On the Evolution of Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) Transmission in LTE-Advanced

Inter-cell interference is a serious issue in Long Term Evolution (LTE/LTE-Advanced) system. Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) operation has been considered as a powerful technology targeted for LTE-A standard to reduce interference, improve spectrum efficiency, increase data throughput and enhance effective coverage area, in particular for cell-edge users, by exploiting the interference signals from different transmission points. In this context, this paper provides a holistic overview of CoMP operation in LTE-A system. Here, we consider the downlink operation, e. g. CoMP transmission, as it is more convenient to explain the system effectively. The technical operation challenges, advantages and operation complexities of different CoMP schemes, CoMP architectures and CoMP sets are described in details in terms of backhaul traffic, synchronization effect and feedback design. Moreover, this article provides clear evidence of CoMP benefits in terms of throughput gain and compares the results with no-CoMP scenario. In addition, it is intended for a wide range of readers as it covers the topic from basics to advanced aspects.