Wireless multi-site capacity coordination

1. A system for improving the performance of a wireless communication network, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, perform the following steps:

determining a distribution of power resources for a reference cell based on an amount of interference from the reference cell experienced by user equipment (UE) attached to at least one neighboring cell by determining power resources to assign to sub-bands, and assigning the determined power resources to sub-bands by:

assigning a maximum number of sub-bands available to the reference cell to a maximum power level;

calculating a number of sub-bands to transmit at less than maximum power;

reassigning sub-bands of the maximum number of sub-bands to a second power level lower than the maximum power level until a number of reassigned sub-bands reaches a threshold; and

if a difference between the number of sub-bands to transmit at less than maximum power and the number of sub-bands reassigned to the second power level is greater than zero, reassigning a number of sub-bands corresponding to the difference to a no power level; and

allocating the power resources.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the power resources to assign to sub-bands comprises, for the reference cell:

sorting a list of neighboring cells in order of interference metric values,

when the list of neighboring cells includes more than a predetermined number of entries, truncating the list of neighboring cells to remove entries for neighboring cells with lower interference metric values so that the list includes no more than the predetermined number of entries; and

calculating a threshold value K using the truncated list.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein calculating the threshold value K comprises:

calculating a first value by dividing a lowest interference metric value on the truncated list of neighboring cells by a second value;

if the first value is more than a value I MIN , setting K as the first value; and

if the first value is equal to or less than the value I MIN , setting K as I MIN .

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein I MIN is calculated according to the following equation,

I MIN =MAX subT *MAX timeslots *MIN interference *MIN imbalance *MIN neighbors

in which MAX subT is the maximum number of sub-band resources available to a cell during a measurement period T, MAX timeslots is the maximum number of timeslots during measurement period T, MIN interference is a minimum interference multiplier, MIN imbalance represents a minimum expected ratio between highest and lowest interference metric values of neighboring cells on the list of neighboring cells, and MIN neighbors represents a typical minimum number of neighboring cells that are serving UEs receiving interference from the reference cell.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon further includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following steps:

calculating a number of sub-bands to transmit at less than maximum power SubbandCount according to the following equation,

SubbandCount

=

FLOOR

*

(

2.0

*

ln

⁡

(

I

MT

K

)

)

in which I MT is an interference metric value for the reference cell.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon further includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following additional steps:

comparing carrier to interference plus noise ratio (CINR) values for UE attached to the reference cell to a threshold value; and

if none of the CINR values exceed the threshold value, assigning high power resources to all sub-bands used by the UE attached to the reference cell.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon further includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following additional step:

calculating a nominal number of UE to be allocated to sub-bands with a second power based on a number of first power sub-bands and a number of third power sub-bands,

wherein the first power is maximum power, the third power is no power, and the second power is a power level between maximum power and no power.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein calculating the nominal number of UE to be allocated to sub-bands is conducted according to the following equation,

UE

LP

=

FLOOR

⁡

(

A

R

*

Y

*

L

subbands

MA

⁢

⁢

X

subbands

-

N

subbands

)

in which UE LP is the nominal number of UE, A R is a number of active UE attached to the reference cell, Y is a predetermined value, L subbands is the number of second power sub-bands, N subbands is the number of third power sub-bands, and MAX subbands is a maximum number of sub-band resources available to the reference cell during a measurement period.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein if the value of UE LP equals zero, all second power sub-bands are re-allocated as third power sub-bands.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon further includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following additional steps:

comparing carrier to interference plus noise ratio (CINR) values for UE attached to neighboring cells to a threshold value;

determining whether a number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number; and

if the number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number, decrementing a number of second power sub-bands and incrementing the number of first power sub-bands.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon further includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following additional steps:

comparing the number of third power sub-bands to a second threshold value, and if the number of third power sub-bands exceeds the second threshold value, re-allocating a portion of the third power sub-bands as first power sub-bands or second-power sub-bands.

12. A method for improving the performance of a wireless communication network, comprising:

determining a distribution of power resources for a reference cell based on an amount of interference from the reference cell experienced by user equipment (UE) attached to at least one neighboring cell by determining power resources to assign to sub-bands, and assigning the determined power resources to sub-bands by:

assigning a maximum number of sub-bands available to the reference cell to a maximum power level;

calculating a number of sub-bands to transmit at less than maximum power;

reassigning sub-bands of the maximum number of sub-bands to a second power level lower than the maximum power level until a number of reassigned sub-bands reaches a threshold; and

if a difference between the number of sub-bands to transmit at less than maximum power and the number of sub-bands reassigned to the second power level is greater than zero, reassigning a number of sub-bands corresponding to the difference to a no power level;

allocating the power resources; and

transmitting signals from a base station to UE according to the distribution of power resources.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

calculating a nominal number of UE to be allocated to sub-bands with a second power based on a number of first power sub-bands and a number of third power sub-bands;

comparing carrier to interference plus noise ratio (CINR) values for UE attached to neighboring cells to a threshold value;

determining whether a number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number; and

if the number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number, decrementing a number of second power sub-bands and incrementing the number of first power sub-bands;

wherein the first power is maximum power, the third power is no power, and the second power is a power level between maximum power and no power.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, perform the following steps:

determining a distribution of power resources for a reference cell based on an amount of interference from the reference cell experienced by user equipment (UE) attached to at least one neighboring cell by determining power resources to assign to sub-bands, and assigning the determined power resources to sub-bands by:

assigning a maximum number of sub-bands available to the reference cell to a maximum power level;

calculating a number of sub-bands to transmit at less than maximum power;

reassigning sub-bands of the maximum number of sub-bands to a second power level lower than the maximum power level until a number of reassigned sub-bands reaches a threshold; and

if a difference between the number of sub-bands to transmit at less than maximum power and the number of sub-bands reassigned to the second power level is greater than zero, reassigning a number of sub-bands corresponding to the difference to a no power level; and

allocating the power resources.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon further includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the following additional steps:

calculating a nominal number of UE to be allocated to sub-bands with a second power based on a number of first power sub-bands and a number of third power sub-bands;

comparing carrier to interference plus noise ratio (CINR) values for UE attached to neighboring cells to a threshold value;

determining whether a number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number; and

if the number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number, decrementing a number of second power sub-bands and incrementing the number of first power sub-bands,

wherein the first power is maximum power, the third power is no power, and the second power is a power level between maximum power and no power.

16. A system for improving the performance of a wireless communication network, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, perform the following steps:

determining a distribution of power resources for a reference cell based on an amount of interference from the reference cell experienced by user equipment (UE) attached to at least one neighboring cell by determining power resources to assign to sub-bands, and assigning the determined power resources to sub-bands;

calculating a nominal number of UE to be allocated to sub-bands with a second power based on a number of first power sub-bands and a number of third power sub-bands;

comparing carrier to interference plus noise ratio (CINR) values for UE attached to neighboring cells to a threshold value;

determining whether a number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number; and

if the number of UE with CINR values above the threshold value is less than the nominal number, decrementing a number of second power sub-bands and incrementing the number of first power sub-bands,

wherein the first power is maximum power, the third power is no power, and the second power is a power level between maximum power and no power.