On the Fairness of Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA Coexistence

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the fairness of Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA coexistence in unlicensed 5 GHz bands, using analytical models to evaluate the 3GPP fairness definition and compare it with formal fairness notions.

Contribution

It introduces new analytical models to evaluate the 3GPP fairness definition for Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA coexistence and compares it with formal fairness concepts.

Findings

Identifies scenarios where 3GPP fairness is achieved or not achieved.

Provides insights into parameter tuning for fair coexistence.

Compares 3GPP fairness with formal fairness notions.

Abstract

With both small-cell LTE and 802.11 networks now available as alternatives for deployment in unlicensed bands at 5 GHz, investigation into their coexistence is a topic of great interest. 3GPP Rel. 14 has standardized LTE licensed assisted access (LAA) that seeks to make LTE more coexistence friendly with Wi-Fi by incorporating listen before talk (LBT). However, the fairness of Wi-Fi and LTE-LAA sharing is a topic that has not been adequately explored. In this work, we first investigate the 3GPP definition of fair coexistence in [1] via new analytical models. By tuning the LTE-LAA parameters, we exemplify scenarios when the 3GPP notion of fairness is achieved and conversely, when not achieved. The formal notions of access and proportional fairness is then considered for these scenarios to compare and contrast with the 3GPP definition.