Dynamic load balancing in 3GPP LTE multi-cell networks with heterogenous services

Abstract

Load balancing among multi-cells in 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks with heterogeneous services is investigated. It is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem, the objectives of which are load balancing index of services with QoS requirements and network utility of other services. The constraints are physical resource limits and QoS demands. Then the property and complexity of the problem are analyzed, and sequential optimization method is employed to solve it. After that, a practical algorithm for load balancing is developed which includes QoS-guaranteed hybrid scheduling, handover of users with and without QoS requirements, and call admission control. Simulation is made extensively and the results show that the proposed load balancing algorithm can significantly enhance the performance of LTE networks with heterogeneous services, decreasing call block probability of users with QoS requirements, and increasing throughput of boundary users with only a bit degradation of total throughput.