts, mwf ) as Hn,m. The pathloss model
the sectorization techniq ue. M ore exa ctly, in [3], th e FFR of considered in our study is the cost-Hata model, so the decibel

319
pa th loss a nd sha do w a tten ua tio n ofn a
user
t the d ista nce
dn 4) examples: Let (7,3,1)-difference set. If we choose arbi-
from the serving base station can be written as [7] trarily the subset (1, 2, 4) and we apply the lemma 1, we can
find the subsets (2 , 3, 5), (3, 4, 6), (4, 5, 7), (5, 6, 1), (6, 7, 2)
P LdB (dn) = 46.3 + 33.9 log10(fc) − 13.82 log10(ht) (3) and (7 , 1, 3) that satisfy the lem m a 2. Indeed, there is exactly
−a(hm) + (44.9 − 6.55 log10(ht)log10(dn)) + SHσ(dB) a single common element between two any arbitrarily subsets.
In the other way and as shown in [3], using the (7,3,1)-
w h e refc, ht a n d hm a re re s p e ctiv e ly th e ca rrie r fre q u e n c y , th edifference set, the num ber of shared channels between any two
a mh)e ig h t. neighboring cells is fixed to 1. Also, with (7,4,2)-difference set
b a se s ta tion a n te n n a h e ig h t, th e m o b ile an te n na(h
is the correction factor for the m obile antenna hight and itand by the arbitrary selection of the subset (1,2,3,5), the fol-
given by lowing subsets (5 , 6, 7, 2), (4, 5, 6, 1), (3, 4, 5, 7), (2, 3, 4, 6),
(7, 1, 2, 4) and (6, 7, 1, 3) satisfy the property of lem m a 2 and
a(hm) = [1.1 log10(fc) − 0.7]hm − 1.56 log10(fc) − 0.8 (4) can maintain a fixed number of shared channel between two
neighboring cell equal to 2.
Th e sh ad ow in g fa din g term SHσ(d B) de no te s a lo g -no rm a l C. scheme I : Reuses (1, 3/7) and (1,4/7)
distribution with a standard deviation σ.
T h e c h a n n e l g a in b e tw e e n th e se rv in g b a s e s ta tio n a n d u se r
n on subcarrier m can be formulated as

gn,m = 10−P LdB (dn )/10|Hn,m|2 (5)

The signal to interference plus ratio (SINR) for mobile n

on subcarrier m is given by the following formula
gn,mpn,m
SIN Rn,m = I
(6)
N0wf + i=1 gi,n,mpi,n,m
where pn,m is the transmit power of useful signal for mobile n
on subcarrier m, pi,n,m and gi,n,m are respectively the transmit
power and the channel gain of the interfering signal from the
ith co-channel cell for the considered m obile
n on subcarrier Fig. 1. Multi-cell OFDMA system with reuses 1, and 3/7
m. I and N0 are respectively the num ber of co-channel cells
and the power spectrum density of additive white Gaussian
noise (AWGN). Using the shannon’s theorem, the average
spectral efficiency of usern on subcarrierm can be form ulated
as
SIN Rn,m
SEn,m = log2(1 + ) (7)
β

where β is the SNR gap related to the target BER given by

the following expression

−1.5
β= . (8)
L o g(5B E R)

B. Difference Set
let Ω = {0, 1, 2, ..., M } a set.
Fig. 2. Frequency band partitioned with reuses 1, and 3/7
1) Definition: Let DS a subset of Ω which contains N
elem entsand 0 < N < M. Ds is called a (M,N,K)-difference In this scheme, the total bandwidth is divided into two
set if the set{a − a , a= a , a, a ∈Ω} contains each non parts corresponding to the two regions as shown in Fig.2.
zeros element of Ω exactly K-times. In the central region, the reuse pattern is set to 1 and the
2) Lem m a 1:If Ds is an (M ,N,K)-difference set in a set mobile station is subject to the interference of 18 sectors, so
Ω, then the set defined D ass = {Ds + a(m odM ), a ∈ Ω} is the received SINR follows the equation (6) with I = 18.
symmetric of Ds. In the edge region, by dividing the corresponding bandwidth
3) Lem m a 2:Let S1 and S2 two different subsets ∈ Ds , into seven breakdowns and using the (7,3,1)-difference set,
th e re e x ist p re cise ly K -e le m e n ts th a t a re co m m o nS1b e tw e e the
n FFR of 3/7 can be achieved. This reuse with 3-sectored
and S2. cell provides a significant reduction into number of interfering

320
s e c to rs (c e ll 4 a n d c e ll 1 2 ). In th e s a m e w a y , if th e e d g e resecond
g io n scheme refers to [4] which uses the FFR of 1, /3
2 and
is p a rtitio n e d in to fo u r s e c to rs a n d u sin g th e (7 ,4 ,2 )-d iffe re1/3.
n c e The third scheme is the conventional reuse scheme which
se t, the F FR o/7 f 4ca n b e ap p lie d . Pra c tica lly, this re use c an use the full sharing of the available bandwidth i.e F F R = 1
elim inate all the interfering sectors( except sector 1 of cellin each cell. Some of the simulation parameters are given in
12). the following table.
D. scheme II : Reuses 1, 2/3 and 3/7 ParametersValuesCellular layout19 cell
sitesCarrier frequency2.5 GHzChannel
In this schem e , the total bandw idth is divided into three bandwidth10 MHzFFT size512Subcarrier
spacing15 KHzBS power sensitivity-174
parts corresponding to three regions. The fraction of the dBm/HzBS transmission
power43dBmLognormal shadowing0 m ean
b a n d w id th d e sig n e d fo r th e m id d le re g io n is d iv id e d in to th re e and σ = 8dBChannel modelCost 231-H ata
m odelBER−6
breakd ow ns an d using the 3-secto red cell, th e /3 FFRis of 2 10The cell radius1.5 KmInter-cell distance2.8
a d o p te d . In th is re g io n th e n u m b e r o f in te rfe rin g s e c to rs is se t KmMinim um M obile to BS distance
100 metersBS
to 8 (se cto rs o f ce lls 3 ,4 ,5 ,1 1,1 2 ,1 3 ,1 4 a n d 1 5 ). In th e e d g e height32 metersMobile terminal height1.5
re g ion , the FF R is se t /7 to a3nd sim ilarly w ith sch em e I, th e meters
sa m e d istrib u tio n of th e co rre sp on d in g b a n d w id th is a d o p te d .
III. S WITCHING BETWEEN DIFFERENT REGIONS
For scheduling between the central region and the edge
region in schem e I or between the central region and the
m iddle region in the schem e II, we use as the objective
fu nction the averag e to varian ce ratio of the instantaneou s
reported SINR for a given user.
A. Optimal dimension of the central region
Fig.3 depicts the objective function as function of the
In o rd e r to e n h a n c e th e S IN R le v e l a n d re d u c e it’s v a ria ninstantaneous
ce, SINR γ. It can be seen that the optimal size
we have to m axim ize the average to variance ratio of the of the central region is achieved with γopt = 8dB.
received SINR for a given user. Thus, in our schem e, this Fig.4 shows the received SINR of the proposed scheme with
param eter is used to achieve an optim al dim ension of the reuses (1, 3/7) and (1, 4/7), schemes given in [3] and [6]
ce n tra l re g io n a n d a n e ffi c ie nt u se o f th e a v a ila b le b a n d w id th .
versus the distance between the serving base station and the
The objective function Γ can be written as considered user. We can easly deduce that the received SINR
level decreases as user moves away from the base station due
γ¯(γ)
Γ (γ) = (9 ) to the increase of the number of CCI sources. In the central
Vγ (γ) region, the received SINR is decreasing according to equation
where γ is the instantaneous reported SINR level for the (6) with I = 18. The user SINR values are continually
co nside re d u se r. The o bjectiv e fu n ction is m a ximγop t d by inspected by the serving base station. When the SINR level
ize
which determined as exceeds the SINR threshold 8dB, the user is considered
in the edge region and the number of interfering cells is
γopt = max Γ(γ) (1 0 ) decreasing to 2. ’sIt clear that the perform ance of the proposed
γ
scheme is better than the scheme developed in [3]. Using
B . Sw itch ing betw een th e m id d le region andg th e reg
e edio n the difference-set distribution with sectorization technique, the
The switching between the m iddle region and the edge FFR of 4/7 and 3/7 can bring respectively near 5dB and
re g io n in th e sc h e m e II is b a se d o n th e a m o u n t o f C C I fo r th 2dBe for comparison with the scheme given in [3]. Also, the
proposed
co n s id e re d u s e r. W e c a n u s e a n a d a p tiv e S IN R le v e l th re s h o ld scheme I provides more 2dB and 6dB gain in the
for regions lim it w hich can add flexibility and efficiency to cell edge than the scheme [6] and the conventional scheme.
our scheme for CCI avoidance in the cell-edge. We can also deduce from the cumulative distribution function
(CDF) given in Fig.5 that the proposed scheme provides better
IV. SIMULATION RESULTS performance than the scheme given in [3], [4] and [6].
In th is s e c tio n , s o m e o f s im u la tio n re s u lts a re g iv e n to e v aFig.6
lu - depicts the received SINR level as function of the
a te th e p e rfo rm a n c e o f o u r sc h e m e . W ith o u t lo s s o f g e n e radistance
lity , between user and the serving base station for the
we consider in the following a single frequency m ulti-cell proposed scheme II and scheme given in [3]. Our comparison
O F D M A system an d w e assu m e tha t no po w e r co ntrol i.e th isebased on the number of interfering sectors with FFR of /37
to ta l o f the availab le su bca rrie rs a re tra nsm itte d w ith e qu aand l 1/3 in the cell edge. Indeed, using an efficient distribution
p o w e r allo c a tio n . T he p ro po se d sc h e m e is c o m p ared to th of re ethe valid bandwidth with difference-set in three sectored-
o th e r s c h e m e s : th e fi rs t sc h e m e re fe rs to [3 ] w h ic h e x p lo its cell,
th ethe FFR of 3/7 can reduce effectively the CCI sources
difference-set no tion and u ses the reuse /7 and
1 , 3 4/7 bu t and bring more gain of the SINR level (near 2dB) than the
w ith o u t s e c to riz atio n te ch n iqu e , n o r o p tim iz a tio n re g io n s . FFR
T h e of 1/3. Consequently, as shown in Fig.7, the FFR of

321
 0.6 20
FFR=(1,2/3,3/7)
18 FFR=(1,2/3,1/3)[4]
0.55

16
0.5
14

0.45 12

10
0.4

8
0.35
6

0.3
4

0.25 2
0 5 10 15 20 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
 (dB) dn (m)

Fig. 3. The average to variance ratio of the received SINR Fig. 6. Received SINR for the scheme with reuses (1, 2/3, 3/7) and
(1, 2/3, 1/3)

25
Φ Φ Ρ = ( 1 ,4/7) 1
Φ Φ Ρ = ( 1 ,4/7) [3] [4]
20 Φ Φ Ρ = ( 1 ,3/7)Φ Φ Ρ = ( 1 ,3/7) [3] 0.9
Φ Φ Ρ = ( 1 ,1/3) [6]
0.8
15 Χο ν ϖ ε ν τ ι ο ν α λ σ χ η ε µ ε
0.7

0.6
10
0.5

5 0.4

0.3
0
0.2

0.1
−5
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
0
δ ν (µ) 850 900 950 1000
800
d (m)
n

Fig. 4. Received SINR for scheme with reuses (1,3/7), (1,4/7), (1,1/3) and
1 Fig. 7. Average spectral efficiency for the scheme with reuses (1, 2/3, 3/7)
and (1, 2/3, 1/3)

3/7 in our sch em e ach ieves better perform a nce in term s of

a v e ra g e sp e ctra l e ffi c ie n c y a n d it a llo w s a n e ffi c ie n t u s e o as
f thae powerful technique to enhance the channel quality in the
available bandwidth since 3/7 > 1/3. cell edge.

V. C ONCLUSION R EFERENCES
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Fig. 5. Cumulative distribution function of the received SINR

322
 Σ Ι ΝΡ ( ℘
CDF δ Β) opt
 =8dB

Average SE (Bit/Sec/Hz) SINR (dB)