Throughput and Energy Efficiency of Two-tier Cellular Networks: Massive MIMO Overlay for Small Cells

In this paper, the downlink performance of two-tier heterogenous network is investigated. We consider a scenario where the macro-tier is empowered by massive antenna-array thus allowing for Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission scheduling. The small cellular network complements the macro-tier capacity. We propose a novel channel allocation mechanism which optimally splits the spectral resources to maximize network level throughput and energy efficiency. Our proposed channel allocation mechanism is robust to the topological and channel variations. More specifically, the proposed scheme is designed by capturing the random locations of the users in both tiers by a Poisson Point Process (PPP). The channel uncertainty is captured by considering Rayleigh fading complemented by large scale power law path-loss. Our analysis shows that there exists an optimal split which maximizes the network wide throughput and energy efficiency. We also demonstrate that there exists an optimal transmit power which maximizes the energy efficiency for the network. Under different scenarios, massive MIMO plays a vital role in improving sum rate capacity as compared to single antenna femtocells. Finally, using implementation parameters, we obtain the optimal configurations that improve system capacity and energy efficiency.