Femto Cell

Ali Raza, D.S.
De Silva Femtocells; What, Why and How
Femtocells: What, Why and How
by
Ali Raza, Dadallage Samansiri De Silva
Supervisor: Frank Y. Li
Project report for IKT 411 in Spring 2010
Department of Information and Communication Technology

Faculty of Engineering and Science
University of Agder
Grimstad, 14 March 2017

Status: Final
Keywords: Femtocell, UMTS, WiFi, HNB
Version (0.9) Page 1 of 41

Ali Raza, D.S. De Silva Femtocells; What, Why and How
Abstract:
In today’s cellular networks Femtocell is the air access technology that promises to cope with issues like
weak signal strength indoor and it is also regarded as a solution that helps to reduce the capital and
operational expenses of a mobile network while enhancing system coverage and capacity. With the joint
deployment of Femtocells and Macrocells (Femtocells over the top of Macrocells) voice and data
communication is carried out using cellular technology (2G, 3G) with IP backhaul through customer’s
broadband connection i.e., DSL or cable modem etc. This report covers an overview of Femtocell mainly
in three areas what is femtocell, why do we need it and how is it deployed. We start with brief discussion
about the benefits and challenges related to joint deployment of Femtocells and Macrocells. Then a few
key challenges are for instance the access strategies, access technology, interference, security, architecture
and how femtocell can be connected to 3G discussed in details. Furthermore, the competitive features of
Femtocells compared with that WiFi and consist of competitive features as compared to WiFi and the
causes which react for success of WiFi were discussed. The report also contains a brief analysis on the
market success of femtocell.

Version Control
Version1 Status2 Date3 Change4 Author5
0.1 Draft 2010 Apr 20 Report structure and chapter one Ali and De Silva
0.2 Draft 2010 Apr 21 Femtocell architecture chapter three D.S. De Silva
0.3 Draft 2010 Apr 26 RF Interference chapter three Ali
0.4 Draft 2010 Apr 26 Femtocell versus WiFi chapter four D.S. De Silva
0.5 Draft 2010 Apr 29 Market penetration chapter five D.S. De Silva
0.6 Draft 2010 Apr 30 Management System chapter three Ali
0.7 Draft 2010 May 01 Connection with 3G & Access Strategies Ali
0.8 Draft 2010 May 05 Femtocell security architecture chapter three D.S. De Silva
0.9 Draft 2010 May 15 Chapter two and chapter six Ali & De Silva
1.0 Final 2010 may 30 All chapters were corrected Ali & De Silva
Remark from Ali and De Silva
1 Version indicates the version number starting at 0.1 for the first draft and 1.0 for the first review version.
2 Status is DRAFT, REVIEW or FINAL
3 Date is given in ISO format: yyyy-mm-dd
4 Change describes the changes carried out since the previous version
5 Author is the one who did the change

Preface
This report is the result of a project in the course IKT411-Advanced Project to fulfil requirement of
second semester course content, at Faculty of Engineering and Science, University of Agder (UIA) in
Grimstad, Norway. The work on the project began 07 March 2010 and ended 30 May 2010. We
successfully completed the main goals and objectives of the project called “Femtocell; What, Why
and How”.
We would like to thank our project supervisor Associate Professor Frank Y. Li for his assistance in
giving feedback on both the technical and content of the report and project presentation. In his
supervision we learned a lot about the project content and technical report writing. We also want to
thank supervisor group for master projects Jan Pettersen Nytun on behalf of his constructive
suggestions and inspiration.
Ali Raza, Dadallage Samansiri De Silva
Grimstad,
April 2010

Contents
1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 Background............................................................................................................... 6
1.2 Motivation ................................................................................................................ 7
1.3 Goals........................................................................................................................ 9
1.4 Report outline............................................................................................................ 9
2 Technical Challenges and Possible Solutions ................................................................... 10
2.1. CDMA and OFDMA................................................................................................... 10
2.2. Challenges related to Femtocells, WiFi and related solutions............................................ 10
3 Adopted Solutions ........................................................................................................ 12
3.1 Femtocell Architecture ............................................................................................. 12
3.2 Connection with 3G and Access Strategies.................................................................. 14
3.3 RF Interference and Handoff ..................................................................................... 18
3.4 Security .................................................................................................................. 20
3.5 Femtocell Management System ................................................................................. 23
4 Femtocell versus WiFi .................................................................................................. 24
4.1 Femtocell and WiFi .................................................................................................. 24
4.2 Cellular - Femtocell and Cellular – WiFi convergence .................................................. 25
4.3 Technical Differences............................................................................................... 26
5 Market Penetration ....................................................................................................... 31
5.1 Femtocell Deployment in world wide ......................................................................... 31
5.2 Deployment in Norway............................................................................................. 32
5.3. What will be in future for Femtocells? ........................................................................... 33
6 Our contribution ........................................................................................................... 35
6.1 Bandwidth Allocation Control ................................................................................... 35
6.2 Femtocell and WiFi at home ..................................................................................... 36
6.3 Why WiFi? ............................................................................................................. 36
7 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 38

1 Introduction
The advance of wireless communications has introduced many technologies into market, primarily
through two different directions i-e cellular systems and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs).
Cellular networks consist of a dedicated terrestrial backbone while WLANs usually connect directly
to the IP network. In cellular systems one of the major issues is weak or degraded network signal for
indoor users in apartments or buildings. To address this issue cells sizes smaller than Macrocell were
introduced namely Micro and Picocells. Since these technologies were purely cellular which cater
primarily for voice services with mobility these could only increase the network coverage but on the
other hand required much resources for their deployment. Femtocell is a recent technology and a
direct ancestor of cellular technology which can be regarded as scaled down base station or home
node B [9]. In other words Femtocells are cellular network access points that connect standard mobile
devices to a mobile operator’s network using existing residential broadband connection such as DSL
or cable connections.
According to project specification, the report is designed to cover three main areas of the femtocell
technology. First we have to give a brief introduction of Femtocells and its architecture. Then we turn
to the motivations behind the introduction of this technology and then finally we will discuss the
technical challenges and may possibly propose some solution for some specific problems.
1.1 Background
The need for better coverage and Quality of Service (QoS) in areas where macro network could not
reach or the network signal was degraded but operators could generate sufficient revenue leaded
towards the advent of smaller base stations, microcells and picocells. Micro in the mathematical terms
is 10-6 whereas Pico is 10-12. In the year 2002, the smallest Access Point (AP) was developed and
named Femto representing 10-15. Femtocells are low-power; low-cast, user-deployed base stations that
are able to provide high-quality cellular service in residential or enterprise environment while
operating in licensed spectrum. For residential applications they offer a typical coverage range on the
order of tens of meters and it is due to its very short coverage area and smaller size that it got the
name femto. [1, 2]
Femtocell is a recent technology in

modern telecommunication world.
Femtocell claim to improve system
capacity according to Shannon’s law by
reducing the distance between
transmitter and receiver and thus
improving the Signal-to-Noise Ratio
(SNR).Since in today’s
telecommunication network most the
data traffic occurs indoor and Macrocells
are not very efficient when delivering
indoor coverage due to high penetration
losses and thus providing sufficient
received signal strength and SNR for
indoor users has become a Challenge for
operators. That is why the use of
Femtocell Access Points (FAPs) seems a Figure 1: Femtocell Architecture [4]
promising approach for coping with this
coverage problem. As figure 1 shows that the FAP can be regarded as the scaled down bas station
(BTS/BSC) extended to allow easier deployment (end user deployment / plug and play deployment)

as autonomous Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). Femtocells connect standard mobile devices to
mobile operator’s network using residential Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL) or cable broadband
connection i-e Femtocells use the IP network as backhaul architecture instead of the conventional
cellular network infrastructure [4]. Femtocells allow users to transition seamlessly between the
cellular network and a broadband Internet connection in order to make phone calls; this is done with
the help of Femtocell access points. These differ from WiFi access points because they basically act
as scaled down versions of signal repeaters, but they function in a similar way by broadcasting
wireless signal from a broadband connection. In the figure 1 the Femtocell and broadband router are
shown as standalone devices but Femtocell, broadband router and modem can be integrated as a
single device but that’s again up to the manufacturers view point. One of the most interesting facts
about Femtocell is that it not only increases received signal strength in its coverage area but also
improves network capacity by offloading Macrocells’ traffic, thus allowing more outdoor user on
Macrocell and thus making more revenue for operators without deployment of any new equipments.
Femtocells can easily integrate with 2G, 3G and upcoming 4G networks, meaning that GSM, UMTS,
Mobile WiMAX, CDMA, EVDO and other current and future protocols, standardized by 3GPP,
3GPP2 and WiMAX Forum and other wireless broadband users will be able to take full advantage of
the services in areas where coverage would otherwise be spotty. In other worlds Femtocell is a mature
mobile technology qualifying standard protocols. In can be of great interest in the countries where 2G
is still the widely deployed technology in a way that Femtocell can be introduced with 3G or 4G
altogether. In such countries it can be helpful for operator for their network planning making better
use of their resources. Being direct successors of cellular technology Femtocells operate in licensed
spectrum and within parameters set by the licensed operators. When operating in licensed spectrum,
operators are able to provide certain assured quality of service (QoS) to customers over the air, free
from interference but making efficient use of their spectrum.
1.2 Motivation
Femtocells have gained momentum in the mobile industry due to their unique characteristics and it is
used in licence band rather than unlicensed band. Femtocell provides solutions to the problems
existing Macrocell based system have. Some of those problems and initiative for the Femtocell
include the following:
 Due to higher frequency range commonly used in 3G system, the signal from
Macrocell attenuates and deteriorates quicker once the signal reach indoor
 Poor indoor signal quality
 High bandwidth capacity is available to end user only when the user is located near
the cell and limited simultaneous users in the cell
 Various studies show that the majority of mobile calls are made indoors.
 CDMA/WCDMA access are effective when limited interference etc.
In addition to above mention facts Femtocell have capability to compete with WiFi, VoIP and UMA
features in to some extent. If we use femtocell no need to use expensive dual mode handsets and
improve 3G coverage indoors and encourage use of data services. WiFi expensive and higher power
consumption as well as there are QoS and security issues in unlicensed band.
The demand for the higher data rates in wireless network is unrelenting, and has triggered the design
and development of new data minded cellular standard such as WiMAX, the Third Generation
Partnership Project’s (3GPP) High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and LTE standard, and 3GPP2’s
EVDO and UMB standard. In parallel WiFi mesh network are also being develop to provide nomadic
high data rate service in a more distributed pattern and similarly cellular data system will need to
provide service roughly comparable to other technologies. To improve the wireless capacity one of
the solution is to reduce the cell size and the transmit distance. The enormous gains reaped from

smaller cell sizes arise from efficient spatial reuse of spectrum, or alternatively, higher area spectral
efficiency [7].Table 1 describes one of the examples on how capacity improves by using the
Femtocell concept and the experiment result which is based on UMTS/HSDPA and 1xEV-DO Rev
A[4] and, it uses 1.25 MHz air link bandwidth for 1xEV-DO and 5 MHz bandwidth for
UMTS/HSDPA and with independent bandwidth and overall network architecture.
Table 1.Improvement of Macrocell with Femtocell

Technology Femtocell Macrocell Network
UMTS/HSDPA 5.4 Mb/s 1014 kb/s
1xEV-DO Rev A 2.1 Mb/s 420 kb/s
Femtocell can be placed only where DSL or cable connection to the core network is allowed. It
consequently enables mobile service providers to extend signal coverage via broadband connection.
Therefore, service providers are able to improve his mobile service in locations where signal coverage
was limited or unavailable.
Table 2 Benefits of Femtocell Networks
User benefits Increase Higher Improved Higher quality Lower home

indoor performance multimedia voice zone calling
coverage data experience
Operator Increase Lower capital Expanded Lower Increased

benefits network cost revenue backhaul costs customer
capacity opportunities stickiness
From the point of view of the network operator, Femtocells appear advantageous since Femtocells
usage reduces the load on the Macrocell network and allow more users to served, which helps raise
revenues compared with competitors in the same industry and also opens possibilities for offering
new services. A Femtocell should reduce mobile operator cost and in addition, networks operators
may maybe able to price discriminate and extract higher value from Femtocell users and it will help
for customer retention because customer satisfaction is the crucial factor for any business in current
context as well as marketing concept. This scheme is to provide gain via increased Macrocell capacity
due to lower congestion. Due to their short transmit-receiver distance, Femtocells can greatly lower
transmit power, prolong handset battery life time, and achieve higher Signal to Interference plus
Noise Ratio (SINR).
Femtocells are a solution that helps to reduce the capital and operational expenditures of mobile
networks while enhancing system coverage and capacity. Therefore most of the service providers now
tend to provide Femtocell facilities to their customers strategically. It is cost wise beneficial for
service providers to implement Femtocells rather than increasing power or expansion of capacity in
Macrocell environment to give better service. To improve capacity have to invest huge capital so,
Femtocell is one of the solution for situation when they worry about capital for new installation or for
new expansions in macro environment because if they installed Femtocell (home base station), there
is possibility to contribute customer also for the installation cost. In present context, Femtocell are
practically employing with different technologies in 3G as well as 4G applications and table 2 shown
existing Femtocell applications deployed in current context in the world.

Femtocell technology began to attract widespread industry attention in 2007. Cellular system
operators that utilized the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), UMTS Terrestrial
Radio Access Networks (UTRAN) third generation radio technology were especially interested in
being able to offer Femtocell devices to end users and deploy Femtocells in other environment e.g.
Public hotspots, campus, hospitals etc. These market pressures resulted in 3GPP under taking an
intensive effort to introduce Femtocells. Femtocell are appeared as home node in 4G application
specially CDMA2000 using 3GPP EUTRAN (LTE) [5a].
1.3 Goals
Femtocell is also one of the concepts came to implement to give better coverage for indoor mobile
users. The main goals of this project are to study concept of Femtocell and the technologies
supporting this concept as well as to compare Femtocell with WiFi competition.
1.4 Report outline
The report content is organized as follows
Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction to the main concepts of Femtocells and describes the motivations
for introduction of this technology, giving some description of the benefits that operators and end-
users can expect.
Chapter 2 focuses on technical challenges and possible solutions related to Femtocell and its identical
solution as well as WiFi and in this regards the advantages and drawbacks of using differing access
technologies life CDMA and OFDMA, is discussed.
Chapter 3 is description about Femtocell architecture, Connection with 3G and access strategies, RF
interference and hand off, Femtocell security and Femtocell management system. Since Femtocell
operate on licensed frequencies therefore interference types are discussed in some detail.
Chapter 4 is focused about Femtocells verses WiFi and specially focuses on differences between both
technologies.
Chapter 5 is focused on market penetration and future existence of Femtocell concept. In this chapter
we discuss why it is still survived and what about future market growth and market possibilities with
other technologies.
Chapter 6 basically focused on our contribution related to this Femtocell based study and we were
focused additionally not only Femtocell but also WiFi regarding how both technology compete in the
home application.

2 Technical Challenges and Possible Solutions

There are many technical problems and barriers during the introduction phase of the femtocell to
bring it in to stable position. It is important to give better solution for the entire related problems
before commission or deliver to the costumers as commercial product. Therefore study of related
problems is the critical factor for develop or introduce of new solutions for existing problems to
minimize the issues.
2.1. CDMA and OFDMA
Access control mechanisms have a direct effect on interference, and their features must hence be
carefully analyzed. As we will discuss in chapter 3.2, all access strategies suffer from advantages and
drawbacks. Among those, Hybrid access strategy reach a compromise between the impact on the
performance of subcarriers and the level of access granted to non-subscribers. When non-subscribers
are granted access then the impact on subscribers must thus be minimized in terms of performance or
via economic advantages. The reduction in the performance of subscribers stems from the intrinsic
nature of the underlying technology.
CDMA: In code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, transmissions from other users are seen as
interference by the users already in the network. In this regards, when a nonsubscriber is granted
access to the Femtocell, the raise in noise deteriorates the instantaneous throughput of subscribers.
Moreover CDMA systems treat allowed subscribers and non-subscribers equally that is no date rate
restrictions are imposed. Therefore the incorporation of non-subscribers degrades the performance of
connected subscribers in an uncontrolled way.
OFDMA: In contrast to CDMA-based Femtocells, OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple

access) systems offer two degrees of freedom for the purpose of resource allocation that is frequency
and time, hence providing higher flexibility in the management of the resources non-subscribers can
use. Furthermore since OFDMA resources, the timeslots and frequency subcarriers, are orthogonal,
interference can also be better controlled in the neighbourhood of the Femtocell. Thus, users unable to
connect to the Macrocell because of lack of coverage or interference could still use a fraction of the
Femtocell resources. In OFDMA systems sub-channels contain a series of subcarriers, which can be
adjacent or pseudo randomly distributed across the spectrum in order to exploit either multi-user or
frequency diversity. A nonsubscriber allowed access to a given sub-channel can use it, for instance,
during the whole transmission frame.
2.2. Challenges related to Femtocells, WiFi and related solutions
The wireless interface in femtocells is identical to the cellular network, and control functions are
identical, thus allowing handsets no need to have an additional WiFi radio unit enabled. Femtocells
use only licensed operators' spectrum, which can therefore avoid "foreign" radios.
The other unique opportunity for Femtocells is the fill the gap in the "continuum" between the home-
car-office. Today, this is not well addressed by WiFi or even cellular networks for that matter. Given
femtocells can have an extended range well outside the home, this could create gap coverage. WiFi
cannot address this.
WiFi conversely uses uncontrolled spectrum, which may theoretically make service susceptible to
neighbouring radio transmissions. In addition, femtocells allow for easier seamless roaming, though
some modification is needed to accommodate the different backhaul. Finally, and perhaps the biggest
advantage of femtocells, is they are a natural extension of the main cellular network, thus allowing

them to support most of the current services provided by the mobile operator. Conversely, WiFi
protocol is relatively lenient on quality of service, and therefore enabling multiple services with
variable qualities of services may be challenging.
The situation in businesses is different. They generally prefer to control their own voice systems,
which is why they have PBXs. But a substantial number of business calls are now made on cell
phones, even on company premises. These calls don’t go through the PBX, so they are not least-cost-
routed and they are not logged or managed by the IT department. Femtocells don’t fix these problems,
but Voice over WiFi does. Business considerations of choosing one or the others are still up for
debate. Who pays for the backhaul of femtocells? What if family or businesses use multiple carriers?
What about the issue of net neutrality? What if that backhaul (DSL, cable) gets clogged?
An idea that would allow 3G operators to improve in-building coverage now looks like being
instrumental in the deployment of next-generation wireless standards. It has long been evident that the
combination of high frequencies, high data rates, large cell size and attenuation from walls represents
a challenge for 3G when it comes to indoor coverage. Next-generation technologies such as LTE use
even higher frequencies, more aggressive coding and modulation schemes. Femtocells solve those
problems. Users also get a better deal. When they are at home, their mobile handset uses the femtocell
to make and receive calls, backhauled via a broadband connection, even if there had previously been
no coverage. On the move, they connect via the operator network. So a standard handset can work
anywhere.
There is a growing demand for higher and higher data rates. Due to the high penetration loss, high
data rate services cannot be provided indoors apart from those areas near windows that are facing a
Macrocell site. This is because high data rate requires high performance RF links. High data rate
services such as those facilitated by HSDPA are the key drive of femtocells.
Femtocells can provide significant power saving to UEs. The path loss to indoor FAP is much smaller
than that to the outdoor Macrocell base station, and so is the required transmitting power from UE to
the FAP. Battery life is one of the biggest bottlenecks for providing high speed data services to mobile
terminals
So femtocells are a good way for service providers to remedy churn caused by poor residential
coverage for consumers, but WiFi may be the better option for businesses that want to regain control
over their voice traffic.

3 The Adopted Solutions

When new solutions are introduced to cope with the current issues and problems in the existing
systems, technically they have to give optimum solution to the system to improve reliability in
efficient way as compared to previous version or system. Femtocell also is one of the solutions to give
better service to customers where the received signal level is weak or unavailable, in Macro cellular
systems, as well as leads to offload the Macrocell traffic. In this chapter we have discussed the
adopted solutions to the problems and challenges we face when Femtocell is deployed in Macro
environment. The first section discusses the Femtocell architecture and then we discuss how
Femtocells are connected to Macrocell and what the supposed access methods are. Then in this
connection RF interference and handoff is discussed. After a brief discussion on the security aspect of
the Femtocells, the Femtocell management architecture is described.
3.1 Femtocell Architecture
Femtocells are deployed at wireless subscribers’ home and utilize subscriber‘s broadband connection,
whether it is DSL or cable. Figure 2 depicts a typical overview for a standalone Femtocell in a home
served by a DSL connection. Since Femto utilize GSM and CDMA standards, they are compatible
with wide range of existing mobile devices.
Figure 2: Femtocell architecture
Femtocells are based on Access point base Station. Base station is called node B in 3G networks
defined by 3GPP and the access point for Femtocell is called Home NodeB (HNB) or Home eNode B
(HeNB).
Femtocell can be placed only where DSL or cable connection to the core network is allowed. It
consequently enables mobile service providers to extend signal coverage via broadband connection.
The Femtocell is connected to operator’s core network via existing residential broadband service. This

fact is considered like a Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC). FMC leads to reuse of existing DSL or
cable services. The customers who are own a Home Node B and broadband services are able to
manage an access list in his Femtocell. In this report, the Femtocell architecture we mainly
concentrate on is the 3G home NodeB solution specified in the 3GPP standards. We also look in to the
different possible UTRA deployment configurations.
3.1.1 New network elements
The new essential network elements in the Femtocell solution are the Femtocell, itself, known here as
the 3G Home NodeB, the 3G Home NodeB Gateway (HNB-GW), Security Gateway (SeGW) and the
3G Home NodeB management System describe in the Femtocell architecture. Home NodeB connect
to the mobile network through the HNB-GW. The HNB-GW is act as concentrator to aggregate a
large number of HNB. This interference is called Iu-h. In addition, this connection goes through a
SeGW to provide an appropriate security mechanism. Specially an IPSec tunnel is established and
maintained between HNB and SeGW. This means that all Iu-h interface traffic is tunnelled through
this connection.
Figure 3: UMTS basic architecture with Femtocell
3.1.1.1 Home NodeB
The 3G Home NodeB is the device that is installed to the user premises, serving as a Femtocell. The
HNB is able to operate with 4 to 8 existing UEs (User Equipments) and offer them the same service as
if they were operating under a regular NodeB. The device is low cost and relatively small in size. The
operator has no exact control of location. The HNB is powered from the user’s electric network using
most likely an external power adapter.
3.1.1.2. Home NodeB Gateway
The Home NodeB Gateway is the device used to connect the HNBs to the UMTS network. It’s
needed because it has been agreed not to use the standard Iu-b interface for the connection to the
HNB. The HNB-GW concentrates connection from a large amount of Femtocells. The new Iu-h
interface is used between HNB and HNB-GW. HNB-GW is connected the Core Network (CN) using
the standard Iu-h interface and the network sees it as a standard RNC. The HNB-GW can be located
anywhere at the operator premises.

3.1.1.3. Iu-h Interface
The Iu-h is the interface between HNB and HNB-GW. Iu-h provides transport for the control and user
plane massages. RANAP User Adaptation (RUA) is used over Iu-h to provide transparent transfer for
RANAP massages and another control plane protocol called the Home NodeB Application Protocol
(HNBAP) is as well introduced. HNBAP is used to carry the HNB specific control information
between the HNB and HNB-GW. Transparent transport is also provided for the Iu user plane protocol
layer, which is terminated at the CN, not at the HNB-GW.
The Iu-h interface is turned over the residential internet connection of the customer and over the
public internet. Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) over IP is used to carry the plane
protocols. In the user plane Real Time Protocol (RTP) is used for real time services such as, voice and
video calls, and GPRS User Data Tunnelling Protocol (GTP-U) for packet data transport. UDP over
IP is used for the lower layer transport. All this is carried over an encrypted IPSec tunnel. Iu-CS
provide circuit switch connection to MSC an Iu-PS provide packet switch connection to SGSN.
3.1.2. Home NodeB management System
The Home NodeB Management System (HMS) uses an interface based on the TR-069 standard
widely used in DSL modem and DVB set-top-box management and updates. The management system
sends the configuration data to the HNB and helps the HNB in HNB-GW and SeGW discovery. It can
also initiate HNB software updates and perform HNB location verification.
3.1.3. Security Gateway
The Security Gateway (SeGW) is a logical element which can be physically implemented separately
or as integrated solution with the HNB-GW. SeGW terminates the IPSec tunnel for TR-069 and Iu-h
protocol and act as a firewall between the operator’s core network elements and the public internet
3.2 Connection with 3G and Access Strategies
The growing capacity expectations and intensive competition between operators is constantly driving
vendors to come up with new solutions. In 2100 MHz 3G UMTS networks, indoor and rural coverage
are not at the level customers are used to with 2G networks. Femtocells are a cheap and fast way to
offer capacity and coverage to homes and offices.
Since Femtocells use fully standard wireless protocols over the air to communicate with the standard
mobile devices. Qualifying standards include 2G and 3G technologies. When used with 3G (e.g.
UMTS) we face issues like Femtocell integration to the cellular core network and main connection
and installation, interferences and spectrum accuracy and also the challenges of handover cases.
First we will give a short introduction to the basic UMTS architectural elements and the interfaces
between them and then we look the different infrastructure options.
In UMTS system the main components are: the User Equipment (UE), the Universal Terrestrial
Radio Access Network (UTRAN) and the Core Network (CN). This thesis focuses mainly on UE,
UTRAN and changes in connecting to CN. UE is the user terminal. It may contain a lot of features,
including radio terminals for several radio access technologies (RAT). When UTRAN is used for
radio access the UE connects to the base stations known as NodeBs. NodeBs are in charge of the
physical radio interface and two low level interfaces: Uu towards the user over the radio link and Iu-b
towards the radio network controller (RNC).

Figure 4: UMTS basic architecture
RNC is charge of the radio network and its resources on a higher level. RNCs connect to the Mobile
Switching Center (MSC) and Serving GPRS support node (SGSN) in the core network. Interfaces Iu-
CS and Iu-PS are used for circuit switched and packet switched connections, respectively. The
operators CN is connected to the Internet for data services and to the Public Switched Telephone
Network for calls outside the operators own network. The essential UMTS elements are presented in
Figure 1.
Different infrastructure options: There are three different possible ways to integrate Femtocells to the
current UMTS networks. [24]
The first way is to change as little as possible and to use the existing standard CS and PS interfaces
tunneled over the internet to connect the Femtocell and the RNC. This is called the Iu-b over IP. This
saves expenses due to the less extra hardware is needed on the operator side. Handovers are also
possible between Femtocells and macrocells, just like between the current macro NodeBs.
There are challenges in using the current macro network interfaces over a Best Effort consumer grade
internet connection. The existing Iu-b interface is not designed to work over an unspecified
connection. There are also problems if we want to reduce traffic in the core network and route some
of the user’s data, e.g. packets to the user’s local area network, without circulating it through the
operator’s network. If the Iu-b interface is used, as such, all the data is the routed via the operators
core network.
The second approach in Femtocell implementation is to use Internet Media Sub-System/Session

Initiation Protocol (IMS/SIP) interface. The IMS interface is used to convert the user traffic to packet
switched Voice over IP (VoIP) traffic. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is used in the VoIP call
initiation.
This solution is very scalable because the Femtocell doesn’t have to be managed like a real NodeB.
The load of the CS core network is reduced, because all the Femtocell bound traffic is only on the
IMS core. The VoIP call is already designed to be transmitted over a packet switched connection.
This doesn’t remove all the jitter and delay requirements of the backhaul connection but makes things
easier. The IMS approach will require a lot of functionality in the Femtocell device itself, if support
for existing handsets is provided. The PS VoIP calls must be converted to CS calls for existing
handsets and a new solution called Voice Call Continuity (VCC) must be used instead of current
handovers. Implementing and maintaining the separate IMS core will create substantial expenses. We

must, however, remember that the IMS core will probably be used for other packet switched traffic in
the future too.
The third option is the Unlicensed Mobile Access / Generic Access Networks (UMA/GAN) based
approach. This is a solution that has been standardized by the 3GPP for GAN such as WiFi or
WiMAX to integrate their traffic to the UMTS via a GAN Controller (GANC) which will provide a
standard Iu interface towards the UMTS CN. In the Femtocell UMA/GAN based solution the
UMA/GAN client is not integrated to the UE like in traditional solutions using UMA for the radio
link. There’s no need for an extra transceiver in the UE and existing handsets are served.
In this case the UMA/GAN client is integrated in the Femtocell. The Femtocell has to have the
functionalities of both the NodeB and the RNC when it connects to the MSC via the GANC. It is
possible for the Femtocell to negotiate handovers with the MSC. For operators that already provide
UMA services, this option is relatively easy to implement.
3.2.1 Access Strategies
There are still several challenges vendors and operators must face in order to deploy a large number of
FAPs on top of the existing macrocells. Electromagnetic interference remains among the major
problems in two-tier networks, capable of hindering the above mentioned benefits and degrading the
entire network’s performance [22]. In two-tier networks, interference is classified as follows:
• Cross-tier interference is caused by an element of the Femtocell tier to the Macrocell tier and vice
versa.
• Co-tier interference occurs between elements of the same tier, for example, between neighboring
Femtocells. The impact of interference depends on the techniques used for allocating the spectral
resources to the Macrocell and Femtocell tiers, as well as on the method used to access the
Femtocells.
The selection of an access control strategy for Femtocells has dramatic effects on the performance of
the overall network, mainly due to its role in the definition of interference. Different approaches have
been proposed:
• Closed access: Only a subset of users, defined by the Femtocell owner, can connect to the
Femtocell. This model is referred to as closed subscriber group (CSG) by the Third Generation
Partnership project (3GPP) [23].
• Open access: All customers of the operator have the right to make use of any Femtocell.
• Hybrid access: A limited amount of the Femtocell resources are available to all users, while the rest
are operated in a CSG manner.
When the access strategy blocks the use of

Femtocell resources to a subset of the users
within its coverage area, a new set of interfering
signals is implicitly defined in such area. Hence,
the deployment of CSG Femtocells makes the
problem of interference mitigation even more
complex. Contrarily, the deployment of open
FAPs would solve this issue, but bring security
and sharing concerns to the customer.
Furthermore, when users move across areas, with
large numbers of open FAPs, the number of
handovers and thus the signaling in the network
increase. Finally, hybrid access techniques can be
Figure 5: Access Methods: a) CSG; b) Open Access; c) Hybrid Access

seen as a trade-off between open and closed approaches. However, the number of shared resources
must be carefully tuned to avoid a large impact on the quality of service of the Femtocell customers.
[25]
Following is a brief discussion of the three access strategies, their technical challenges and proposed
solutions.
 Closed Access: In closed access, only the Femtocell subscribers are allowed to connect to the
Femtocells.
Technical Challenges and Solutions: In scenarios with CSG FAPs, nonsubscribers are not allowed
to connect to the network through a Femtocell, even if its signal is stronger than that of the closest
Macrocell. Therefore, strong cross-tier interference exists between both tiers; for example, Femtocells
could jam the downlink communication of passing nonsubscribers connected to a far Macrocell, and
nonsubscribers located close to a Femtocell could jam the Femtocell uplink. One of the most
challenging cases of cross-tier interference in CSG FAPs, in both the downlink and the uplink, occurs
when a nonsubscriber enters a house hosting a CSG Femtocell. In this case the power of the
interference is much larger than that of the carrier signal. To avoid this worst case scenario, the
Femtocell owner should authorize guest nonsubscribers in a fast manner so that they gain access to
the Femtocell. However, the list of authorized users is controlled by the operator, resides in the core
network, and has to be manually updated by the Femtocell owner. Co-tier interference also comes up
between neighboring Femtocells in dense deployments. In many cases users will install their
Femtocells in random positions within their homes (e.g., close to a room of a neighbor or close to a
window). In this case subscribers will sometimes be severely jammed by neighboring Femtocells, and
thus unable to connect. Different interference mitigation and interference techniques are discussed in
section 3.3 in details.
 Open Access: In open access, all users (subscribers and nonsubscribers) are allowed to
connect. There is thus no distinction between these two groups, and they are just referred to
here as users.
Technical Challenges and Solutions: The use of open FAPs at home would reduce the interference
problems caused by CSG FAPs. Indeed, all passing users would be authorized to connect to any
Femtocell, thus reducing the negative impact of the Femtocell tier on the Macrocell network. In this
case the users are always connected to the strongest server (either macro or femto), avoiding cross-tier
interference. As a result, the overall throughput of the network increases.
Furthermore, open access FAPs allow different types of deployments. Inside homes, this type of
FAP will be deployed in random locations, self-organization being a good solution to minimize the
negative impact of Femtocells on other cells. On the other hand, when deployments are done by an
operator, interference can be mitigated throughout network planning and optimization. The location,
power, and frequencies assigned to each Femtocell can in this case be planned in advance.
Open access has some drawbacks as well. It reduces the performance for the Femtocell owner due to
the sharing of the Femtocell resources with nonsubscribers. Also, it substantially increases the amount
of handovers between cells due to the movement of outdoor users. This will have a negative impact
on the operator because the signaling in the network increases as well as the probability of the call is
being dropped due to failure in the handover process. Furthermore, the chances for handover failure
increase if the Femtocell neighbor list is not properly configured and updated.
Regardless of this, different solutions have been proposed in which a centric sensing of the radio
channel is used as a means to obtain parameters about the surrounding environment and update the
Femtocell neighbor list. Moreover, current base stations store only a few neighbor relationships in
such a list. For example, the neighboring list in UMTS macrocells has been limited to 32 positions to

speed up the user measurement and cell updating procedures. However, this number will be
insufficient in large open access Femtocell deployments, where the relationships between Femtocells
(More likely to be turned on and off) must be handled in a different way than between macrocells and
Femtocells.
 Hybrid Approaches
Access control mechanisms have a direct effect on interference, and their features must hence be
carefully analyzed. As seen in the previous section, all access methods suffer from advantages and
drawbacks. In order to overcome those drawbacks, intermediate approaches are currently under
scrutiny. Hybrid access methods reach a compromise between the impact on the performance of
subscribers and the level of access granted to nonsubscribers. Therefore, the sharing of Femtocell
resources between subscribers and nonsubscribers needs to be finely tuned. Otherwise, subscribers
might feel that they are paying for a service that is to be exploited by others. The impact on
subscribers must thus be minimized in terms of performance or via economic advantages (e.g.,
reduced costs).
3.3 RF Interference and Handoff
A Femtocell not only provides coverage at the customer premises but it also radiates to the
neighboring Femtocells and outdoor, introducing interference to both neighboring Femtocell and
Macrocell (when deployed with Macrocell coverage area). The main issues from an interference
perspective are relative to the Co Channel scenario. From an interference perspective, Open Access
deployments would differ from Closed Access deployments only in case of full mobility. As
mentioned in figure 2 the general interference scenarios are following
Figure 6: Interference Scenario [5]
1. User Equipment attached to Femtocell is the aggressor and victim is the Macro Node B
uplink.
Femto close to macro with LOS: Assuming closed access, Uplink interference on the
Macrocell could be caused by UEs connected to the Femtocell and far from the Femtocell
(e.g. UE at home window far from femto). The effect will be accentuated in case the
Femtocell is suffering itself from an uplink interference and hence the UE will have to
transmit at high power. Assuming open access with full mobility, the UE would be connected
the most suitable cell (Macro or Femto). In which case, UL interference on the Macrocell
would be reduced and limited only to indoor UEs at home edges that are not connected to the
Macrocell. The assumption of full mobility should be considered more carefully in light of the

limited Femtocell capacity, incoming and outgoing Femtocell HO with the Femtocell
deployment scale.
Femto far from macro with no LOS: In this case there are no major Uplink interference
issues.
2. Femtocell is the aggressor and the victim is the Macro Node B downlink.
Femto close to macro with LOS: In closed access case, only a limited range around the
Femtocell would experience a Macrocell outage for unauthorized UEs (home visitors). When
assuming open access, only a limited range within the home around the Femtocell would
experience a Macrocell outage for unauthorized UEs (home visitors).
Femto far from macro with no LOS: In case of closed access, Macro outage range for
unauthorized UEs would be important (depends on Femto Tx Power settings). In some cases,
in order to guarantee a decent in-home coverage, the femto Tx Power would have to be set
high enough such that it would cause a large outage area for unauthorized UEs inside the
home (visitors) and even outside the home. Assuming open access with full mobility, the UE
would be connected to the most suitable cell (Macro or Femto). In which case, there will be
little DL interference concerns for UEs connected to the most suitable cell. The assumption of
full mobility should be considered more carefully in light of the limited Femtocell capacity,
incoming and outgoing Femtocell HO with the Femtocell deployment scale.
3. User Equipment attached to Macro Node B is the aggressor and the victim is the Femtocell
uplink.
Femto close to macro with LOS: assuming closed access, UEs connected to the Macrocell
would have to be very close to Femtocell within the home in order to cause important femto
UL interference. Since this assumption is not valid due to femto to macro DL interference
limitations, this assumption is shadowed by the DL interference limitations. No issues in case
of Open Access with full mobility.
Femto far from macro with no LOS: In case of closed access, Important UL interference and
degradation could be caused to the Femtocell by UEs inside and outside the home connected
to the macro cell within an important range. Assuming open access with full mobility, the UE
would be connected to the most suitable cell (macro or Femto). In which case, UL
interference on the Femtocell would be reduced and limited only to outdoor macro UEs who
are not connected to the Femtocell. The assumption of full mobility should be considered
more carefully in light of the limited Femtocell capacity, incoming and outgoing Femtocell
HO with the Femtocell deployment scale.
4. Macro Node B is the aggressor and victim is the Femtocell downlink.
Femto close to macro with LOS: Femtocells DL coverage range for different services would
be very limited (depends on distance to Node-B and indoor penetration loss). In deployments
very close to the Macrocell, and in case of low indoor penetration losses (e.g. glass buildings)
the Femtocell may not be able to overcome the DL macro interference.
Femto far from macro with no LOS: No major Macro to Femto DL interference concerns
assuming a proper Femto Tx power adjustment.
5. Use Equipment attached to Femtocell B is the aggressor and victim is Femtocell A uplink.
In this case there are no major UL interference issues.

6. Femtocell A is the aggressor and victim is the Femtocell B downlink.
In case of closed access and when deployment is on the same wall, DL interference (and even
femto outage) could be experienced close to the neighbour’s Femtocell and far away from
own femto, especially in the case of low wall penetration loss. When the deployment is at the
centre of apartment or opposite sides of the same wall then there are no major interference
issues. There are no major interference issues assuming Open Access with full mobility.
The different scenarios of interference described in figure 4 can a classified as follows
Cross-Layer: It refers to the situation in which the aggressor and the victim of interference belong to
different network layers.
Co-layer: It refers to the situation when the aggressor (e.g. a FAP) and the victim (e.g. a neighbouring
Femtocell user) belong to the same network layer.
There are a few techniques proposed to overcome the affects of interference like cancellation
techniques and use of sectorized antennas at the FAP as means of reducing interference by decreasing
the number of interferers. But these techniques have drawbacks of their own like errors in the
cancellation process and increase in FAP cost in hardware-based approaches. An alternative to the
techniques of overcoming the affects of interference is interference avoidance that includes power
management and sub-channel management in OFDMA Femtocell. In this regards OFDMA Femtocell
better copes regarding cross-layer and co-layer interferences. Experimental analysis shows [6z] that
Dynamic Frequency planning outcomes the best network performance since a dynamic frequency
planning strategy used is able to adapt the systems resources to the changing conditions of the traffic
and the channel.
Handoff issues are briefly discussed later in chapter 4.
3.4 Security
Femtocells have been deployed with CDMA2000, UMTS/HSDPA and 1xEV-DO Rev A etc therefore
security mechanisms vary depend on implemented technology. Figure 7 is given common functional
elements and interfaces such that is applicable to any cdma2000 femtocell system (e.g., 1x, HRPD,
UMB) as security femtocell security architecture reference model.
Figure 7: Femtocell security architecture reference model

The MS/AT uses the cdma2000 air interface to access services through a FAP. The FAP uses a SeGW
to securely connect using an IP network to cdma2000 operator’s core network. Since the IP network
(e.g., broadband connection) between the FAP and the SeGW is assumed to be un-trusted, the FAP
shall be authenticated and authorized by the cdma2000 networks before a FAP is allowed to provide
service to the ATs. The Femtocell AAA is the entity in the cdma2000 network that has access to the
authentication and authorization related credential information that is required for security operating
the FAPs. The FMS is management server that is used to configure and monitor the operation of the
FAP using TR-069 protocol as defined in [10]. A FAP is considered a Customer Premises Equipment
(CPE) and the FMS is the auto configuration server in the TR-069 management architecture. The
FMS may also capable of other management operation, e.g., installing software updates on FAPs. The
FMS is typically assumed to be located inside the operator’s core network and reachable by the FAP
only through SeGW and also operator may have an FMS available on the public IP network.
3.4.1. Device Integrity Validation (DIV)
Upon power up or hard reset, the FAP shall perfume device integrity validation before attempting
connection to the SeGW to FMS. The DIV shall be based on one or more trusted reference values and
secure environment of the FAP. The trusted values are stored securely inside the FAP and shall be
protected against any unauthorized modification. Each necessary FAP component is validated by
comparing the result of a measurement of the component to the trusted reference value. If these values
match, the component is successfully validated and be loaded or started.
3.4.2. FAP device authentication
The FAP device authentication shall be between the FAP and the SeGW. The authentication shall be
performed using IKEv2 [11] with certificates. The FAP shall authenticate itself to the SeGW using the
FAP certificate. The FAP certificate shall be identified by the FEID (FAP Equipment Identifier). The
SeGW shall authenticate itself to the FAP using SeGW’s certificate. The root certificate used to verify
the SeGW certificate shall be stored in the secure environment. The root certificate store shall be
protected against any unauthorized modification. The SeGW certificate shall be identified using either
a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or the IP address of the SeGW. Optionally, the FAP may
check the revocation status of the SeGW certificate using Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
as specified in [12].

Figure 8: Certificate based FAP device authentication using IKEv2 [11].
After the successful mutual authentication between the FAP and SeGW using IKEv2, IPSec SA shall
be established to protect all the subsequent traffic between the FAP and SeGW. Figure 6 describe
certificate based device authentication process.
3.4.3. FAP authorization mechanism
The SeGW shall capable of checking the policy regarding whether a particular FAP is authorized to
provide service. For example, if the network policy states that all FAPs that pass device authentication
are unauthorized to provide service, then no further authorization check may be necessary. However,
if the network policy requirement that each FAP be individually authorized for service, then the
SeGW shall be capable of sending AAA access request massage to the femtocell AAA using the
protocols specified in [13]. If the Femtocell AAA responds affirmatively, then the SeGW shall
proceed with the device authentication. Otherwise tunnel setup shall be terminated by sending an
IKEv2 notification message indication authentication failure.
3.4.4. Integrity and Confidentiality protection mechanism
After the successful FAP device authentication, the integrity protection of the IP packet sent through
the tunnel between the FAP and SeGW shall be protected using IPSec ESP (Encapsulated Security
Payload). The confidentiality of the packet sent through the tunnel between the FAP and SeGW, if
required, shall be protected using IPSec ESP.

3.5 Femtocell Management System
Conventional cellular networks comprise base stations, which are remotely managed from an
Operations Management Centre (OMC). The management system monitor and control all of the
systems deployed at the base station site, including the GSM and/or UMTS base station equipment,
transmission systems and power systems.
As Femtocells are supposed to be deployed on the top of the Macrocell therefore Femtocells form part
of the overall radio access network and it is necessary to manage the Femtocell layer in a co-ordinated
way with the conventional macro layer. It is important to ensure that changes to individual Femtocells
do not cause unintended impacts on the overcall radio network performance. Generally there are two
options for the Femtocell deployment i-e Femtocells maybe either deployed on the same carrier
frequency as the Macrocell, or on a different carrier. Both the approaches have benefits and
drawbacks of their own but a common issue is interference between nearby Femtocells and between
Femtocell and Macrocell layers. As Femtocells are supposed to be user-deployed therefore it is
important to have management control of the interference between the operator deployed macro layer
and the customer deployed Femtocells. [26]
Management Issues: Many aspects of the management of Femtocells are likely to be common with
managing conventional Macrocell, however due to their specific properties, Femtocell are likely to
raise some new and additional issues like
 Since Femtocells are customer premises equipment, therefore customer will be able to
perform some activities that might affect the performance of Femtocell layer without
operators’ involvement and in an uncontrolled way. The activities may include removing and
re-applying power, moving the physical location of the FAP, disconnection the DSL line,
resetting FAP etc.
 Femtocells are expected to be widely deployed, for example it could be foreseen that larger
networks may incorporate many millions of Femtocells.
 In some cases, Femtocell management may require the intervention of customers and there is
a need to consider customer care processes as an essential part of the Femtocell management
system.
Requirements: The management system for Femtocell may consist of the conventional management
system for cellular networks with the provision of management capabilities for Femtocells. There are
some basic requirements for Femtocell management system;
 The ability to be able to identify individual FAPs and to link the identity with a specific
customer and location address.
 Activation and deactivation of Femtocell customer equipment, its radio transmission i-e,
overriding any control that the customer may also have.
 The ability to configure the key radio parameters, such as transmit power, frequency, etc.
remotely. Although there may also be auto-configuration of these parameters but operators
should have the option to manually override.
 Ability to provide remote software upgrade.
 Service monitoring
 Although access control list is proposed to be controlled by Femtocell owner i-e customer
who owns the FAP adds / deletes the subscribers to the FAP he owns but operators should be
able to pre-configure the list, make changes and over ride the subscriber settings.
 Remote access

4 Femtocell versus WiFi
Femtocells use common cellular air access technology but claim to system capacity According to
Shannon’s low by reducing distance between transmitter and receiver due to that help to improve
signal to noise ratio. Femtocell and WiFi infrastructure have many similarities because Femtocells
uses IP network as backhaul architecture instead of the conventional cellular networks infrastructure.
Due to these similarities, it will cause a curiosity whether Femtocell technology would replace
existing WiFi technology. This chapter is discuses regarding these issues to give better understand.
The buying process will see the customer picking up a Femtocell in a retail store, take it home, power
up and connect it to internet, just like a WiFi access point. However, at that point the Femtocell must
seek out and connect to operator’s core network, identify itself and its location, report its
neighbouring Macrocell and decide the RF channel it should operate on. In turn, the network must
identify the new subscribers this new Femtocell is meant to serve [17].
4.1 Femtocell and WiFi
The crushing growth of mobile data consumption is forcing wireless carriers to embrace alternative
approaches to telecom network management that they had once snubbed or leisurely shelved
Generating long overdue business models for offloading 3G traffic onto Femtocell technology and
WiFi hotspot. Femtocell technology and WiFi technology both offers opportunities for 3G offloading
but they diverge in design; Femtocell use licensed spectrum and are typically deployed privately
indoors and WiFi sticks to unlicensed spectrum and is used publically of privately indoors or
outdoors. But the end is becoming more important than the means for effective telecom network
management.
Primarily there are two different directions to give wireless connections. The first direction is the
cellular system, which carter primary for voice service with mobility. However cellular systems are
also increasingly used for various data services. On the other hand, the wireless local area networks
(WLANs) were developed as extension of terrestrial mobility. While cellular networks consist of a
dedicated terrestrial backbone, WLANs, on the other hand, commonly connect directly to the IP
network through DSL or Ethernet backbone network.
Since FAP is similar to WiFi Access point that provide indoor wireless coverage to mobile
phones using existing broadband Internet
connections, it is useful to be introduced some points regarding to each device that clarify both of
them independently.
Femtocell access point (FAP):
 Enables cellular carriers to compete with VoIP, WiFi and UMA ( e.g. Fusion)
 No need for expensive dual-mode handsets
 Improves 3G coverage indoors and encourages use of data services
 Improves capacity
 Reduces Customer Churn
WiFi:
 VoIP pricing on calls within the home
 Single phone for indoor/outdoor calls
 Provides indoor coverage via WiFi or Bluetooth.
 Use dual mode phones in WiFi hot spots.

Femtocell is a recent technology which uses the IP backbone network alone with small size base
stations, based on cellular technology, located indoors. Doing so, Femtocells support compatibility
with the cellular system, and at the same time, provide better indoor Signal strength [6a] ,commonly
unattainable by Macrocell coverage operating at higher frequencies. Interestingly, with the
introduction of the Femtocell technology, the cellular system come closer to WiFi through
architecture, operating frequency, services offered and data rates. However there are issues that
distinguish them and would lead to acceptance of one technology over the other. Being a direct
successor of cellular systems, Femtocells primarily cater for voice service, but data services also
supported in similar lines of cellular system. Femtocells are designed to operate on low transmitter
power (100mw or even 10 mW) in order to avoid interference with similar nearby devices. The
Femtocell technology offers data rates from 7.2 to 14.4 Mbps, and with the advance in LTE/ SAE, it
will increases to 100 Mbps. Table no 3 describes simple comparison of Femtocell and WiFi
specifications below.
WLAN, on the other hand, are direct successors of terrestrial local area networks (LAN), for catering
data services. In the infrastructure mode of operation, network connectivity is provided in the
coverage areas of access points (APs). Beside data services, WLAN are becoming popular for
provisioning VoIP service too. The WLAN specifications are standardized through the IEEE 802.11
a/b/g standards. The three version operate at 2.4 GHz (802.11 b/g) and 5 GHz (802.11 a) frequency
band with the data rate ranging from 6- 54 mbps. However in actual practice, 802.11 g WLAN
achieves about 30 Mbps.
Table 3: Femtocell and WiFi specification
Femtocell WiFi
Data rates 7.2-14.4 Mbps 11 and 54 Mbps
Operating Frequency 1.9-2.6 GHz 2.4 and 5 GHz
(Licensed spectrum) (Unlicensed spectrum)
Power 10, 100 mW 100, 200 mW
Range 20~30 m 100~200 m
Services Primary - Voice Primary - Data
Secondary- Data Secondary- Voice
4.2 Cellular - Femtocell and Cellular – WiFi convergence
Technically Femtocell is a low power cellular base station design for indoor use typically in Small
Office – Home Office environment (SOHO) to provide voice and broad band services. Three different
connection of Femtocell with circuit switched, packet switched and IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem)
are shown in figure 9. In one of them, the FAP is connected to the cellular network via the IP network
through a FGW. FGW route all indoor calls over the IP network instead of cellular network, thus
enabling a closer proximity of the FAPs to mobile nodes. It not only increases system capacity by
reducing the load on base station but also allows signal to reach end users without having to penetrate
through urban structures like buildings and the same air interface can be used both at the Femtocell
and macro cell levels.

Fig 9: Femtocell network architecture Fig 10. Cellular/WLAN convergence architecture
Cellular – WiFi convergence on the other hand, refers to simultaneously provisioning of cellular
services (e.g. GSM, CDMA and UMTS etc) and WiFi services via single integrated network. A
typical example of such environment is Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), in which a dual mode
handset makes call through the internet when WiFi signal are available and through the cellular
network otherwise. In this way, access is provided through licensed and unlicensed network
simultaneously with the use of UMA Network Controller (UNC), as in figure 10. In order to reap
convergence benefits, scalable and adaptable to changing protocols.
4.3 Technical Differences
WiFi and Femtocells both face similar issues relating to access methods. Right of accessing a network
may be public or private. Public access method provide better QOS and throughput but at the same
time increasing the number of hand over and hence add to the signalling overhead. Access method for
Femtocell and WiFi networks differ in terms of securities. While Femtocells allow same security
protocols as cellular service, WiFi networks specify their own protocol such as wired equivalent
protocol (WEP) or Universal access Method (UAM) as proposed for Drive –Thru network
Architecture [7].
4.3.1 Frequency Bands
Femtocell share the licensed electromagnetic spectrum (1.9-2.6 GHz) allocated to cellular service
providers. Here two different approaches can be used. One is the channel frequency deployment in
which, Femtocell and macro cell use the same frequency band. An obvious problem with this
approach is co-channel interference. However, this problem can be reduced by using for example,
dynamic frequency planning [8] for WiMAX Femtocells. Orthogonal channel deployment is another
approach in which macrocells and Femtocells use separate channels. This, on one hand, results in
smaller co-channel interference, but on the other hand, may be results in reduced overall system
capacity. However Femtocell networks use different ISM frequency band, that are independent of any
particular service, they have no deployment issues. FAP implements cellular technologies such as
GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA/LTE and mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e).

WiFi uses unlicensed (2.4 and 5 GHz) ISM band which is available for public use. It poses
problem of interference when too many devices located closed to a WiFi network use same band. The
standard specifies Gaussian shaped FSK (frequency shift keying), GFSK, as modulation for the FHSS
PHY. For 1 Mbit/s a 2 level GFSK is used (i.e., 1 bit is mapped to one frequency), a 4 level GFSK for
2 Mbit/s (i.e., 2 bits are mapped to one frequency. IEEE 802.11 DSSS PHY also uses the 2.4 GHz
ISM band and offers both 1 and 2 Mbit/s data rates. The system uses differential binary phase shift
keying (DBPSK) for 1 Mbit/s transmission and differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK)
for 2 Mbit/s as modulation schemes.
A FAP looks like a WiFi access point (WAP). However, inside, they are fundamentally different.
WAP implements WiFi technologies such as IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, 802.11g, and
802.11n.Figure 11 illustrates the non-overlapping usage of channels for an IEEE 802.11b installation
with minimal interference in the US/Canada and Europe. The spacing between the centre frequencies
should be at least 25 MHz (the occupied bandwidth of the main lobe of the signal is 22 MHz). This
results in the channels 1, 6, and 11 for the US/Canada or 1, 7, 13 for Europe, respectively. It may be
the case that, e.g., travellers from the US cannot use the additional channels (12 and 13) in Europe as
their hardware is limited to 11 channels. Some European installations use channel 13 to minimize
interference. Users can install overlapping cells for WLANs using the three non-overlapping channels
to provide seamless coverage. This is similar to the cell planning for mobile phone system.
.
Figure 11 :IEEE 802.11b non overlapping channel selection
Similar to 802.11b several operating channels have been standardized to minimize interference.
Figure 12 shows the channel layout for the US U-NII bands. The centre frequency of a channel is
5000 + 5*channel number [MHz]. This definition provides a unique numbering of channels with 5
MHz spacing starting from 5 GHz. Depending on national regulations, different sets of channels may
be used. Eight channels have been defined for the lower two bands in the U-NII (36, 40, 44, 48, 52,
56, 60, and 64); four more are available in the high band (149, 153, 157, and 161). Using these
channels allows for interference-free operation of overlapping 802.11a cells. Channel spacing is 20
MHz, the occupied bandwidth of 802.11a is 16.6 MHz.

Figure 12: Operating channel of IEEE 802.11a in the U-NII band selection
4.3.2 QoS challenges

Quality of service is the ability of packet switched network to provide different priorities to different
applications in order to guarantee a certain level of performance for data flow. The 3GPP QoS
architecture [19] classifies data into conversational, streaming, interactive and background traffic
classes, each having separate QoS attributes. WiFi QoS mechanisms are composed of service
Differentiation (assigning different parametric values of channel access to different channel traffic
classes), Admin control and bandwidth reservation and rate adaptation (changing data rates according
to variations in channel conditions). Recently interoperability between IEEE 802.11 and DiffServ
(differentiate service) is being explored. Femtocells, on the other hand, might face several hardware
changes before providing adequate QoS requirements to users. Using traffic service, such as DiffServ,
may be one method of providing QoS in Femtocells. However, it would mean additional bits (DSCP)
are encoded every time a transmission occurs. A leading communication service provider, Oyster,
propose Iu+ interface between Femtocell and access controller to offer QoS over IP network.
Figure 13: Per-flow packet Management Figure 14: Logical view of packet calcification and traffic
conditioning at the end router
DiffServ architecture consists of two sets of function called Edge function and core function. Edge
function done packet classification and traffic conditioning as shown in figure 14. At the incoming
edge of the network, arriving packet are marked. Packet marked is carried within the DS field
[RFC3260] in the IPv4 or IPv6 packet header. Core function is forwarding and, when a DS

(differentiated service) marked packet arrives at a Diffserv capable router, the packet is forwarded
onto its next ho according to the so called per hop behaviour associated with that packet class.
4.3.3 Handsets
Ordinary cell phones do not allow call over IP networks. Most WiFi users either use ordinary
phones along with a special adapter or personal computer to make VoIP calls. Another way is to use
special purpose dual mode which enable phone calls both over IP and cellular network because WiFi
works in licensed bandwidth (2.4 and 5 GHz) and femtocells operate in licensed bandwidth (1.9-2.6
GHz). Therefore users have to switch according to their requirement whether they need WiFi or
femtocell. In Femtocells, an ordinary cellular phone can use the resource of both cellular and IP
networks. This is because a Femtocell controller provides the interface between IP and cellular
network.
4.3.4 Hand over
Mobiles in WiFi networks hand over from one access point to another when the RSS of former
becomes lower than a certain threshold. Hand-over occur between different Access Points randomly
placed at different geographical locations. In a cellular/ WLAN convergence scenario, shown in
figure. 10 handovers can also occurs between a cellular BS and WiFi AP to a cellular BS as soon as it
gets out of the AP footprint and vice versa.
Figure 15: handover in Femtocell deployed cellular network Figure 16: hand over decision depend on receive signal level
In case of cellular networks and Femtocells, mobiles face at least three kind of hand over. One is the
normal handover, occurring when user moves from one base station to another base station. This is
BS-BS handover that occurs between two BSs. This kind of handover also happens in infrastructure
WiFi as inter AP handover. Another kid of handover occurs between cellular BSs and FAP when
mobile moves from outdoors to indoors or vice versa. When a mobile is outdoors, its requests are
responded by the cellular base station. As soon as the mobile moves indoors, it starts being served by
the Femtocell access point instead of cellular base station. This handover requires a certain level of
synchronization between FAP and cellular base station because there is no certain coordination
between two. A third kind of hand over scenario is when a user moves from one floor of a building
(served by Femtocell) to another 9served by another FAP associated with same cellular service), that
is a FAP-FAP hand over. Figure 16 shows where the logical handover decision should taken
according to critical signal level.

4.3.5 Interference
WiFi faces interference with all devices working on the same unlicensed band in close vicinity. A
minimum distance of about 5m is recommended to avoid such interferences. Since Femtocell operate
on same band as macrocells, Femtocell devices may face adjacent channel interference with device
being served by the Macrocell. Two Femtocells of the same service provider located close to each
other might also causes interference. This can be seen as practical situation where two Femtocells of
same service provider serve users on two adjacent floor of building. A study in [16], however, shows
that such interference is not significant because structural obstacle do not let low powered FAP signal
to penetrate through them. Fortunately due to two different frequencies band for Femtocells and WiFi
there is no considerable interference users those who are getting service as indoor users when they
use femtocell and WiFi at same time.

5 Market Penetration
Femtocell dramatically improves indoor wireless coverage and is headed toward critical mass among
all major nodes of the wireless supply chain and vault in to explosive growth after reaching a decisive
watershed recent few years. The benefits Femtocell offers to both networks operators and users from
the most important factor driving market growth. the benefits for operators include significant cost
saving for backhauling and reduced subscriber churn because of better network coverage. Subscriber
enjoy the benefits of reduced call charges and better experience of mobile internet application such as
video downloading and live game on mobile internet.
Throughout the wireless supply chain, companies are busy mobilizing to provide solution for
Femtocell which resembles WiFi routers in appearance. Instead of enabling wireless local area
networks, however, Femtocell base stations are improve 3G coverage inside buildings or homes
locations where wireless signal tend to be weak because of building materials blocking the signal or
the site’s distance from the cell tower.
5.1 Femtocell Deployment in the world
Femtocells are now a commercial reality. Launches by AT&T and Vodafone, amongst others, have
brought Femtocells in to the consumer sphere. This is first wave of Femtocells is targeted at
residential users, solving coverage and data coverage issues in the home, and Femtocells are an ideal
solution to the problem. AT&T continues to expand its approach to telecom network management for
3G traffic, having announced at CTIA wireless 2010 last month that it would take pilot Femtocell,
Microcell, nationwide starting this month.
Among participant nodes, Tier 1 entities in the United State and major global operators like Vodafone
Group plc in the United Kingdom have launched Femtocell solutions. Commercial developments also
are being launched by an increasing of number of carriers around the world. In addition to carriers
several device manufactures are firming up their Femtocell position after recently announcing the
selection of England-Base company picoChip to supply the key baseband chipset component for their
product. Femtocells likewise are being evaluated by chipset supplier such as Qualcomm Inc. and
Texas Instrument Inc., which are examining entry strategies for braking in to market. A fourth node
comparison test and measurement companies, including the likes of AirHop communications Inc. and
continuous computing is leading the charge for self optimization of coverage for Femtocell
deployment. Given the inherent use cases and environmental requirement of indoor deployments, self
optimization networks are essential to success of Femtocells. The U.S is expected to have the largest
Femtocell market in 2010 and is also expected to have highest CAGR of 84.5%
Unit shipment of Femtocells will more than triple this year, rising to 1.9 million, up from 571,000 in
2009, according to iSuppli projections. A period of phenomenal expansion then will follow, with
shipment reaching 7.2 million units in 2011, up 289 percentages from 2010. Shipment will rise by 232
percentages to reach 23.9 million units in 2012 and by a whopping 657 percentage to hit 39.6 million
units in 2013 [14]. Taking into account developments across the wireless communication system,
iSuppli expects 2010 to be the year in which Femtocell units become a key ingredient in foundation
for future radio access network topologies and while technical and commercial challenges remain,
Femtocells are proving to be viable solution for players in wireless industry especially mobile
networks operators seeking optimize their resource in providing seamless coverage inside indoor
environment.

Graph 1: Global Femtocell Base Stations (Units in thousands) [14]
Global Femtocell equipment market (2009-2014) network operator started showing interest in
Femtocell market in 2007, following which the technology evolved from a test product to a
mainstream market with in a very short span of time. Development economies such as Japan and
Western European nation are expected to be the preferred market Femtocell vendors as these regions
have very high rate of mobile and broadband penetration. Such market are expected to provide
immense opportunities in terms of revenues and market growth because Femtocell equipment is easier
to deploy at places where broadband facilities already available. Alcatel-Lucent Company was already
shipping 3G Femtocells to a number of mobile operators, including Chunghwa telecom, and was
looking to establish partnership with a number of Taiwan based manufactures to develop Femtocell
equipment on a long term basis, given that production of this technology required a higher level of
software expertise.
However, no one in the industry is standing still. The residential environment is just one
aspect of the mobile market and there remain challenges in improving mobile coverage and capacity
for a range of other scenarios. With the technology development progressing quickly, the first
operation are already trialling ‘greater Femtocell’ as user interesting, and demand for, Femtocell
grows. Looking further forward, it seems that Femtocell technology will continue to have a crucial
role to play in meeting the challenges of advanced networks and rapidly increasing smart phone use,
not just in people’s homes but across the full range of usage scenarios.
5.2 Deployment in Norway
Femtocell concept can be embedded with not only 3G but also LTE in future telecommunication
networks. Presently, Femtocell exactly not deployed with the 3G technology in Norway. Last summer
(2009) field trial of LTE was taken places in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, using equipment supplied
by Huawi technologies. The test will involve the radio access and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) aspects
of technology and Telenor expect that the use of Femtocell will play a much more important role with
future cellular networks. But beyond hotspot coverage they have problem that how many LTE bas
station will be needed to provide continuous coverage in urban areas. This forces them to think about
Femtocells. Femtocells will play an important role in the future, much more than we anticipated. The
deal is Huawei’s second relating to LTE service in Norway this year. The vendor closed a deal with
TeliaSonera in January to provide a commercial LTE networks, also in Oslo, expected to launch in
this year (2010). Meanwhile, rival Alcatel-Lucent has predicted that 2010 will be the year Femtocell
their market breakthrough.

5.3. What will be in future for Femtocells?

There is continuous pursuit by Mobile Operators (MOs) to improve indoor coverage in order not only
improve voice quality but also to enable higher data rate in home/office environment. Indoor coverage
improvement, in conjunction with inexpensive offerings, will enable MOs to complete with and
takeaway voice call related revenues from fixed network PTTs and VoIP operators. Femtocells
constitute a promising solution to address all of the above. Femtocell may constitute a solutions to :
 Offering innovation data rates services (Music, video, photo downloading etc.), thus making
the mobile phone competitive with fixed phone, PC and TV
 Offers fixed mobile convergence in response to WiFi/ VoIP, Home zone, and UMA offerings.
 Increase mobile usage indoors and thus revenue by combining coverage/capacity
enhancement with inexpensive voice services.
 Operational cost savings on the (macro) backhaul network due to traffic offloading.
 Capital expenditure saving since no new base station or capacity expansions are needed
Figure 17 is shown that possible technology where the Femtocell can implement as well as era
when femtocell start to deploy based on different technology.
Figure 17: femtocell deployment over time with technology
However, the accumulated experiences from all these trial as well as the recent standardization
activities in 3GPP/3GPP2 will lead to new a new generation of standardizes femtocell solution and
raise the expectation for commercial market success for operators and vendors alike. It is envisaged
that initially, femtocell will be utilized for coordinated coverage extension purpose and niche markets
(high value customers, enterprise package), rather than mass market commercial offering. Upon the
advent of standardized 3G femtocell solutions, the increase of competition at FAP level will
contribute to the extensive commercialization of femtocells which will be further boosted by the
introduction of LTE home node-B in future.
A femtocells concept is Emerging concept and it has possibility to expand with 2G, 3G and LTE.
Already it has considerable market in UK, China, and USA etc. Due to compatibility of different
platform, femtocell concept has more opportunity to go to customers will be caused attract more and
more customers. We hope that femtocell will play considerable role in future communication system
to give better QoS for the indoor users by providing attractive data rates not only with 3G but also
with LTE.


6 Our contribution
The study implicitly highlights many benefits of femtocells to the consumer:

 Fewer dropped calls
 Better voice quality
 Higher data rates
 Better indoor coverage
 Potentially attractive tariffs or voice and data bundles.
However, the business case with femtocells is not simple because it often requires two different
entities: the mobile network operators that provide the femtocells and the Internet provider who
delivers the broadband backhaul connection. It can be managed if both services provide by same
company.
Some key features of Femtocells (The FAP device)

 User-deployed
 Auto-configuration and self-optimization
 Low-cast
 CPE (customer premises equipment)
 Fully managed by licensed operators (but users have some basic level of control e.g.
subscribers addition or deletion etc)
6.1 Bandwidth Allocation Control
Since Femtocells use existing broadband internet connection as backhaul. A normal architecture of
the Femtocell is as the figure 2.
In the figure the broadband router and Femtocell are shown as different devises but the broadband
router, modem and Femtocell can be integrated as a single device. One of the questions is that, with a
few users in the Femtocell coverage area, how to assure that one user is not affected by another user?
Figure 18: policy Server implementation

To address this issue there are two proposed solutions. The first is the use of integrated Policy Server
in FAP and other is to use Application Based Bandwidth Allocation Control that is users of the
Femtocells should be facilitated with an additional management control so that user (owner of FAP)
can control that which application uses how much of bandwidth. It should be default software with a
user-friendly interface.
There are some trade-offs in both the solutions. If we use Policy Server it addresses the issue but
results in high-cost of FAP device from manufacturer’s view point. Using second approach besides
addressing issue we can achieve the low-cost objective of FAP.
6.2 Femtocell and WiFi at home
The wireless industry is currently considering two options: femtocells and WiFi. Both solutions have
merits that will be discussed below.
Advantages of WiFi include the capability to hold a much larger amount of spectrum, while in
femtocells there may be spectrum conflicts between the macro network and femtocells, and between
neighbouring femtocells. Generally, spectrum is a very precious commodity and should be used
sparingly. While the maturity of femtocell technology still remains to be seen, the advantages and
disadvantages of WiFi are pretty well known by now. On the other hand, on the surface there are a
number of advantages of femtocells over WiFi. The wireless interface in femtocells is identical to the
cellular network, and control functions are identical, thus allowing handsets no need to have an
additional WiFi radio unit enabled. Femtocells use only licensed operators' spectrum, which can
therefore avoid "foreign" radios. Similarly Femtocell provide infrastructure to fill the gap in the
continuum between home car office and present context still this is not well address by WiFi or even
cellular networks for that matter.
When user has both femtocell and WiFi in the home is another critical thing whether hand set support
for both. if yes then user need to switch his mobile to femtocell to WiFi to manage his data flow then,
he has to use dual hand set as well as have to do switch from one to another will cause to unnecessary
call drop during the switching time. In some application have to restart the pone to switch to one to
another will cause customer dissatisfaction. If both services provide by same service provider cost
issues also can be managed. If users use SIP and IMS most of the problems will be neutralized.
As mobile networks are getting more and more traffic these days, the discussion seems to stir up
again, this time against the background of whether UMTS Femtocell or WiFi is better for 3G macro
network offloading. In the end, we are sure peaceful co-existence will prevail. Once femtocell are
nicely integrated together with today's WiFi access points that include an access device (think DSL,
coax or fibre modem), the re-merger of fixed and wireless network operators will open the door to
Femtocell acceptance in homes. And as far as public hotspots are concerned we think combined
devices also make the most sense, especially if the WiFi hotspot operator is also a UMTS network
operator [15].
6.3 Why WiFi?
Fortunately, most Internet-capable user devices now come with WiFi capable. Since the main
challenge of indoor operation is related to Internet access, the terminal's WiFi can provide for a good
ecosystem. Most existing cellular networks are well provisioned for indoor voice service; the cases of
non-sufficient coverage for voice service are rather rare, hence the issue of seamless roaming between
indoor to outdoor is questionable at best. If voice roaming is not an issue, we can avoid the
complexities associated with "voice continuity" between WiFi and cellular, hence the WiFi solution
can be further simplified.

Dense unplanned radio deployment produces spectral conditions that are very similar to unlicensed
spectrum conditions. In the case of femtocells, this could nullify the main benefit of licensed spectrum
utilization. Consequently, one may be better off using unlicensed spectrum to begin with. Since WiFi
is inherently designed to operate over unlicensed spectrum with high co-channel interference, using
WiFi will be substantially less risky.
Since WiFi uses unlicensed spectrum that does not exploit the precious operator licensed spectrum,
and since the amount of unlicensed spectrum is far greater than the typical operator's licensed
spectrum, much more traffic can be served using WiFi. WiFi networks are already deployed all over;
almost every residence, office, coffee shop and other public places where Internet access exists have
WiFi. Finally, instead of asking subscribers to buy, install and learn to operate a new device
(femtocell), indoor service challenges can be solved by a "software only" approach that requires very
little (if any) of the subscriber's attention.

7 Conclusion
Femtocells may play a major role by providing cellular coverage where the Macrocell coverage is not
available as well as by improving service quality. Most of developing country as well as develop
country where 2G and 3G technology used femtocell is good remedy for them to provide quality of
service for their customers. It can bring about a revolution in the wireless communication industry on
mass deployment because of its capability to drastically improve QoS at much cheaper rates.
Operator will use femtocells to build a new generation of lower cost, flat architecture network that can
utilize the internet as backhaul and deliver expanded capacity for customers. This hybrid mobile
network will yield an improved platform for new mobile multimedia services, higher revenue, and
new technology introduction.
This research oriented project was helped to improve knowledge of the Femtocell and the
technologies supporting this concept, its success and possibility to competition with WiFi. We
proposed policy server to overcome load balance problem to improve QoS. Finally, we discussed
some positive and negative aspect regarding Femtocell and WiFi after getting better understand of the
concepts. We hope that the femtocell will deploy in future networks to give strong coverage with
having attractive features. Furthermore, policy server implementation remains for future works due to
time limitation of the project. After implementation it, we can confirmed that to provide quality
service with having priority based on applications.

References
[1] D. Calin, H. Claussen and H. Uzunalioglu, Alcatel-Lucent, “On Femto Deployment

Architectures and Macrocell Offloading Benefits in Joint Macro-Femto Deployments,” IEEE
Communication Magazine, January 2010.
[2] S.S. Prasad and R. Baruah,”” IEEE Xplore
[3] J. Weitzen and T. Grosch, Airvana, “Comparing Coverage Quality for Femtocell and Macrocell
Broadband date Services,” IEEE Communication Magazine, January 2010
[4] A. A. Habeeb and M. A. Qadeer, “Interference evaluation and MS controlled Handoff Techniques for
Femtocell,” IEEE Xplore
[5] GSM Association Document FCG17_003, “Femtocell Interference and Frequency” Version 1.0, May
15, 2008
[6] M.S Alouini and A.J. Goldsmith, “Area Spectral efficiency of cellular mobile radio system,”IEEE
trans.Vhic.Tech, vol.48, no4, Jully 1999, pp. 1047-66
[7] J.Weitzen and T.Lowe, “Measurement angular and distance correlation properties of Log normal
shadoing at 1900 MHz and its application to desighn of PCS systems,” IEEE trans.Vhic.Tech,March
2002,pp. 265-73
[8] J weitzen and T. G. Airvanna,” Comparing converge quality for Femtocell and macrocell Broadband
data services”,IEEE communicatin magazine ,january 2010, pp. 40-44
[9] S. F. Hasan, N. H. Siddique and S. Chakraborty,” Femtocell versus WiFi – A survey and Comparison
of Architecture and Performance ”,IEEE Xplore
[10] The broadband forum TR-069: “CPE WAN Management Protocol v1.1”, Issue 1 Amendment 2,
December 2007
[11] IETF RFC 4306; “Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2) Protocol”.
[12] IETF RFC 2560: “X.509 Internet Public key Infrastructure Online certificate Status Protocol-OCSP
[13] 3GPP2 X.S0059-0 100: “cdma2000 Femtocell Network: Packet Data network Aspect”
[14] http://www.isuppli.com
[15] htto://gigaom.com/2009/11/02/who-needs-femtocells-if-we-have-WiFi/
[16] Claussen, “Performance of Macro and Co-Channel Femtocells in hierarchical cell structure”,
International journal of Wireless Information Networks Vo. 15, No. 3,pp. 137-147,2008
[17] http://airheads.arubanetworks.com/artical/are-femtocells-more-just-WiFi-access-points
[18] http://www.articalbase.com/communication-articals/developments-in-the-global-femtocell-market-
2070227.htmal#ixzz0mnjSgVCI
[19] S Chakraborty, T Frankkila, J Peisa, P Synnergren, “IMS Multimidia Telphony over Cellular system”,
Wiley, 2007
[20] H. Claussen, “Performance of Macro and Co-Channel Femtocells in hierarchical cell structure”,
International journal of Wireless Information Networks Vo. 15, No. 3, pp. 137-147, 2008

[21] D. L.Peroz, A. Valcarce, G. Roche and J. Zhang “OFDMA Femtocells: A Roadmap on Interference
Avoidance” IEEE Magazine, June 2009
[22] Femto Forum Report, “Interference Management in UMTS Femtocells,” Dec. 2008.
[23] 3GPP TS 22.220 v. 9.0.0, Mar. 2009.
[24] M. Järvinen, “Femtocell Deployment in 3rd Generation Networks” Espoo, Finland, 03 June 2009
[25] G. Roche, A. Valcarce, D. Perez and J.Zhang,“Access Control Mechanism for Femtocells,” IEEE
Communication Magazine, January 2010
[26] GSM Association Document FCG.04, “Management of Femtocells” Version 1.0, July 03, 2008

Appendix A
List of Abbreviations
2G 2nd Generations
3G 3rd Generations
4G 4th Generations
BS Base Station
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CS Circuit Switch
CN UMTS Core Networks
CPE Customer Premises Equipment
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
ESP Encapsulated Security Payload
Ev-Do Evolution Data Only
EPC Evolved Packet Core
FAP Femtocell Access Point
FMS Femtocell Management System
FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
HLR Home Location Register
HNB-GW Home NodeB Gateway
HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access
HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access
IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem
IP Internet Protocol
Iu UMTS interface between RNC or HNB-GW and CN
Iu-b UTRAN Interface between HNB and RNC
Iu-h Utran interface between HNB and HNB-GW
LTE Long Term Evolution
MSC Mobile Switching Center
OCSP Online Certificate Status Protocol
OMC Operations Management Centre
PS Packet Switch
RAN Radio Access Network
RNC Radio network Controller
RTP Real Time Protocol
SeGW Security Gateway
SGSN Serving GPRS Support node
SINR Signal to Interference and Noise ratio
SIP Session Initiation Protocol
UDP User Datagram protocol
UE User Equipment
UMA Universal Mobile Access
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
Uu UTRAN air interface between UE and NodeB
VoIP Voice over IP
WCDMA Wideband CDMA

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Ali Raza, D.S.

De Silva Femtocells; What, Why and How

Femtocells: What, Why and How

Project report for IKT 411 in Spring 2010

Department of Information and Communication Technology

Grimstad, 14 March 2017

Keywords: Femtocell, UMTS, WiFi, HNB

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Remark from Ali and De Silva

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Ali Raza, Dadallage Samansiri De Silva

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Femtocell is a recent technology in

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Table 1.Improvement of Macrocell with Femtocell

Table 2 Benefits of Femtocell Networks

User benefits Increase Higher Improved Higher quality Lower home

Operator Increase Lower capital Expanded Lower Increased

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1.4 Report outline

The report content is organized as follows

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2 Technical Challenges and Possible Solutions

2.1. CDMA and OFDMA

OFDMA: In contrast to CDMA-based Femtocells, OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple

2.2. Challenges related to Femtocells, WiFi and related solutions

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3 The Adopted Solutions

3.1 Femtocell Architecture

Figure 2: Femtocell architecture

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3.1.1 New network elements

Figure 3: UMTS basic architecture with Femtocell

3.1.1.1 Home NodeB

3.1.1.2. Home NodeB Gateway

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3.1.1.3. Iu-h Interface

3.1.2. Home NodeB management System

3.1.3. Security Gateway

3.2 Connection with 3G and Access Strategies

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Figure 4: UMTS basic architecture

The second approach in Femtocell implementation is to use Internet Media Sub-System/Session

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3.2.1 Access Strategies

When the access strategy blocks the use of

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3.3 RF Interference and Handoff

Figure 6: Interference Scenario [5]

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4. Macro Node B is the aggressor and victim is the Femtocell downlink.

In this case there are no major UL interference issues.

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6. Femtocell A is the aggressor and victim is the Femtocell B downlink.

The different scenarios of interference described in figure 4 can a classified as follows

Handoff issues are briefly discussed later in chapter 4.

Figure 7: Femtocell security architecture reference model