Femtocell Networks: A Survey

TL;DR

This survey reviews femtocell networks, highlighting their potential to improve indoor coverage and network capacity, discussing technical challenges, and exploring recent advancements and business considerations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of femtocell technology, including technical challenges and solutions, and evaluates their impact on wireless network deployment and performance.

Findings

Femtocells enhance indoor coverage and network capacity.

Technical challenges include interference management and security.

Femtocells have significant business and technical potential.

Abstract

The surest way to increase the system capacity of a wireless link is by getting the transmitter and receiver closer to each other, which creates the dual benefits of higher quality links and more spatial reuse. In a network with nomadic users, this inevitably involves deploying more infrastructure, typically in the form of microcells, hotspots, distributed antennas, or relays. A less expensive alternative is the recent concept of femtocells, also called home base-stations, which are data access points installed by home users get better indoor voice and data coverage. In this article, we overview the technical and business arguments for femtocells, and describe the state-of-the-art on each front. We also describe the technical challenges facing femtocell networks, and give some preliminary ideas for how to overcome them.