Inter-Cell Interference and Load Balancing Aware Access Point Placement in Small-Cell Networks

In this paper, we provide solutions to the access point (AP) placement problem taking into consideration inter-cell interference (ICI) and load balancing (LB) since these have become of fundamental importance due to the expected network ultra-densification of 5G & Beyond systems. First, to minimize ICI and consequently enhance achievable throughput, we design two Lloyd-type algorithms, namely, the Interference Lloyd algorithm and the Inter-AP Lloyd algorithm, both of which incorporate ICI in their distortion functions. Results show that both of the proposed algorithms provide superior 95%-likely rate over the traditional Lloyd algorithm and the Inter-AP Lloyd algorithm yields a significant increase of up to 36.34% in achievable rate over the Lloyd algorithm. Second, to address the need for LB and consequently incorporate fairness in user spectral access, we modify the Lloyd algorithm so that delays incurred by the existence of a large number of users within the same cell are accounted for. Accordingly, this involves re-assigning users from higher to lower occupancy cells along with a distance threshold to cap the throughput lost in the process. The formulated Lloyd-type algorithm is called the Cell Equalized Lloyd Algorithm-$\alpha$ (CELA-$\alpha$) where $\alpha$ is a factor allowing throughput and spectrum access delay trade-off. Simulations show that for various $\alpha$ values, up to a 20.83% gain in 95%-likely user spectral access is observed with minimal decrease in throughput.