Evaluating Full Duplex Potential In Dense Small Cells From Channel Measurements

Full duplex transmission is envisioned as one of the potential breakthrough for a 5th Generation (5G) radio access technology. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of full duplex transmission in a network of dense small cells by using real channel measurements. A large measurement campaign is carried out in an indoor office and an open hall scenario, and such measurements are then fed to a system level simulator for offline analysis. Cell throughput results show that the promised 100% performance gain of full duplex over traditional half duplex transmission is significantly jeopardized by the increase of the intercell interference due to the simultaneous transmission and reception, and is further reduced in case of low cell activity factor.