Load Balancing in Heterogeneous Networks using an Evolutionary Algorithm

Grammatical Evolution (GE) is applied to the problem of load balancing in heterogeneous cellular network deployments (HetNets). HetNets are multi-tiered cellular networks for which load balancing is a scalable means to maximise network capacity, assuming similar traffic from all users. This paper describes a proof of concept study in which GE is used in a genetic algorithm-like way to evolve constants which represent cell power and selection bias in order to achieve load balancing in HetNets. A fitness metric is derived to achieve load balancing both locally in sectors and globally across tiers. Initial results show promise for GE as a heuristic for load balancing. This finding motivates a more sophisticated grammar to bring enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination optimisation into an evolutionary framework.