Performance of In-Band Full-Duplex for 5G Wireless Networks

Abstract: In-band full duplex is a new duplexing scheme that allows radio nodes to transmit and receive, utilizing the same frequency and time resources. The implementation of in-band full duplex was not feasible in practice, due to the effect of self-interference. But then, advances in signal processing made it possible to reduce this effect. However, the system level performance of in-band full duplex has not been investigated thoroughly.Through computer simulations, we investigate the performance of in-band full duplex, for indoor 5G small cell wireless networks. We examine the performance of in-band full duplex in comparison to dynamic and static time division duplexing. Additionally, we analyze the performance of the duplexing schemes with two interference mitigation techniques, namely beamforming and interference cancellation.Our results indicate that for highly utilized wireless networks, in-band full duplex should be combined with beamforming and interference cancellation, in order to achieve a performance gain over traditional duplexing schemes. Only then, in-band full duplex is considered advantageous, at any network utilization, and any downlink to uplink traffic demand proportion. Our results also suggest that in order to achieve a performance gain with in-band full duplex in both links, the transmit power of the access points should be comparable to the transmit power of the mobile stations.