On the performance of cloud radio access networks using Matérn hard-core point processes

In this paper, the performance of a cloud radio access network (CRAN) is analysed, which consists of multiple randomly distributed remote radio heads (RRHs) and a macro base station (MBS). Different from previous works on CRAN where Poisson Point Process (PPP) is used to model spatial distribution of RRHs, a more realistic Matern Hard-core point process (MHCPP) model is adopted in this work. To compare system performance of CRAN when different transmission strategies are used, two RRH selection schemes are adopted including 1) the best RRH selection (BRS) and 2) all RRHs participation (ARP). Considering downlink transmission, the outage probability and system throughput of CRAN are analytically characterized. The presented results demonstrate that compared to PPP model, the presence of hard-core distance will increase outage probability. Furthermore, the BRS scheme is more energy-efficient than the ARP scheme. Moreover, it is shown that the hard-core distance has a more significant impact on systems with higher intensity of PPP distributed candidate points and in large hard-core distance regime increasing the intensity of candidate points can only provide a small improvement in outage performance.