FEMTOCELL TECHNOLOGIES

A SEMINAR ON-

Presented By-SHREYA SWANKARSNEHA ARORASHUBHAM INANITANMAY TARANUTKARSH BHALOTIA

CONTENTS Introduction History Evolution of Cellular System Working Challenges Features Benefits Characteristics Advantages Disadvantages Conclusion

“ Can you hear me now ? ”• This is often the case in homes and buildings

where coverage decreases considerably as soon as you go indoors.

• People are ditching their landlines in favor of mobile phones.

• It has become necessary to work on new technology that will facilitate calling coverage both indoor and outdoor.

• Femtocell technology could be the answer.

Introduction

1. A small cellular base station, designed for use in residential or enterprise.

2. Connects to the service provider’s network via broadband.3. Support 2 to 5 mobile.4. Allows service providers to extend service coverage

indoors.5. The concept is applicable to all wireless standards,

including UMTS, GSM, CDMA-2000, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX solutions.

6. It also decreases backhaul costs since it routes your mobile phone traffic through the IP network.

7. A femtocell is sometimes referred to as a “home base station”, “access point base station”, “3G access point”, “small cellular base station” and “personal 2G-3G base station”

 

History-FEMTOCELL DEVELOPMENT

In 2002, a group of Motorola engineer introduced a Home Base Station technology.

In 2007, vendors formed the Femto Forum to promote femtocell use.

In 2008, Sprint Nextel released home-based 2Gfemtocellbuilt by Samsung Electronics that works with any Sprint handset.

In 2009, Verizon and Vodafone rolled out their femtocell network service with 3G standard.

EVOLUTION OF CELLULAR SYSTEMS: CELL SIZE

• Cell size decreases dramatically.

Usage: • Macrocell: Rural, highway. • Microcell: Urban, street. • Picocell: building, enterprise, station. • Femtocell: indoor, very high-rate coverage

EVOLUTION OF CELLULAR SYSTEMS: CELL SIZE

TRAFFIC TREND (USER BEHAVIOR)

• 29% of calls placed at home. • 57% of mobile usage at home or at work. • 75% of 3G traffic to originate in-building by

2013. • In the future, more and more indoor mobile

usage.

How does femtocell works ?

Working of femtocell

Contd…

• Femtocells from part of the mobile operation’s network, although they are located at home or in the business. Most of the functionality of a completer 3G cell site has been miniaturized onto a chip, which look and operates like a WiFi access point, and is connected via broadband DSL back to the mobile operator’s network. A femtocell is installed at home and connected to mains power and a standard broadband IP connection (typically DSL) through to the mobile operator’s core network. Voice calls, text massages and data services are provided by the same systems. Femtocells operate at very low radiation power levels (50 milliwatts peak output during a call, much lower when idle), and typically have a range of 200 meters.

 

Challenges-• INTERFERNCE

The home base stations are randomly located inside the same area covered by the larger cellular network and they may use of the same spectral frequencies. When a signal is transmitted, the various transmitters within the same frequency band might not be able to differentiate which one of the transmitter it listening to.

Self-organizing Mobility management and handovers Security Timing and synchronization

Features of Femtocell• Operates in the licensed spectrum.• Uses fixed broadband connection for backhaul• It is managed by the NAP.• The backhaul service provider may be

different from NAP/NSP.• Principally intended for home and SOHO.• Lower cost than PicoBS.• Smaller coverage (low power) than PicoBS.• Smaller number of subscriber (ten or less)

than PicoBS.• Higher density

WHY NEEDS FEMTOCELLS ?DATA COVERAGE

Problem:• Mainly a issue for macro cellular systems

Good voice coverage, but poor high data rate coverage.

• Coverage degrades at high rates.Femtocells :• Extend high-rate data coverage.• Mainly applies to Cellular operators with

macrocell deployment

WHY NEEDS FEMTOCELLS ?BASIC COVERAGE

Problem:• RF coverage holes.• Need to improve voice coverage.Femtocells:• Provide basic service coverage.• Home/Enterprise coverage.• Mainly applies to : Operators for

suburban/rural coverage.

WHY NEEDS FEMTOCELLS ? CAPACITY ENHANCEMENT

Problem:• Data loads exceeding capacity.• Limited macro enhancement ability. (Higher

power may induce higher interference.)• Increase capacity economically by offloading

to femtocells.Femtocells:• Provide localized capacity.• Increase overall capacity.• Mainly applies to : Highly saturated operators.

BENEFITS OF FEMTOCELL NETWORKS: FOR OPERATORS

• Low cost solution.• Improve reliability.• Increases both coverage and capacity.• Reduce coverage holes and create new

converged services.• Reduce macro cell backhaul capacity

requirements.• Works with all existing handsets; no need for

expensive subsidizes on dual-mode (3G + Wi-Fi).• Increases 3G adoption.

BENEFITS OF FEMTOCELLNETWORKS: FOR END-USERS

• Excellent network coverage when there is no existing signal or poor coverage.

• Higher capacity, which is important if the end-user uses data services on his/her mobile phone.

• Depending on the pricing policy of the MNO, special tariffs at home can be applied for calls placed under femtocell coverage.

FEMTO CHARACTERISTICSPhysique– Physically small for limited space in some

households/offices– Silent in operation while generating low levels of heat

outputRF Power– T x RF power is between 10-100mW (lower than 1W by

Wi-Fi)– 3G handset is able to transmit at lower power levels

when being close to the femtocellCoverage– Dedicated 3G coverage within a household (10-200m)– Designed for a capacity of 2 to 6 end-users

Contd…Backhaul• Utilize Internet Protocol (IP) with a flat BS architecture.• Link to operator networks via wired broadband

connections.Interference• Macrocells vs. Femtocells.• Femtocells vs. Femtocells.Security• Security risks due to broadband internet (open

access).• Network security is managed by the IPsec protocol.

Advantages- Lower call charges since directly connects to the core

network through the internet. cell phones automatically switches over to the Femtocells

when they come in their range. Handle up to three or four simultaneous calls, from the

same operator. Operate with normal cellphones, without any

enhancements. General cell towers may require a upgrade when new

services like 3G are introduced. This is not require for femtocell.

Can reduce the number of macro base stations required to cover an area if enough Femtocells are adopted in an area.

Disadvantages-Subscriber have to pay additional data charges for internet connectivity for the core cellular network which may not be easily accepted.

There will also be a question on the ownership and the location of placement, in case of shared Femtocell access.

Femtocells would work for only a particular cellular operator. So, everyone at home may require to change to the same operator.

Service providers are dependent on the broadband services which are beyond their control. So, trouble shooting may become an issue.

Future Aspects-• Research is being done on femtocells

that work on 4G network for business enterprises that can handle more calls simultaneously.

• Since a femtocell hub is primarily used in home and utilizing internet bridge it makes sense to eventually see it with other home appliances as well.

CONCLUSIONS• Femtocells are on a road to nowhere.• Unsatisfactory coverage and the increasing

number of high-data-rate application are two driving forces for femtocell development.

• Femtocells have the potential to provide high quality network access to indoor users at low cost.

• Improve coverage.• Provide huge capacity gain.

QUESTIONS ?

THANK YOU!!!