What are the main benefits of Coordinated Multipoint?
In future cellular networks, the demand for very high capacity is expected to grow at a quick pace, casting challenging requirements to the dimensioning and the planning of the systems. Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) is based on transmission and/or reception at multiple separated sites with dynamic coordination among them, to pro-actively manage the interference for the users, with a particular emphasis on cell-edge users.
Some of the benefits of CoMP are:
-Makes better utilization of network: By providing connections to several base stations at once, using CoMP, data can be passed through least loaded base stations for better resource utilization.
-Provides enhanced reception performance: Using several cell sites for each connection means that overall reception will be improved.
-Interference reduction: By using specialized combining techniques it is possible to utilize the interference constructively rather than destructively, thereby reducing interference levels.
How important is Coordinated Multipoint for 5G?
According to Mark Lowenstein, managing director of advisory firm Mobile Ecosystem, CoMP started to be used more aggressively in LTE Advanced, as a way of improving service at the cell edge, by utilizing multiple eNBs, boosting the signal and reducing interference.
“But CoMP takes on even greater importance in 5G. Whereas massive MIMO is increases capacity and coverage extending to the cell edge in a macro environment, CoMP delivers some of those same capabilities for a small cell environment. Which is why CoMP is also sometimes referred to as ‘Distributed MIMO’. The capacity gains enabled by 5G CoMP will be important in small cell based enterprise and venue deployments, and the latency improvements will have application in the Industrial IoT realm,” Lowenstein said.
According to a presentation by Qualcomm, CoMP could be seen as an extension of MIMO. “Massive MIMO utilizes a large number of antennas to create multiple spatial dimension from multi-path propagation to increase capacity and coverage and cell edge, while CoMP utilizes a large number of distributed antennas to create multiple spatial dimensions for increased capacity and/or spatial diversity for reliability,” Qualcomm said.
“5G CoMP increases system capacity from spatial multiplexing. CoMP combines antennas from multiple small-cells to create more spatial dimensions. Additional spatial dimensions allow simultaneous transmission to multiple users in the same geographical area while minimizing interference. Utilizing Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) provides high reliability as well as increased capacity,” the company added.
The chipmaker highlighted that factories have challenging RF environments, with blockage and reflections by fast moving metal objects such as AGVs, cranes and conveyor belts. “Blockage can cause sudden drop in signal strength, while reflections can lead to rapidly varying interference from far-away cells. These challenges could be addressed by CoMP.
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