Using elected coordination stations for CSI feedback on CoMP downlink transmissions

The higher demand for data traffic and the emergence of new applications has made mobile networks challenging to maintain high data rates for users, in particular those located on the cell's edges. The Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) technology adopted in long-term evolution (LTE) cellular networks allows improving the cell's edge performance. In order to improve throughput performance gain in the downlink, the CoMP scheduler needs to know/deal the channel information for all the collaborating Base Stations. To do so, we propose a method for handling Channel State Information (CSI) feedback, named DCEC: Direct CSI feedback to Elected Coordination station. The DCEC architecture aims to reduce the overhead and latency of the network, and subsequently increase its throughput. To model the proposed architecture in the cellular network, we have used the Discrete Event System Specification (DEVS) formalism. The simulation results demonstrate that the DCEC architecture significantly decreases the number of CSI feedback packets being transmitted within the network and reduces the feedback latency resulting in higher data rates for users.