An Agent-Based Model of Adaptive Pricing in HetNets

Small cells are considered as a key solution to accommodate the rapidly growing end-user demand and the associated ever-increasing traffic load. They are expected to provide fast and low-cost expansion of existing networks, improvement of throughput along with power reduction in mobile equipment. The small cells will offload users from the congested macrocell network, enhance their quality of service and dramatically increase the overall system capacity through the concept of frequency reuse. In this paper, an agent-based model is proposed to investigate economic aspects of deployment of femtocell operators as well as spectrum leasing in mobile heterogeneous networks. Process of leasing price formation is modelled as a continuous double auction, where the transaction price is a result of the bargaining process that takes place between macrocell and femtocell operators. Simulation results show that spectrum leasing can be beneficial for both types of operators and also for end-users that can enjoy a higher quality of service. As a result, higher spectrum usage and a number of connections can be achieved, which is one of the main reasons for introducing femtocells in the network.