The effects of heterogeneity in parameters in wireless cellular network modeling

This work addresses the issue of heterogeneity in the modeling of wireless cellular networks. Wireless network modeling is a complex task because of the large number of parameters involved and the intricate nature of wireless networks. In order to simplify network modeling, researchers often make the assumption of homogeneity; for instance, all cells in a cellular network are assumed to have the same size and capacity, all nodes have the same bandwidth requirements, etc. However, in the real world, networks do not conform to such assumptions of homogeneity; heterogeneity is more prevalent. Therefore, it is important to understand how it affects the modeling of wireless networks so that we can improve the task of network design. In this work, we introduce heterogeneity in various modeling parameters and study its effect on the network behavior. We show that heterogeneity can hide several subtleties, which, if not properly modeled, can lead to misleading conclusions. The goal of this work is to raise the awareness of the community about the importance of heterogeneity and the attention that we need to devote to its realistic modeling.