An overview of the femtocell concept
Top Cited Papers
- 15 May 2008
- journal article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in Bell Labs Technical Journal
- Vol. 13 (1) , 221-245
- https://doi.org/10.1002/bltj.20292
Abstract
The femtocell concept aims to combine fixed-line broadband access with cellular telephony using the deployment of ultra-low-cost, low-power third generation (3G) base stations in the subscribers' homes or premises. It enables operators to address new markets and introduce new high-speed services and disruptive pricing strategies to capture wireline voice minutes and to grow revenues. One of the main design challenges of the femtocell is that the hierarchical architecture and manual cell planning processes used in macrocell networks do not scale to support millions of femtocells. In this paper, a user-deployed femtocell solution based on the base station router (BSR) flat Internet Protocol (IP) cellular architecture is presented that addresses these problems, and several aspects of the proposed solution are discussed. The overall concept and key requirements are presented in detail. The auto-configuration and self-optimization process from purchase by the end user to the integration into an existing macrocellular network is described. Then the theoretical performance of a co-channel femtocell deployment is analyzed and its impact on the macrocell underlay is assessed. Finally, a financial analysis of a femtocellular home base station deployment in a macrocellular network is presented. It is shown that in urban areas, the deployment of publicly accessible home base stations with slightly increased coverage can significantly reduce the operator's annual network costs (up to 70 percent in the investigated scenario) compared to a pure macrocellular network.This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- Financial Analysis of a Pico-Cellular Home Network DeploymentPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2007
- The UMTS base station routerBell Labs Technical Journal, 2007
- Performance of Macro- and Co-Channel Femtocells in a Hierarchical Cell StructurePublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2007
- Autonomous Self-deployment of Wireless Access Networks in an Airport EnvironmentPublished by Springer Nature ,2006
- Low complexity detection of high-order modulations in multiple antenna systemsIEE Proceedings - Communications, 2005
- Self-deployment, Self-configuration:Critical Future Paradigms for Wireless Access NetworksPublished by Springer Nature ,2005
- Applying emergent self-organizing behavior for the coordination of 4G networks using complexity metricsBell Labs Technical Journal, 2003
- Learning from i-mode [packet-based mobile network]IEE Review, 2001
- A Mathematical Theory of CommunicationBell System Technical Journal, 1948