Femtocell

Last updated

In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is small cell , with femtocell as a subset. It typically connects to the service provider's network via the Internet through a wired broadband link (such as DSL or cable); current designs typically support four to eight simultaneously active mobile phones in a residential setting depending on version number and femtocell hardware, and eight to sixteen mobile phones in enterprise settings. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors or at the cell edge, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. Although much attention is focused on WCDMA, the concept is applicable to all standards, including GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX and LTE solutions.

Contents

Verizon and AT&T femtocell access points Femtocells.jpg
Verizon and AT&T femtocell access points

The use of femtocells allows network coverage in places where the signal to the main network cells might be too weak. Furthermore, femtocells lower contention on the main network cells, by forming a connection from the end user, through an internet connection, to the operator's private network infrastructure elsewhere. The lowering of contention to the main cells plays a part in breathing, where connections are offloaded based on physical distance to cell towers.

Consumers and small businesses benefit from greatly improved coverage and signal strength since they have a de facto base station inside their premises. As a result of being relatively close to the femtocell, the mobile phone (user equipment) expends significantly less power for communication with it, thus increasing battery life. They may also get better voice quality (via HD voice) depending on a number of factors such as operator/network support, customer contract/price plan, phone and operating system support. Some carriers may also offer more attractive tariffs, for example discounted calls from home.

Femtocells are an alternative way to deliver the benefits of fixed–mobile convergence (FMC). The distinction is that most FMC architectures require a new dual-mode handset which works with existing unlicensed spectrum home/enterprise wireless access points, while a femtocell-based deployment will work with existing handsets but requires the installation of a new access point that uses licensed spectrum.

Many operators worldwide offer a femtocell service, mainly targeted at businesses but also offered to individual customers (often for a one-off fee) when they complain to the operator regarding a poor or non-existent signal at their location. Operators who have launched a femtocell service include SFR, AT&T, C Spire, Sprint Nextel, Verizon, Zain, Mobile TeleSystems, T-Mobile US, Orange, Vodafone, EE, O2, Three, and others.

In 3GPP terminology, a Home NodeB (HNB) is a 3G femtocell. A Home eNodeB (HeNB) is an LTE 4G femtocell.

Theoretically the range of a standard base station may be up to 35 kilometres (22 mi), and in practice could be 5–10 km (3–6 mi), a microcell is less than two kilometers (1 mile) wide, a picocell is 200 meters (218.72 yards) or less, and a femtocell is in the order of 10 meters (10.94 yards), [1] although AT&T calls its product, with a range of 40 feet (12 m), a "microcell". [2] AT&T uses "AT&T 3G MicroCell" as a trademark and not necessarily the "microcell" technology, however. [3]

Overview and benefits

Operating mode

Femtocells are sold or loaned by a mobile network operator (MNO) to its residential or enterprise customers. A femtocell is typically the size of a residential gateway or smaller, and connects to the user's broadband line. Integrated femtocells (which include both a DSL router and femtocell) also exist. Once plugged in, the femtocell connects to the MNO's mobile network, and provides extra coverage. From a user's perspective, it is plug and play, there is no specific installation or technical knowledge required—anyone can install a femtocell at home.

In most cases, [4] the user must then declare which mobile phone numbers are allowed to connect to their femtocell, usually via a web interface provided by the MNO. [5] This needs to be done only once. When these mobile phones arrive under coverage of the femtocell, they switch over from the macrocell (outdoor) to the femtocell automatically. Most MNOs provide a way for the user to know this has happened, for example by having a different network name appear on the mobile phone. All communications will then automatically go through the femtocell. When the user leaves the femtocell coverage (whether in a call or not) area, their phone hands over seamlessly to the macro network. Femtocells require specific hardware, so existing WiFi or DSL routers cannot be upgraded to a femtocell.

Once installed in a specific location, most femtocells have protection mechanisms so that a location change will be reported to the MNO. Whether the MNO allows femtocells to operate in a different location depends on the MNO's policy. International location change of a femtocell is not permitted because the femtocell transmits licensed frequencies which belong to different network operators in different countries.

Benefits for users

The main benefits for an end user are the following:

Femtocells can be used to give coverage in rural areas.

Standardised architectures

Simplified version of traditional Node B and Home Node B (3G femtocell) in 3G architecture NodeB HNB.svg
Simplified version of traditional Node B and Home Node B (3G femtocell) in 3G architecture

The standards bodies have published formal specifications for femtocells for the most popular technologies, namely WCDMA, CDMA2000, LTE and WiMAX. These all broadly conform to an architecture with three major elements:

  1. The femtocell access points themselves, which embody greater network functionality than found in macrocell basestations, such as the radio resource control functions. This allows much greater autonomy within the femtocell, enabling self-configuration and self-optimisation. Femtocells are connected using broadband IP, such as DSL or cable modems, to the network operator's core switching centres.
  2. The femtocell gateway, comprising a security gateway that terminates large numbers of encrypted IP data connections from hundreds of thousands of femtocells, and a signalling gateway which aggregates and validates the signalling traffic, authenticates each femtocell and interfaces with the mobile network core switches using standard protocols, such as Iuh.
  3. The management and operational system which allows software updates and diagnostic checks to be administered. These typically use the same TR-069 management protocol published by the Broadband Forum and also used for administration of residential modems.

The key interface in these architectures is that between the femtocell access points and the femtocell gateway. Standardisation enables a wider choice of femtocell products to be used with any gateway, increasing competitive pressure and driving costs down. For the common WCDMA femtocells, this is defined as the Iuh interface. In the Iuh architecture, the femtocell gateway sits between the femtocell and the core network and performs the necessary translations to ensure the femtocells appear as a radio network controller to existing mobile switching centres (MSCs). Each femtocell talks to the femtocell gateway and femtocell gateways talk to the Core Network Elements (CNE) (MSC for circuit-switched calls, SGSN for packet-switched calls). This model was proposed by 3GPP and the Femto Forum. [8] New protocols (HNBAP and RUA [9] [RANAP User Adaptation]) have been derived; HNBAP is used for the control signaling between the HNB and HNB-GW [10] while RUA [9] is a lightweight mechanism to replace the Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP) and M3UA protocols in the Radio Network Controller (RNC); its primary function is transparent transfer of RANAP messages. [11]

In March 2010, the Femto Forum and ETSI conducted the first Plugfest to promote interoperability of the Iuh standard. [12]

The CDMA2000 standard released in March 2010 [13] differs slightly by adopting the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to set up a connection between the femtocell and a femtocell convergence server (FCS). Voice calls are routed through the FCS which emulates an MSC. SIP is not required or used by the mobile device itself. In the SIP architecture, the femtocell connects to a core network of the mobile operator that is based on the SIP/IMS architecture. This is achieved by having the femtocells behave toward the SIP/IMS network like a SIP/IMS client by converting the circuit-switched 3G signaling to SIP/IMS signaling, and by transporting the voice traffic over RTP as defined in the IETF standards.

Air interfaces

Although much of the commercial focus seems to have been on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the concept is equally applicable to all air-interfaces. Indeed, the first commercial deployment was the CDMA2000 Airave in 2007 by Sprint.

Femtocells are also under development or commercially available for GSM, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX and LTE.

The H(e)NB functionality and interfaces are basically the same as for regular High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) or LTE base stations except few additional functions. The differences are mostly to support differences in access control to support closed access for residential deployment or open access for enterprise deployment, as well as handover functionality for active subscribers and cell selection procedures for idle subscribers. For LTE additional functionality was added in 3GPP Release 9 which is summarized in. [14]

Issues

Interference

The placement of a femtocell has a critical effect on the performance of the wider network, and this is the key issue to be addressed for successful deployment. Because femtocells can use the same frequency bands as the conventional cellular network, there has been the worry that rather than improving the situation they could potentially cause problems.

Femtocells incorporate interference mitigation techniques—detecting macrocells, adjusting power [15] and scrambling codes accordingly. Ralph de la Vega, AT&T President, reported in June 2011 they recommended against using femtocells where signal strength was middle or strong because of interference problems they discovered after widescale deployment. [16] This differs from previous opinions expressed by AT&T and others.

A good example is the comments made by Gordon Mansfield, executive director of RAN Delivery, AT&T, speaking at the Femtozone at CTIA March 2010:

We have deployed femtocells co-carrier with both the hopping channels for GSM macrocells and with UMTS macrocells. Interference isn't a problem. We have tested femtocells extensively in real customer deployments of many thousands of femtocells, and we find that the mitigation techniques implemented successfully minimise and avoid interference. The more femtocells you deploy, the more uplink interference is reduced.

The Femto Forum has some extensive reports on this subject, which have been produced together with 3GPP and 3GPP2. [17] [18]

To quote from the Summary Paper — Summary of Findings:

The simulations performed in the Femto Forum WG2 and 3GPP RAN4 encompass a wide spectrum of possible deployment scenarios including shared channel and dedicated channel deployments. In addition, the studies looked at the impact in different morphologies, as well as in closed versus open access. The following are broad conclusions from the studies:

1. When femtocells are used in areas of poor or no coverage, macro/femto interference is unlikely to be a problem.
2. If the femto network is sharing the channel (co-channel) with the macro network, interference can occur. However, if the interference management techniques advocated by the Femto Forum are adopted, the resulting interference can be mitigated in most cases.
3. A femtocell network deployed on an adjacent dedicated channel is unlikely to create interference to a macro network. Additionally, the impact of a macro network on the performance of a femtocell on an adjacent channel is limited to isolated cases. If the interference mitigation techniques advocated by the Femto Forum are used, the impact is further marginalised.
4. Closed access represents the worst-case scenario for creation of interference. Open access reduces the chances of User Equipment (mobile phone handsets, 3G data dongles, etc.) on the macro network interfering with a proximate femtocell.
5. The same conclusions were reached for both the 850 MHz (3GPP Band 17) and 2100 MHz (3GPP Band 1) deployments that were studied.

The conclusions are common to the 850 MHz and 2100 MHz bands that were simulated in the studies, and can be extrapolated to other mobile bands. With interference mitigation techniques successfully implemented, simulations show that femtocell deployments can enable very high capacity networks by providing between a 10 and 100 times increase in capacity with minimal deadzone impact and acceptable noise rise.

Femtocells can also create a much better user experience by enabling substantially higher data rates than can be obtained with a macro network and net throughputs that will be ultimately limited by backhaul in most cases (over 20 Mbps in 5 MHz).

Lawful interception

Access point base stations, in common with all other public communications systems, are required to comply with lawful interception requirements in most countries.

Equipment location

Other regulatory issues [19] relate to the requirement in most countries for the operator of a network to be able to show exactly where each base-station is located, and for E911 requirements to provide the registered location of the equipment to the emergency services. There are issues in this regard for access point base stations sold to consumers for home installation, for example. Further, a consumer might try to carry their base station with them to a country where it is not licensed. Some manufacturers are using GPS within the equipment to lock the femtocell when it is moved to a different country; [20] this approach is disputed [ citation needed ], as GPS is often unable to obtain position indoors because of weak signal.

Emergency calls

Access Point Base Stations are also required, since carrying voice calls, to provide a 911 (or 999, 112, etc.) emergency service, as is the case for VoIP phone providers in some jurisdictions. [19] This service must meet the same requirements for availability as current wired telephone systems, such as functioning during a power failure. There are several ways to achieve this, such as alternative power sources or fallback to existing telephone infrastructure.

Quality of service

When using an Ethernet or ADSL home backhaul connection, an Access Point Base Station must either share the backhaul bandwidth with other services, such as Internet browsing, gaming consoles, set-top boxes and triple-play equipment in general, or alternatively directly replace these functions within an integrated unit. In shared-bandwidth approaches, which are the majority of designs currently being developed, the effect on quality of service may be an issue.

The uptake of femtocell services will depend on the reliability and quality of both the cellular operator's network and the third-party broadband connection, and the broadband connection's subscriber understanding the concept of bandwidth utilization by different applications a subscriber may use. When things go wrong, subscribers will turn to cellular operators for support even if the root cause of the problem lies with the broadband connection to the home or workplace. Hence, the effects of any third-party ISP broadband network issues or traffic management policies need to be very closely monitored and the ramifications quickly communicated to subscribers.

A key issue recently identified is active traffic shaping by many ISPs on the underlying transport protocol IPSec.[ citation needed ]

Spectrum accuracy

To meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) / Ofcom spectrum mask requirements, femtocells must generate the radio frequency signal with a high degree of precision. To do this over a long period of time is a major technical challenge. The solution to this problem is to use an external, accurate signal to constantly calibrate the oscillator to ensure it maintains its accuracy. This is not simple (broadband backhaul introduces issues of network jitter/wander and recovered clock accuracy), but technologies such as the IEEE 1588 time synchronisation standard may address the issue. Also, Network Time Protocol (NTP) is being pursued by some developers as a possible solution to provide frequency stability. Conventional (macrocell) base stations often use GPS timing for synchronization and this could be used, [20] although there are concerns on cost and the difficulty of ensuring good GPS coverage.

Standards bodies have recognized the challenge of this and the implications on device cost. For example, 3GPP has relaxed the 50ppb parts per billion precision to 100ppb for indoor base stations in Release 6 and a further loosening to 250ppb for Home Node B in Release 8.

Security

At the 2013 Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas, NV, a trio of security researchers detailed their ability to use a Verizon femtocell to secretly intercept the voice calls, data, and SMS text messages of any handset that connects to the device.

During a demonstration of their exploit, they showed how they could begin recording audio from a cell phone even before the call began. The recording included both sides of the conversation. They also demonstrated how it could trick Apple's iMessage–which encrypts texts sent over its network using SSL to render them unreadable to snoopers, to SMS—allowing the femtocell to intercept the messages.

They also demonstrated it was possible to "clone" a cell phone that runs on a CDMA network by remotely collecting its device ID number through the femtocell, in spite of added security measures to prevent against cloning of CDMA phones. [21]

Controversy on consumer proposition

The impact of a femtocell is most often to improve cellular coverage, without the cellular carrier needing to improve their infrastructure (cell towers, etc.). This is net gain for the cellular carrier. However, the user must provide and pay for an internet connection to route the femtocell traffic, and then (usually) pay an additional one-off or monthly fee to the cellular carrier. Some have objected to the idea that consumers are being asked to pay to help relieve network shortcomings. [22] On the other hand, residential femtocells normally provide a ‘personal cell’ which provides benefits only to the owner's family and friends. [23]

The difference is also that while mobile coverage is provided through subscriptions from an operator with one business model, a fixed fibre or cable may work with a completely different business model. For example, mobile operators may imply restrictions on services which an operator on a fixed may not. Also, WiFi connects to a local network such as home servers and media players. This network should possibly not be within reach of the mobile operator.

Deployment

According to market research firm Informa and the Femto Forum, [24] as of December 2010 18 operators have launched commercial femtocell services, with a total of 30 committed to deployment.

At the end of 2011, femtocell shipments had reached roughly 2 million units deployed annually, and the market is expected to grow rapidly with distinct segments for consumer, enterprise, and carrier-grade femtocell deployments. [25] Femtocell shipments are estimated to have reached almost 2 million at the end of 2010. [26] Research firm Berg Insight estimates that the shipments will grow to 12 million units worldwide in 2014. [27]

Within the United States, Cellcom (Wisconsin), was the first CDMA carrier in the U.S. to be a member of the non-profit organization founded in 2007 to promote worldwide femtocell deployment. In 2009, Cellcom received the first Femtocell Industry Award for significant progress or commercial launch by a small carrier at the Femtocells World Summit in London. Additional significant deployments within the United States were by Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless. Sprint started in the third quarter of 2007 as a limited rollout (Denver and Indianapolis) of a home-based femtocell built by Samsung Electronics called the Sprint Airave that works with any Sprint handset. [28] From 17 August 2008, the Airave was rolled out on a nationwide basis. Other operators in the United States have followed suit. In January 2009, Verizon rolled out its Wireless Network Extender, based on the same design as the Sprint/Samsung system. [29] In late March 2010, AT&T announced nationwide roll-out of its 3G MicroCell, which commenced in April. The equipment is made by Cisco Systems and ip.access, and was the first 3G femtocell in US, supporting both voice and data HSPA. [30] Both Sprint [31] and Verizon [32] upgraded to 3G CDMA femtocells during 2010, with capacity for more concurrent calls and much higher data rates. In November 2015, T-Mobile US began deployment of 4G LTE femtocells manufactured by Alcatel Lucent.

In Asia, several service providers have rolled out femtocell networks. In Japan, SoftBank launched its residential 3G femtocell service in January 2009 [33] with devices provided by Ubiquisys. In the same year, the operator launched a project to deploy femtocells to deliver outdoor services in rural environments where existing coverage is limited. In May 2010, SoftBank Mobile launched the first free femtocell offer, providing open access femtocells free of charge to its residential and business customers. In Singapore, Starhub rolled out its first nationwide commercial 3G femtocell services with devices provided by Huawei Technologies, though the uptake is low, while Singtel's offering is targeted at small medium enterprises. In 2009, China Unicom announced its own femtocell network. [34] NTT DoCoMo in Japan launched their own femtocell service on 10 November 2009.

In July 2009, Vodafone released the first femtocell network in Europe, [35] the Vodafone Access Gateway provided by Alcatel-Lucent. [36] This was rebranded as SureSignal in January 2010, [37] after which Vodafone also launched service in Spain, Greece, New Zealand, [38] [39] Italy, Ireland, [40] Hungary [41] and The Netherlands. [42] Other operators in Europe have followed since then.

OperatorCountryLaunch dateNote
Cellcom Flag of the United States.svg  United States of America March 2007
Sprint Flag of the United States.svg  United States of America September 2007provided by Samsung, [28] Airvana (now CommScope) [43]
StarHub Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore November 2008provided by Huawei
SoftBank Flag of Japan.svg  Japan January 2009provided by Ubiquisys
Verizon Wireless Flag of the United States.svg  United States of America January 2009 [44]
TDC Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark April 2009provided by Ubiquisys [45]
Vodafone Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom July 2009
AT&T Flag of the United States.svg  United States of America September 2009 [44]
China Unicom Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China November 2009 [44]
NTT DoCoMo Flag of Japan.svg  Japan November 2009
SFR Flag of France.svg  France November 2009provided by Ubiquisys [46] Retired at the beginning of 2019 [47]
NOS Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal December 2009 [48]
SingTel Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore January 2010 [49]
Vodafone Flag of Spain.svg  Spain June 2010
KDDI Flag of Japan.svg  Japan July 2010 [44]
Vodafone Flag of Greece.svg  Greece July 2010
Movistar Flag of Spain.svg  Spain August 2010 [44]
T-Mobile Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom October 2010 [44]
Moldtelecom Flag of Moldova.svg  Moldova November 2010 [44]
Vodafone Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand January 2011
Vodafone Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland February 2011
Network Norway Flag of Norway.svg  Norway February 2011provided by NEC [50]
Optus Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia April 2011 [44]
Vodafone Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia May 2011 [44]
MegaFon Flag of Russia.svg  Russia May 2011 [44]
Vodafone Flag of Italy.svg  Italy May 2011
Vodafone Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary May 2011
Orange Flag of France.svg  France May 2011Retired in September 2021 [51] [44]
Orange Flag of Romania.svg  Romania May 2011 [44]
MTS Flag of Russia.svg  Russia May 2011 [44]
Vodafone Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic July 2011 [44]
Beeline Flag of Russia.svg  Russia August 2011 [44]
Vodafone Flag of the Netherlands.svg  The Netherlands October 2011
Cosmote Flag of Greece.svg  Greece October 2011 [44]
Vodafone Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal January 2012 [44]
Mosaic Telecom Flag of the United States.svg  United States of America February 2012 [44]
Free Flag of France.svg  France February 2012In progress of retirement as from September 2021 [52] [44]
3 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom February 2012 [44]
Zain Flag of Bahrain.svg  Bahrain May 2012 [44]
Vodafone Flag of Germany.svg  Germany August 2012provided by Huawei [53]
Globe Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines December 2012provided by NEC, Nextivity & ip.access
O2 Flag of Germany.svg  Germany May 2013provided by Alcatel-Lucent [54]
M1 Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore May 2013provided by Alcatel-Lucent [55]
Orange Flag of Poland.svg  Poland January 2014
Sunrise Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland February 2014provided by NEC [56]
Salt Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland April 2014provided by Nokia [57]
Maxis Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia April 2014provided by Alcatel-Lucent. [58]
DiGi Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia January 2015Planned to launch Femtocell in 2014. [59]
AIS Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand January 2015provided by Alcatel-Lucent
dtac Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand January 2015provided by Alcatel-Lucent
Swisscom Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland June 2015provided by Cisco [60]
MTS Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus June 2015provided by Cisco [61]
T-Mobile Flag of the United States.svg  United States of America November 2015provided by Alcatel-Lucent
Celcom Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia June 2016Planned to launch Femtocell in 2016. [62]
Jio Flag of India.svg  India July 2016

Retirement

From 2019 onwards, all 3 French carriers still proposing Femtocell retired their offering, focusing instead on using the Voice Over Wifi technology when a better 3G/4G covering is impractical to deploy.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GSM</span> Cellular telephone network standard

The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets. GSM is also a trade mark owned by the GSM Association. GSM may also refer to the Full Rate voice codec.

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP, UMTS is a component of the International Telecommunication Union IMT-2000 standard set and compares with the CDMA2000 standard set for networks based on the competing cdmaOne technology. UMTS uses wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technology to offer greater spectral efficiency and bandwidth to mobile network operators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3G</span> Third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology

3G is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. It is the upgrade to 2G, 2.5G, GPRS and 2.75G Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution networks, offering faster data transfer, and better voice quality. This network was superseded by 4G, and later by 5G. This network is based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications set by the International Telecommunication Union. 3G is used in wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WiMAX</span> Wireless broadband standard

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a family of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of standards, which provide physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) options.

4G is the fourth generation of broadband cellular network technology, succeeding 3G and preceding 5G. A 4G system must provide capabilities defined by ITU in IMT Advanced. Potential and current applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, and 3D television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cellular network</span> Communication network

A cellular network or mobile network is a telecommunications network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless and the network is distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver. These base stations provide the cell with the network coverage which can be used for transmission of voice, data, and other types of content. A cell typically uses a different set of frequencies from neighboring cells, to avoid interference and provide guaranteed service quality within each cell.

A microcell is a cell in a mobile phone network served by a low power cellular base station (tower), covering a limited area such as a mall, a hotel, or a transportation hub. A microcell is usually larger than a picocell, though the distinction is not always clear. A microcell uses power control to limit the radius of its coverage area.

A picocell is a small cellular base station typically covering a small area, such as in-building, or more recently in-aircraft. In cellular networks, picocells are typically used to extend coverage to indoor areas where outdoor signals do not reach well, or to add network capacity in areas with very dense phone usage, such as train stations or stadiums. Picocells provide coverage and capacity in areas difficult or expensive to reach using the more traditional macrocell approach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wi-Fi calling</span> Protocol that extends mobile voice, data and multimedia applications over IP networks

Wi-Fi calling, also called VoWiFi, refers to mobile phone voice calls and data that are made over IP networks using Wi-Fi, instead of the cell towers provided by cellular networks. Using this feature, compatible handsets are able to route regular cellular calls through a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) network with broadband Internet, while seamlessly change connections between the two where necessary. This feature makes use of the Generic Access Network (GAN) protocol, also known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA).

A Home Node B, or HNB, is the 3GPP's term for a 3G femtocell or Small Cell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LTE Advanced</span> Mobile communication standard

LTE Advanced is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of the IMT-Advanced standard, and was standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in March 2011 as 3GPP Release 10.

In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by using a different radio interface and core network improvements. LTE is the upgrade path for carriers with both GSM/UMTS networks and CDMA2000 networks. Because LTE frequencies and bands differ from country to country, only multi-band phones can use LTE in all countries where it is supported.

Continuous Computing was a privately held company based in San Diego and founded in 1998 that provides telecom systems made up of telecom platforms and Trillium software, including protocol software stacks for femtocells and 4G wireless / Long Term Evolution (LTE). The company also sells standalone Trillium software products and ATCA hardware components, as well as professional services. Continuous Computing's Trillium software addresses LTE Femtocells and pico / macro eNodeBs, as well as the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SWG) and Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG).

Mobile data offloading is the use of complementary network technologies for delivering data originally targeted for cellular networks. Offloading reduces the amount of data being carried on the cellular bands, freeing bandwidth for other users. It is also used in situations where local cell reception may be poor, allowing the user to connect via wired services with better connectivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Next Generation Mobile Networks</span>

The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance is a mobile telecommunications association of mobile operators, vendors, manufacturers and research institutes. It was founded by major mobile operators in 2006 as an open forum to evaluate candidate technologies to develop a common view of solutions for the next evolution of wireless networks. Its objective is to ensure the successful commercial launch of future mobile broadband networks through a roadmap for technology and friendly user trials. Its office is in Frankfurt, Germany.

ip.access

ip.access Limited is a multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and markets small cells technologies and infrastructure equipment for GSM, GPRS, EDGE, 3G, 4G and 5G. The company was acquired by Mavenir in September 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Small cell</span> Cellular network infrastructure

Small cells are low-powered cellular radio access nodes that operate in spectrum that have a range of 10 meters to a few kilometers. They are base stations with low power consumption and cheap cost. They can provide high data rates by being deployed densely to achieve high spatial spectrum efficiency.

AirHop Communications is a privately funded American corporation based in San Diego, CA. AirHop develops radio access network (RAN) software that addresses the installation, operation and performance challenges of multi-layer deployments of small cells in 3G and 4G networks. AirHop's customers are typically base station equipment vendors for wireless network operators.

TR-196 is a Broadband Forum technical specification. Its official title is "Femto Access Point Service Data Model." The purpose of this Technical Report is to specify the Data Model for the Femto Access Point (FAP) for remote management purposes using the TR-069 CWMP.

In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of cell phone mobile communications standards. It is a successor to the third generation (3G) standards. A 4G system provides mobile "ultra-broadband" Internet access. Major Australian telecommunications companies, and most resellers that use one of these major telcos, have been rolling out and continuing to upgrade 4G since 2011/2012.

References

  1. ↑ Dimitris Mavrakis (2007-12-01). "Do we really need femto cells?". VisionMobile. Archived from the original on 2011-04-16. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  2. ↑ "AT&T 3G MicroCell - Wireless Signal Booster". Wireless from AT&T. Archived from the original on 2010-02-21. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  3. ↑ "AT&T 3G MicroCell - Wireless Signal Booster - Wireless from AT&T". Wireless.att.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-21. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
  4. ↑ Gabriel, Caroline (2010-06-30). "Softbank to offer femtocells for free". Rethink Wireless. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  5. ↑ "Vodafone UK SureSignal Registration Webpage". Vodafone. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  6. ↑ Ghosh, J.; Dhar Roy, S. (2015). "Qualitative analysis for coverage probability and energy efficiency in cognitive-femtocell networks under macrocell infrastructure". Electronics Letters. 51 (17): 1378–1380. Bibcode:2015ElL....51.1378G. doi:10.1049/el.2015.0171.
  7. ↑ "Femtocell base station providing communication services based on a car's sensor information". Archived from the original on 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
  8. ↑ 3GPP TS 25.467 V8.2.0 UTRAN architecture for 3G Home Node B (HNB) (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19, retrieved 2011-04-18
  9. 1 2 RUA is a Sigtran type protocol used to carry Radio Access Network Application Part (RANAP) signalling over the IP based Iu-h interface. Like that of the other Sigtran adaptation protocols, RUA also uses the services of SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) on top of IP.
  10. ↑ 3GPP TS 25.469 V8.2.0 Home Node B Application Part (HNBAP) signaling (PDF), archived (PDF) from the original on 2011-09-04, retrieved 2011-04-18
  11. ↑ 3GPP TS 25.468 V8.1.0 UTRAN Iuh Interface RANAP User Adaption (RUA) signalling (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-04, retrieved 2011-04-18
  12. ↑ Femtocell Plugfest, Femto Forum, archived from the original on 2010-07-07, retrieved 2010-12-19
  13. ↑ "3GPP2 Femtocell Standard Released" (PDF). 3GPP2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  14. ↑ "Nomor Research: LTE Home Node Bs and its Enhancements in Release 9". Nomor.de. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  15. ↑ X. Kang et al. ``Price-based resource allocation for spectrum-sharing femtocell networks: a Stackelberg game approach , in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 538-549, Apr. 2012.
  16. ↑ de la Vega, Ralph Archived 2011-07-03 at the Wayback Machine , All Things D video interview 38 minutes in, June 24, 2011, accessed June 28, 2011.
  17. ↑ Interference management in UMTS femtocells — complete paper Archived 2009-08-04 at the Wayback Machine , February 2010
  18. ↑ Interference management in UMTS femtocells — summary paper Archived 2009-08-04 at the Wayback Machine , February 2010
  19. 1 2 "FCC requirements for 911 provision by VoIP providers". Fcc.gov. Archived from the original on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  20. 1 2 "Hands on with the Samsung Ubicell". Engadget.com. Archived from the original on 2012-12-06. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  21. ↑ "Femtocells: The $250 device that lets hackers take over your phone". August 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2015-04-13.
  22. ↑ "Femtocells Are Great, but the Payment Model is Backwards — Mobile Technology News". Jkontherun.com. 2009-09-21. Archived from the original on October 22, 2010. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  23. ↑ "Benefits of residential femtocells". Benefits of residential femto cells (info graphic). Alcatel-Lucent. Archived from the original on 2011-11-28. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  24. ↑ "Femtocell Market Status Report". Femto Forum. Archived from the original on 2010-12-18. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  25. ↑ "Femtocell Forecast 2011". Mobile Experts. Archived from the original on 2011-09-18. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
  26. ↑ "Femtocell forecast 2010". iSuppli. Archived from the original on 2011-01-29. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  27. ↑ "Berg Insight forecasts 70 million users of femtocells worldwide by 2014". Berginsight.com. Archived from the original on 2004-08-05. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  28. 1 2 "Sprint Airave is officially named". Archived from the original on 2009-09-21. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  29. ↑ "Verizon follows Sprint with 2G CDMA femtocell". ThinkSmallcell. Archived from the original on 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  30. ↑ AT&T chooses Raleigh, Charlotte for 3G MicroCell trial Archived 2010-01-03 at the Wayback Machine , Local Tech Wire.com, September 28, 2009
  31. ↑ "Sprint 3G Airave now shipping". Archived from the original on 2011-01-11. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  32. ↑ "Verizon rolls out 3G network extender". engadget. Archived from the original on 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  33. ↑ "Japan's SoftBank first to launch 3G femtocells". Telecoms.com. 2008-09-22. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  34. ↑ "China Unicom Femtocell launch". ThinkSmallCell.com. 2009-11-01. Archived from the original on 2013-07-09. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  35. ↑ Vodafone Femtocell launch Archived 2013-10-17 at the Wayback Machine
  36. ↑ Ray, Bill (2009-10-05). "Vodafone Access Gateway 3G". Reghardware.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  37. ↑ "Boost your signal with Vodafone Sure Signal". Archived from the original on 2010-12-25. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  38. ↑ "Mobile coverage". Vodafone. Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  39. ↑ "Vodafone launch 3G Femtocells". Tech Jungle. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  40. ↑ "Vodafone Sure Signal - boosting your mobile phone signal". Vodafone.ie. Archived from the original on 2012-07-27. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  41. ↑ "Vodafone Hungary adds 3G/HSDPA femtocell to portfolio". Telecompaper. 2011-05-09. Archived from the original on 2012-05-04. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  42. ↑ "SignaalPlus - Overal in uw bedrijf perfect bereik". Vodafone.nl. 2012-08-20. Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
  43. ↑ "Airvana Wins Major Sprint Femto Deal". Light Reading. Archived from the original on 2017-03-25. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  44. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 "Where can I get a femtocell?". Small Cell Forum. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  45. ↑ "Denmark's TDC strikes femto deal". telecoms.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  46. ↑ "SFR Femtocell Launch". Thinksmallcell.com. 2009-12-01. Archived from the original on 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  47. ↑ "Mobile : SFR arrête son service Femto, place aux appels Wi-Fi". Arise (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  48. ↑ "Optimus launches Femtocell service". ThinkFemtocell. Archived from the original on 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  49. ↑ "SingTel". ThinkSmallCell. 2011-04-01. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  50. ↑ "Network Norway launches femtocell service with NEC". Telecompaper. 2011-02-14. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  51. ↑ "Fin de service de la Femtocell Orange". Orange France (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  52. ↑ "Free met fin progressivement à la Femtocell". Univers Freebox (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  53. ↑ Henning Gajek (2012-08-29). "Vodafone: Femtozellen möglicherweise für "Alle"". teltarif.de. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  54. ↑ "Signal Box von O2 für Geschäftskunden: Optimaler Empfang unabhängig von baulichen Gegebenheiten" (in German). Telefónica. 2014-05-29. Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  55. ↑ "M1 deploys Small Cell solution". M1. 2013-05-21. Archived from the original on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  56. ↑ "Sunrise lanciert indoor box für eine optimierte Abdeckung in Innenräumen" (PDF) (in German). Sunrise. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  57. ↑ "Mehr 4G/LTE und besserer Empfang für Orange-Kunden" (in German). IT Magazine. 2013-11-28. Archived from the original on 2013-11-30. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
  58. ↑ "Maxis Femtocell coming soon". MalaysianWireless. 2012-04-03. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  59. ↑ "Bad reception indoors? DiGi offers FemtoCell for Business Users". MalaysianWireless. 2016-06-13. Archived from the original on 2016-01-07. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  60. ↑ "Swisscom will Empfang in Büros verbessern" (in German). ITMagazine. 2015-06-18. Archived from the original on 2015-07-17. Retrieved 2015-06-18.
  61. ↑ "МТС и Cisco завершили в Беларуси тестирование фемтосот" (in Russian). mts.by. 2015-06-23. Archived from the original on 2020-09-25. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  62. ↑ "Celcom 4G network to be upgraded, connectivity problems expected". The Star. 2014-12-17. Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2014-12-17.

Ref. 8 can be found at : https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/125400_125499/125467/08.02.00_60/ts_125467v080200p.pdf a new release exists : https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_ts/125400_125499/125467/10.06.00_60/ts_125467v100600p.pdf

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.