Performance Analysis of Relays in LTE for a Realistic Suburban Deployment Scenario

Relays are likely to play an important role in the deployment of Beyond 3G networks, such as LTE-Advanced, thanks to the possibility of effectively extending Macro network coverage and fulfilling the expected high data-rate requirements. Up until now, the relay technology potential and its cost-effectiveness have been widely investigated in the literature, considering mainly statistical deployment scenarios, like regular networks with uniform traffic distribution. This paper is envisaged to illustrate the performances of different relay technologies (In-Band/Out-band) in a realistic suburban network scenario with real Macro site positions, user density map and spectrum band availability. Based on a proposed heuristic deployment algorithm, results show that deploying In-band relays can significantly reduce the user outage if high backhaul link quality is ensured, whereas Out-band relaying and the usage of a lower frequency carrier at the Macro layer guarantee better network coverage and capacity improvements.