Simulation Study of Fractional Frequency Reuse in WiMAX Networks

Abstract

WiMAX is a metropolitan area network (MAN) wireless technology that provides high-quality broadband services to mobile users. For maximum usage of the available spectrum, each cell should operate on the whole available bandwidth. However, this leads to unacceptable interference for cell edge users and reduces the coverage. This paper reports on a study of fractional frequency reuse (FFR) in WiMAX networks, which is a promising approach for reducing interference at the cell edge. Simulation results show that FFR can provide significant coverage gains by reducing the cell edge interference while retaining high utilisation of the spectrum. FFR can therefore be regarded as an essential technique for interference management in WiMAX networks.