On the fundamental characteristics of ultra-dense small cell networks

In order to cope with the forecasted 1000 × increase in wireless capacity demands by 2030, network operators will aggressively densify their network infrastructure to reuse the spectrum as much as possible. However, it is important to realize that these new ultra-dense small cell networks are fundamentally different from the traditional macrocell or sparse small cell networks, and thus UDNs cannot be deployed and operated in the same way as in the last 25 years. In this article, we systematically investigate and visualize the performance impacts of several fundamental characteristics of UDNs that mobile operators should consider when deploying UDNs. Moreover, we also provide new deployment and management guidelines to address the main challenges brought by UDNs in the future.