Enhancing RAN throughput by optimized CoMP controller placement in optical metro networks

The fifth generation (5G) of mobile communications will target unprecedented network performance and quality of service for end users. Among the various aspects which will be addressed in 5G, advanced cell coordination is deemed as crucial to maximize network throughput. In particular, in this paper, we refer to coordinated multipoint (CoMP) techniques that allow coordinating groups of cells (i.e., clusters) through a coordination controller, namely, a radio controller coordinator (RCC), to enhance the mobile network throughput by reducing interference. We focus on the placement of RCCs in the metro optical network and on its impact on the performance of cell coordination. We provide strategies to perform an optimized placement of such controllers in metro optical networks in order to maximize network throughput via cell coordination. Several CoMP techniques have been designed, whose throughput gain is affected by various factors, e.g., gain increases with the cluster size, while it decreases for larger latencies between the RCC and cells. As current metro networks are characterized by a hierarchical architecture with different levels of central offices, the choice of where to place controllers to maximize throughput gain can be optimized according to several factors, i.e., network geographical dimension, cells density, and available technology. In addition, selection of the most appropriate CoMP technique to be used in each cluster is not trivial, as the gain provided by the various techniques is differently affected by cluster size and latency between the RCC and cells. Our results show that under certain conditions optimized placement provides up to around 10% higher coordination gain with respect to fixed controller placement. Moreover, when adopting fronthaul technology, the coordination gain provided by an optimized controller placement may increase up to 20% in comparison to fixed placement.