Impact of Network Dynamics on the Performance of Distributed Physical Cell Identities Assignment Schemes

Abstract

Conflicts-free auto-configuration of Physical Cell Identities (PCIs) is a main challenge in LTE systems. This challenge is the focus of this chapter, which provides a survey of present PCI assignment as well as allocation schemes and evaluates by means of simulative studies the performance of four well-known distributed PCI assignment approaches. The simulation is achieved applying two types of scenarios, namely static and dynamic. Static scenario stands for an already deployed LTE network that is a subject to a configuration using a specific PCI assignment approach, while the dynamic scenario tries to mimic the situations LTE networks are expected to face in real-life scenarios. Our results show that network dynamics heavily affect the performance of PCI assignment approaches, and even may transit LTE networks to an unstable state. So, it is essential to consider network dynamics by concept in any PCI assignment scheme to be developed.