Maximum Throughput in a C-RAN Cluster with Limited Fronthaul Capacity

Centralized/Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is a promising future mobile network architecture which can ease the cooperation between different cells to manage interference. However, the feasibility of C-RAN is limited by the large bit rate requirement in the fronthaul. This paper study the maximum throughput of different transmission strategies in a C-RAN cluster with transmission power constraints and fronthaul capacity constraints. Both transmission strategies without cooperation (e.g. "no cooperation transmission") and with cooperation (e.g. "distributed MIMO") between different cells are considered. Simulation results show that "distributed MIMO" has a better performance than "no cooperation transmission" with high RRH power constraint, high fronthaul capacity constraint and when the UEs are located at cell edge area.