Selecting a physical cell identifier in a small cell without using radio environment monitoring

A method for selecting a physical cell identifier (PCI) in a small cell, the method comprising:

• determining a provisioned list of PCI values;
• sorting the PCI values in the provisioned list into a sorted list based on a repeating predetermined pattern and modulo X values of elements in the provisioned list, where X is a predetermined integer;
• and
• selecting, for each sector implemented by the small cell, a PCI value from the sorted list based on a sector ID of the sector.

A small cell for selecting a physical cell identifier (PCI), comprising:

• at least one processor configured to:
• determine a provisioned list of PCI values;
• insert, into a sorted list, at least one of the PCI values in the provisioned list during a first selection round, wherein the at least one of the PCI values is selected for insertion based on a predetermined pattern and modulo X values of elements in the provisioned list, where X is a predetermined integer;
• when all the PCI values in the provisioned list have not been inserted into the sorted list, perform at least one additional selection round, one or more of the additional selection rounds being performed based on at least one different predetermined pattern;
• and
• select, for each sector implemented by the small cell, a PCI value from the sorted list based on a sector ID of the sector.

A method for selecting a physical cell identifier (PCI) in a small cell, the method comprising:

• determining a provisioned list of PCI values;
• inserting, into a sorted list, at least one of the PCI values in the provisioned list during a first selection round, wherein the at least one of the PCI values is selected for insertion based on a predetermined pattern and modulo X values of elements in the provisioned list, where X is a predetermined integer;
• when all the PCI values in the provisioned list have not been inserted into the sorted list, performing at least one additional selection round, one or more of the additional selection rounds being performed based on at least one different predetermined pattern;
• and
• selecting, for each sector implemented by the small cell, a PCI value from the sorted list based on a sector ID of the sector.