Downlink MIMO HCNs with Residual Transceiver Hardware Impairments

A major limitation of heterogeneous cellular networks (HCNs) is the neglect of the additive residual transceiver hardware impairments (ARTHIs). The assumption of perfect hardware is quite strong and results in misleading conclusions. This paper models a general multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) HCN with cell association by incorporating the RTHIs. We derive the coverage probability and shed light on the impact of the ARTHIs, when various transmission methods are applied. As the hardware quality decreases, the coverage probability worsens. Especially, this effect is more severe as the transmit power increases. Furthermore, we verify that in an HCN, it is better to employ at each base station as few transmit antennas as possible.