Mobile network operators are facing the difficult task of significantly increasing capacity to meet projected demand while keeping CAPEX and OPEX down. We argue that infrastructure sharing is a key consideration in operators' planning of the evolution of their networks, and that such planning can be viewed as a stage in the cognitive cycle. In this paper, we present a framework to model this planning process while taking into account both the ability to share resources and the constraints imposed by competition regulation (the latter quantified using the Herfindahl index). Using real-world demand and deployment data, we find that the ability to share infrastructure essentially moves capacity from rural, sparsely populated areas (where some of the current infrastructure can be decommissioned) to urban ones (where most of the next-generation base stations would be deployed), with significant increases in resource efficiency. Tight competition regulation somewhat limits the ability to share but does not entirely jeopardize those gains, while having the secondary effect of encouraging the wider deployment of next-generation technologies.
Resource sharing in inter-operator cellular networks, in fact, is another important aspect of our work and it has been studied in @cite_22 @cite_19 @cite_30 @cite_23 . @cite_22 the authors analyze feasible sharing options in the near-term in LTE using co-located and non co-located base stations. Authors in @cite_19 assess the benefit of sharing both infrastructure and spectrum, using real base station deployment data. @cite_30 the authors have studied sharing opportunities between two operators, by looking at spatial variation in demand peaks. All the results obtained in these works suggest that resource sharing, whether spectrum or infrastructure, increases the network capacity and the ability to satisfy users' requirements. However none of them addresses the problem of to efficiently plan a shared network composed by resources already deployed by existing operators. In our previous work @cite_23 we investigate the obtained by combining existing cellular networks considering the coverage redundancy in real deployments in Poland but, unlike this paper, our earlier work does not address capacity requirements nor regulatory constraints.
@cite_30 @cite_19 @cite_22 @cite_23
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As cellular networks are turning into a platform for ubiquitous data access, cellular operators are facing a severe data capacity crisis due to the exponential growth of traffic generated by mobile users. In this work, we investigate the benefits of sharing infrastructure and spectrum among two cellular operators. Specifically, we provide a multi-cell analytical model using stochastic geometry to identify the performance gain under different sharing strategies, which gives tractable and accurate results. To validate the performance using a realistic setting, we conduct extensive simulations for a multi-cell OFDMA system using real base station locations. Both analytical and simulation results show that even a simple cooperation strategy between two similar operators, where they share spectrum and base stations, roughly quadruples capacity as compared to the capacity of a single operator. This is equivalent to doubling the capacity per customer, providing a strong incentive for operators to cooperate, if not actually merge. Resource sharing among mobile network operators is a promising way to tackle growing data demand by increasing capacity and reducing costs of network infrastructure deployment and operation. In this work, we evaluate sharing options that range from simple approaches that are feasible in the near-term on traditional infrastructure to complex methods that require specialized virtualized infrastructure. We build a simulation testbed supporting two geographically overlapped 4G LTE macro cellular networks and model the sharing architecture process between the network operators. We compare Capacity Sharing (CS) and Spectrum Sharing (SS) on traditional infrastructure and Virtualized Spectrum Sharing (VSS) and Virtualized PRB Sharing (VPS) on virtualized infrastructure under light, moderate and heavy user loading scenarios in collocated and noncollocated E-UTRAN deployment topologies. We also study these sharing options in conservative and aggressive sharing participation modes. Based on simulation results, we conclude that CS, a generalization of traditional roaming, is the best performing and simplest option, SS is least effective and that VSS and VPS perform better than spectrum sharing with added complexity. Spectrum sharing is a promising solution for the problem of spectrum congestion. We consider a spectrum sharing scenario between a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar and Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced cellular system. In this paper, we consider resource allocation optimization problem with carrier aggregation. The LTE Advanced system has N BS base stations (BS) which it operates in the radar band on a sharing basis. Our objective is to allocate resources from the LTE Advanced carrier and the MIMO radar carrier to each user equipment (UE) in an LTE Advanced cell based on the running application of UE. Each user application is assigned a utility function based on the type of application. We propose a carrier aggregation resource allocation algorithm to allocate the LTE Advanced and the radar carriers' resources optimally among users based on the type of user application. The algorithm gives priority to users running inelastic traffic when allocating resources. Finally we present simulation results on the performance of the proposed carrier aggregation resource allocation algorithm. Heterogeneous networks consisting of small cells (e.g. femtocells) are capable of achieving high capacity and improving indoor cellular coverage area, while the fractional frequency reuse (FFR) scheme has been proposed for upcoming and future cellular systems to improve spectral efficiency in cellular OFDM networks. In two-tier networks of macrocells layered with femtocells, the resource allocation will most likely be sharing the same licensed spectrum. In this paper, we formulate a simple femtocells resource allocation strategies that allows a femtocells base station (FBS) to allocate more resources (co-channel) in high usage areas such as commercial FBS (cFBS) and orthogonal resource allocation for randomly deployed home user FBS (hFBS). We analyze our strategy in a multi-cell systems using area spectral efficiency (ASE) in composite fading consisting of Nakagami-m fading, path-loss and log-normal shadowing. Analytical and simulation results show that our simple resource allocation strategies are able to reduce inter-tier interferences and to offer an improvement in the overall spectral efficiency of the two-tier systems.