Advances in Stochastic Geometry for Cellular Networks

The mathematical modeling and performance analysis of cellular networks have seen a major paradigm shift with the application of stochastic geometry. The main purpose of stochastic geometry is to endow probability distributions on the locations of the base stations (BSs) and users in a network, which, in turn, provides an analytical handle on the performance evaluation of cellular networks. To preserve the tractability of analysis, the common practice is to assume complete spatial randomness} of the network topology. In other words, the locations of users and BSs are modeled as independent homogeneous Poisson point processes (PPPs). Despite its usefulness, the PPP-based network models fail to capture any spatial coupling between the users and BSs which is dominant in a multi-tier cellular network (also known as the heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets)) consisting of macro and small cells. For instance, the users tend to form hotspots or clusters at certain locations and the small cell BSs (SBSs) are deployed at higher densities at these locations of the hotspots in order to cater to the high data demand. Such user-centric deployments naturally couple the locations of the users and SBSs. On the other hand, these spatial couplings are at the heart of the spatial models used in industry for the system-level simulations and standardization purposes. This dissertation proposes fundamentally new spatial models based on stochastic geometry which closely emulate these spatial couplings and are conductive for a more realistic and fine-tuned performance analysis, optimization, and design of cellular networks.

First, this dissertation proposes a new class of spatial models for HetNets where the locations of the BSs and users are assumed to be distributed as Poisson cluster process (PCP). From the modeling perspective, the proposed models can capture different spatial couplings in a network topology such as the user hotspots and user BS coupling occurring due to the user-centric deployment of the SBSs. The PCP-based model is a generalization of the state-of-the-art PPP-based HetNet model. This is because the model reduces to the PPP-based model once all spatial couplings in the network are ignored. From the stochastic geometry perspective, we have made contributions in deriving the fundamental distribution properties of PCP, such as the distance distributions and sum-product functionals, which are instrumental for the performance characterization of the HetNets, such as coverage and rate.

The focus on more refined spatial models for small cells and users brings to the second direction of the dissertation, which is modeling and analysis of HetNets with millimeter wave (mm-wave) integrated access and backhaul (IAB), an emerging design concept of the fifth generation (5G) cellular networks. While the concepts of network densification with small cells have emerged in the fourth generation (4G) era, the small cells can be realistically deployed with IAB since it solves the problem of high capacity wired backhaul of SBSs by replacing the last-mile fibers with mm-wave links. We have proposed new stochastic geometry-based models for the performance analysis of IAB-enabled HetNets. Our analysis reveals some interesting system-design insights: (1) the IAB HetNets can support a maximum number of users beyond which the data rate drops below the rate of a single-tier macro-only network, and (2) there exists a saturation point of SBS density beyond which no rate gain is observed with the addition of more SBSs.

The third and final direction of this dissertation is the combination of machine learning and stochastic geometry to construct a new class of data driven network models which can be used in the performance optimization and design of a network. As a concrete example, we investigate the classical problem of wireless link scheduling where the objective is to choose an optimal subset of simultaneously active transmitters (Tx-s) from a ground set of Tx-s which will maximize the network-wide sum-rate. Since the optimization problem is NP-hard, we replace the computationally expensive heuristic by inferring the point patterns of the active Tx-s in the optimal subset after training a determinantal point process (DPP). Our investigations demonstrate that the DPP is able to learn the spatial interactions of the Tx-s in the optimal subset and gives a reasonably accurate estimate of the optimal subset for any new ground set of Tx-s.