Multi-Flow Carrier Aggregation in Heterogeneous Networks: Cross-Layer Performance Analysis

Multi-flow carrier aggregation (CA) has recently been considered to meet the increasing demand for high data rates. In this paper, we investigate the cross-layer performance of multi-flow CA for macro user equipments (MUEs) in the expanded range (ER) of small cells. We develop a fork/join (F/J) queuing analytical model that takes into account the time varying channels, the channel scheduling algorithm, partial CQI feedback and the number of component carriers deployed at each tier. Our model also accounts for stochastic packet arrivals and the packet scheduling mechanism. The analytical model developed in this paper can be used to gauge various packet-level performance parameters e.g., packet loss probability (PLP) and queuing delay. For the queuing delay, our model takes out-of-sequence packet delivery into consideration. The developed model can also be used to find the amount of CQI feedback and the packet scheduling of a particular MUE in order to offload as much traffic as possible from the macrocells to the small cells while maintaining the MUE's quality of service (QoS) requirements.