Heterogeneous networks (HetNets) which combine with macrocell and picocell in the same coverage are key technology to increase the system capacity. Millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is expected to achieve higher data rates or user throughput in fifth-generation (5G) mobile systems. In HetNets, cell range expansion (CRE) technique, which virtually expands the picocell coverage using cell selection offset (CSO), is very important. In this paper, we investigate average and 5-percentile user throughput of the mmWave HetNets using three-sector picocell as a function of CSO in the CRE using system-level computer simulations. We also compare the throughput with those of non-sector picocell, i.e., omni picocell. We confirmed that a CSO of 36 dB can provide the best performance, assuming that the signal bandwidth of picocell is 10 times wider than that of microcell. We also confirmed that the proposed “three-sector picocell” can improve the average and 5-percentile user throughputs by 2.1 and 1.8 times, respectively, compared with conventional “omni picocell”.
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