Introduction to Femto Cell

P96942002 陳雨含

1. Introduction
z What is femtocell
femtocell—originally known as an Access Point Base Station—is a
small cellular base station, typically designed for use in residential or small
business environments. It connects to the service provider’s network via
broadband (such as DSL or cable); current designs typically support 2 to 5
mobile phones in a residential setting. A femtocell allows service providers
to extend service coverage indoors, especially where access would
otherwise be limited or unavailable. The femtocell incorporates the
functionality of a typical base station but extends it to allow a simpler, self
contained deployment; for example, a UMTS femtocell containing a Node
B, RNC and GSN with Ethernet for backhaul. Although much attention is
focussed on UMTS, the concept is applicable to all standards, including
GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX solutions.

z Typical femtocell scenario

z Coverage of femtocell
2. History
z Evolution of femtocell
‧ In 2002, a group of engineers at Motorola, started a team (AFG) to
develop new technologies. One of their major achievements included
the invention and development of the access point base station (ie.
Femtocell). The original design was intended to provide a direct
equivalent to a WiFi access point, but for mobile cellular (UMTS,
CDMA-2000 or WiMAX).
‧ By mid-2004 a number of companies were independently investigating
femtocells (others as "residential base station" or "3G access point").
‧ In 2004, two femtocell-focussed companies were registered at
Companies House in the United Kingdom: 3Way Networks (now
Airvana, Inc.) and Ubiquisys.
‧ By 2005, the idea had become more widely recognized with
demonstrations and conference discussion. By this stage more
companies were involved.
‧ By early 2007, the idea had become mainstream, with a number of
major companies publicly demonstrating systems at the cellular industry
3GSM conference in February, and operators announcing trials. In July,
the Femto Forum trade organization was founded to promote femtocell
deployment worldwide.
‧ In 3Q 2007, Sprint Nextel started a limited rollout in Denver,
Indianapolis and Tennessee of a home-based UbiCell femtocell built by
Samsung called the "Sprint Airave", which worked with any Sprint
handset. Airave was rolled out nationwide on 17 August 2008.
 z Femto Forum
‧ The only organization devoted to promoting femtocell technology
worldwide.
‧ It is a not-for-profit membership organization, with membership open to
providers of femtocell technology and to operators with spectrum
licenses for providing mobile services.
‧ The Forum is international, representing more than 50 members,
including:
– Major operators
– Major infrastructure vendors
– Specialist femtocell vendors
– Vendors of components, subsystems, silicon and software
necessary to create femtocells
‧ 3 main aims:
– To promote adoption of femtocells by making available
information to the industry and the general public;
– To promote the rapid creation of appropriate open standards and
interoperability for femtocells;
– To encourage the development of an active ecosystem of
femtocell providers to deliver ongoing innovation of commercially
and technically efficient solutions.

3. Features
‧ Mature mobile technology
– Qualifying standard protocols include GSM, UMTS, CDMA, LTE,
Mobile WiMAX
‧ Operating in licensed spectrum
‧ Generating coverage and capacity
– Create extra network capacity, serving a greater number of users
with high data-rate services
‧ Using internet-grade backhaul
‧ At competitive prices
‧ Fully managed by licensed operators
4. Challenges
z Issues
‧ Interference issues – Dynamic Power Management allows us to
minimize interference with the macro network.
‧ Hand-in and hand-out – our seamless handover makes it automatic and
invisible to the user.
‧ Bandwidth efficiency – maximizing the revenue you get from your
spectrum.
‧ Voice quality – with voice payload multiplexing to optimize voice calls.
‧ The neighbor problem – we’ve patented re-usable scrambling codes to
overcome the limit to the number of neighbor femtocells.
‧ Security – another patent on Disposable Authentication Vectors
ensures ultimate security.
‧ Instant provisioning – each femtocell provisions itself automatically.

z Standards
‧ Follows the 3GPP specification
‧ TR-069
– the remote provisioning and management of DSL gateways
– accepted with femto forum and broadband forum.
‧ TS 25.104/141
– WCDMA base station RF specification

z Flat Architectures
‧ RNC Based

‧ UMA Based

‧ SIP/IMS Based
 z Components
‧ Femto Gateway (FGW)
‧ Traffic control - Aggregation of 3G-related traffic coming (over IP) from several
FAPs towards the core network.
‧ Protocol conversion between the ATM-based interface towards the CN and the
IP-based interface towards the FAP.
‧ Encapsulation of 3G-related IP traffic between the FGW and FAP in an IPSec
tunnel (secure gateway).
‧ Authentication of the FAPs connected to the femto cell network.
‧ Access control (AC) of the UEs attempting to receive services from an FAP.
‧ Element Management (EM) of the FAPs.

‧ Femto AP (FAP)
‧ Integrated set-top box

‧ Operation and Maintenance System(OMS)

 ‧ Interfaces

‧ Synchronization
‧ NTP - Network Time Protocol
‧ PTP - Precision Time Protocol/IEEE 1588
‧ GPS timing reference- only a single satellite is needed
‧ From the overlaying (highly accurate) macro-cellular network

5. Benefits
z Key benefits
‧ Low-cost
‧ User-installed - Like cable modems and DSL routers, femtocells will be
installed by consumers and activated through service providers.
‧ Low-power - transmit at 10-100 mws, similar to Wi-Fi APs.
‧ Broadband-connected - service such as DSL, cable, or fiber optics.
‧ Based on cellular network standards - comply with existing UMTS and
CDMA standards, as well as emerging standards such as WiMAX, UMB,
and LTE.
‧ Compatible with existing mobile handsets
‧ Deployed in operator-owned spectrum – Femtocells operate in licensed
spectrum owned by wireless operators, and may share the same
spectrum with the macro cell network.
 z Comparison between customer and operator’s view
Customer Benefits Operator Benefits

Increased indoor coverage Increased network capacity

Higher performance data Reduced CapEx (fewer new macrocells)

Improved multimedia experience Reduced OpEx (power, backhaul)

Mobile coverage where it is needed the

Seamless operation indoors and outside
most
Improved customer loyalty and reduced
Lower cost home zone calling
churn

Continued use of existing mobile phone No requirement for dual-mode handsets

Higher quality voice Counters the VoIP threat

One consolidated bill Potentially increased ARPU

Lower power phone transmissions at home Increased adoption of new wireless

and extended phone battery life technologies

6. Deployments
z Companies over the world
‧ Ameriaca
– Sprint Airave-Samsung Ubicell
– Verison – Samsung Ubicell
– AT&T – Trail at the end of 2008
‧ ALU, Ericsson, Huawei, ip.access,
‧ Motorola, NEC, NSN, Ubiquisys, ZTE
‧ Asia
– Softbank – Ubiquisys & NEC
– CHT – Still on trial
‧ Europe
– T-Mobile - Germany
– Orange – France
– Vodafone
 z Business Case- Sprint Airave
‧ Enhanced coverage and unlimited calling — at home or in the office.

‧ Key Features
– Works with any Sprint phone — up to 3 users at the same time.
– Installs in minutes with your existing broadband Internet access,
such as DSL, cable or T1.
– Unlimited incoming and outgoing calls, including nationwide long
distance, when using your Sprint phone and initiating your call on
the device (requires an AIRAVE unlimited calling plan).
– Automatically transfers calls to the Sprint Nationwide Network
once you leave your home or office.
– Limit access to your AIRAVE by creating a list of up to 50
approved Sprint phone numbers.

‧ Requirement - What You'll Need

– Active Sprint phone(s)
– Sprint voice plan
– Broadband Internet access, such as DSL, cable or T1.
– Available Ethernet port — either on your modem or via a
router — to connect AIRAVE to your broadband data service.
– Available power outlet

‧ Pricing
– Sprint AIRAVE Base Station - $99.99/each (requires activation at
time of purchase and subscription to an AIRAVE plan. Excludes
taxes.)
 – AIRAVE Enhanced Coverage Charge - $4.99/mo. (required per
AIRAVE unit).
– Single Line Unlimited Calling Plan (optional) - $10/mo. per
account.
– Multi-Line (multiple phones sharing minutes on one account)
Unlimited Calling Plan (optional) - $20/mo. per account.

‧ User Manual of femtocell

7. Conclusions
‧ Femtocells will change the mobile industry.
– Operators will use femtocells to build a new generation of lower
cost, flat architecture networks 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.
– Femtocells will also change the mobile broadband experience for
customers. Excellent wireless coverage in the home will become
the norm and not the exception.

8. Reference
† http://www.femtoforum.org/femto/
† http://www.broadband-forum.org/
† http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femto_cell
† http://www.3gpp.org/
† http://www.ngmn.org/
† http://sprint.com/
† http://www.ubiquisys.com/
† http://www.picochip.com/
† http://www.airvana.com/
† www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/
† www.samsung.com/
† http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/
† http://www.eettaiwan.com/