Cross-tier interference-aware uplink scheduling over non-ideal backhaul

Interference coordination is a critical enabler of heterogeneous networks. In this paper we present a scheduling cooperation scheme that coordinates the resource allocation and user assignment across layers. The proposed scheme focuses on mitigating the interference generated by macro-associated users in the proximity of small cells by exchanging the information of user assignment on the severely-interfered spectrum. Users that are most resilient to the macro-introduced interference are selected for transmission on the shared channel. In legacy networks the coordination scheme is subject to backhaul latency restriction on the inter-node signalling. We then present an enhanced scheduler based on predicted channel conditions to improve the system performance in the presence of non-ideal backhauls.