Integrated cellular and cell-free augmented architecture: performance evaluation for next-generation wireless networks

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an Integrated Cellular and Cell-Free Augmented Architecture (ICFC-A) for next-generation wireless networks, designed to enhance coverage, spectral efficiency, and user experience in heterogeneous suburban-urban environments. The architecture integrates traditional macrocellular deployment in urban regions with a hybrid cell-free layer in suburban areas, where terrestrial radio units (RUs) and aerial radio units (ARUs) jointly serve distributed users. Unlike conventional cell-free networks, the proposed model leverages ARU deployment and a hierarchical CPU-based coordination framework to efficiently manage user association, precoding, and interference. To evaluate the system, we perform extensive Monte Carlo simulations, examining the impact of CPU clustering, ARU density, and network topology on key performance metrics. Our results demonstrate that the incorporation of ARUs significantly improves user rates, particularly for cell-edge users, and effectively mitigates coverage gaps in suburban regions. The analysis further reveals that the architecture provides scalable performance with increasing CPU clusters and enhances system fairness across the user population.The proposed ICFC-A model offers a practical, energy-efficient, and scalable framework for next-generation wireless networks, highlighting the benefits of hybrid terrestrial-aerial cell-free deployments and providing insights for optimizing network planning in heterogeneous environments.