Planning and profit sharing in overlay WiFi and LTE systems toward 5G networks

Abstract

With the increasing demand for data traffic and with the massive foreseen deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT), higher data rates and capacity are required in mobile networks. While Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) are under study toward 5G technology, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) Access Points (APs) are considered a potential layer within those multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs). For this purpose, we have proposed in this paper a novel WiFi dimensioning method, to offload data traffic from Long Term Evolution (LTE) to WiFi, by transferring the LTE energy consuming heavy users, to the WiFi network. First, we have calculated the remaining available capacity of the WiFi network based on the estimated load of each WiFi physical channel using the overlapping characteristic of the channels. Then, we were able through this dimensioning method, to calculate the minimum needed number of WiFi APs that ensure the same or better throughput for the LTE transferred users. By this method, we have ensured additional capacity in the LTE network with minimum investment cost in the WiFi network. Finally, we have estimated the profit sharing between LTE and WiFi by considering data bundles subscription revenues and the infrastructure capital and operational costs. We have calculated for each network the profit share using a coalition game theory Shapley value that pinpoints the benefit of the cooperation using the proposed dimensioning method.