25-07-2012, 02:45 PM
Femtocells
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Abstract
Femtocells are low-power wireless access points that operate in licensed spectrum to connect standard
mobile devices to a mobile operator’s network using residential DSL or cable broadband connections.
Femtocells have the ability to enable a much lower cost wireless deployment architecture allowing also for
massive increases in overall data throughput. With the WCDMA femtocell market is expected to grow to
approximately 20 million additions in 2013 alone the key market drivers are:
• Improve Indoor Coverage
• Increase Capacity
• Reduce CAPEX/OPEX
• Reduce User Churn
This course offers an introduction to femtocells, the network architecture, the market, and the technical
challenges associated with deploying the technology. The presentation will describe details of the players
and the opportunity as well as real-world insights into the challenges associated with network operations
and management and the radio air interface interference problems. A discussion on alternative fixed
mobile convergence solutions and the cost-benefit trade-off will be performed as well as details of
enterprise femtocells and the advantages of such a deployment.
Course Outline
• Introduction
Femtocells will be overviewed and an introduction to the network configuration will be described, an
overview of femtocell standardization, radio issues, and operation and management. A summary of the
main players and current deployments and trials will also be given.
• Motivation and Market for FMC
The motivation for operators to deploy femtocells and for customers to use the devices will be
described including a future market size analysis and a mini-business case on the advantages of Fixed
Mobile Convergence over alternative approaches.
• Alternative FMC Solutions
A discussion of the alternatives to Femtocells will be discussed including DAS systems, repeaters,
Universial mobile access (UMA) systems, and additional macro infrastructure.
• The Femtocell Architecture
The architecture of a femtocell system will be discussed including the split between the Access Point
(FAP) and the femtocell Gateway. Challenges in terms of backhaul and security will be discussed.
The network gain from the utilization of femtocells will be discussed and shown through real-world
simulation results.
• Femtocell Technical Challenges
The topics of location determination, synchronization, security, mobility, interference and cost are all
challenges for femtocells. This section will cover the options and ways to overcome these challenges.
A discussion on closed vs. open femtocells will be reviewed to highlight the pros and cons of such
systems.
• System Performance of Femtocells in an Interference Limited environment
Detailed discussion of the RF interference issues will be discussed including macro system impact,
interference coordination via radio network monitoring (sniffer) and the benefits of advanced receiver
technology. A detailed analysis using an advanced simulation platform will highlight the overall
network throughput benefits and the expected issues related to the interaction between the macro and
• Femtocells in the Enterprise
Femtocells have been initially proposed for home/residential use, however, the impact in the enterprise
will be huge, with the potential integration of PBX systems and lowering the cost of mobile cell-phone
use to enterprise customers. We will discuss types of in-building solutions, including repeaters,
femtocells, distributed radio and antenna systems.
• Future Femtocell Configurations
In this section we will discuss future topics of femtocells including nomadic femtocells, interoperability
and open femtocell systems, which may use partially shared carriers. Topics such as roaming with
femtocells and an overview of applications that can run on femtocells will also be discussed here.
Researcher and Project leader at NICTA where he leads a team of ten engineers and researchers on a
research inspired commercial project. Mark pioneered the area of iterative detection techniques and is a
leading researcher in the field with more than 50 publications and eight patents. Mark has a mix of realworld
industrial experience as well as research experience where he continues to put his techniques into
practice. Recently Mark was the team leader that realized a 1.8Mbps WiMAX modem containing
advanced receiver techniques that significantly improved the receiver throughput performance in wireless
outdoor trials. Since April 2003 Dr. Reed is employed as a Principal Researcher, NICTA, and as an
adjunct Assoc. Prof. ANU, Canberra, Australia, where he is involved in research, research education,
commercialisation, and linkages in wireless signal processing.
Dr. Zhenning Shi received the BS degree in Electronics Engineering from Tsinghua University, China, in
1998, and the PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Utah, US, in
2003. From 2002 to 2004, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department, the University of Utah, where he worked on joint projects with L-3 Communications to
develop low-complexity detection methods for MIMO communications. In 2004, he joined NICTA and has
been working on the projects to commercialise advanced receiver techniques. He is also an adjunct
research fellow at Australian National University (ANU), where he is involved in the joint education and
research program in wireless communications. Dr. Shi’s primary research interests include multiuser
detection, iterative receivers, channel estimation and synchronization in broadband mobile
communications. He published more than 50 journal and conference papers and filed 5 patent applications
in this area.
History of the Tutorial Presentation:
The tutorial has been derived from material we have prepared through involvment in the femtocell research
and understanding over the last two years (as well as drawing on our 13+ years in wireless). This involves
a comprehensive macro/femtocell network tool for analysis of the interference issue and the corresponding
network throughput containing hundreds of femto and macro users, thus simulating a system that would be
expected when femtocells are deployed in mass. Both presenters are world-renowned researchers in
DS/CDMA wireless systems and have a deep understanding and practical experience in wireless networks.
Dr Mark C. Reed has presented tutorials before at Globecom 2004, WCNC 2007, AusCTW 2005, and
Sarnoff Symposium 2006, Princeton, while Dr. Zhenning Shi has a distinguished and long research
background.