8 - The Ultra-Dense Wireless Networks Capacity Scaling Law

Summary

Chapter 8, standing on the shoulders of all previous chapters, presents a new capacity scaling law for ultra-dense networks. Interestingly, the signal and the inter-cell interference powers become bounded in the ultra-dense regime. The former is due to the antenna height difference between the user equipment and the small cell base stations, and the latter is due to the finite user equipment density as well as the idle mode capability at the small cell base stations. This leads to a constant signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio at the user equipment, and thus to an asymptotic capacity behaviour in such a regime. From this new capacity scaling law, it can be concluded that, for a given user equipment density, the network densification should not be abused indefinitely, and instead, it should be stopped at a certain level. Network densification beyond such a point is a waste of both invested money and energy consumption.