Femtocells

August 2011
 A Low Cost Solution To Increase Indoor
Coverage and Capacity

Femtocell
Improved Voice, Higher Data Rate, Macro Offload
With existing devices

Expands Beyond Hot-Spot—to Femto Networks

To enable dense, large scale residential and enterprise deployments

Requires Innovative Interference Management

Due to restricted access but also for large scale open access deployments

Qualcomm: Industry Leading Femto Platform

Comprehensive, highly integrated solution with state of the art UltraSON
interference management

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 Data Usage Increasing Rapidly—Majority of
Voice and Data Usage Indoors
“ 3G
More deployed
Femtos than
“doubled
Mobile data traffic more than
in 2010, and predicted
“ 70% of all voice
and data traffic
3G Macros
” to grow 10-12x from 2010-2015
” indoor in 20081 ”
- Informa June 2011 - Strategy Analytics, March 2011 - Informa 2008

FEMTOCELLS ARE A LOW COST SOLUTION TO

IMPROVE INDOOR VOICE & DATA

3 1Includes both data and voice traffic , indoor includes both home and office
 Small Cells Will Provide
The Next Leap In Performance
Bring network closer to users and
leverage Hetnets1—add small cells—
for next leap in performance

Different dimension of improvement:

adding small cells like picos and
femtos and mitigate interference
Radio link
approaching
theoretical limit
Evolved 3G
(EV-DO Rev. B & HSPA+) Next Generation
Data optimized 3G Leap LTE
(EV-DO & HSPA) (OFDMA)

3G (IMT-2000): Voice & Data Next Generation

(e.g. CDMA2000 1X & WCDMA) Leap

2G: Voice Capacity Next Generation

(Digital e.g. GSM & IS-95)
Leap

1G: Voice
(Analog e.g. AMPS)

4 1Leveraging heterogeneous network topology: macro network with added small cells like picocells and femtocells
 Femtocells Evolve To Femto Networks

RESIDENTIAL SMALL ENTERPRISE LARGER SCALE ENTERPRISE / RESIDENTIAL

Initially: Indoor Hot-Spots Next: Denser Indoor And Even

Outdoor Deployments
FEMTOCELLS  Also deployed by operator
 Deployed by user—”unplanned” USED AS
  More enterprise and open access
Supports restricted access TRADITIONAL
 User’s broadband connection PICOCELLS  Inter-Femto service continuity (soft HO)
 Scalable Femto network architecture  Interference coordination

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 Femtocells Deliver Both End-User and
Operator Values—With Existing Devices
OPERATOR BENEFITS

OFFLOADS MACRO NETWORK

INDOOR COVERAGE MAIN CHURN REASON.

REDUCE BACKHAUL, SITE COST

ADDITIONAL ARPU – FEMTO, TARIFFS, Macrocell

BUNDLES, FEMTO ZONE SERVICES Tower

END-USER BENEFITS

IMPROVED VOICE QUALITY AND HIGHER DATA RATES

ENABLES WIRELES SUBSTITUTION

BASED ON LOCATION, INTERACTION WITH MEDIA, ETC…

Femtocell
Personal / Business Access
6 Public Enterprise Access
 WiFi Complements Femtocells

Hot-Spot Offload
Pico / Femto
Pico / Femto
WiFi Hot-Spots
Pico / Femto WiFi Hot-Spots
Macrocell
Tower Heterogeneous networks(HetNets)
—With Picocells/Open Femtocells

LEVERAGING LICENSED SPECTRUM

Femtocell
At Home:
LEVERAGING UNLICENSED SPECTRUM
Typically Restricted
Access Femtocell
and WiFi
WIFI SUPPORT ON HANDSET AND FEMTOCELL PRODUCTS

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 Femtocells Offload the Macro Network and
Enable High Data Rates
14.5 Mbps

FEMTO USERS SERVED

MACROCELL OFFLOADED BY NEAR PEAK RATES
80Y

390 kbps

1.5X
250 kbps
X 180 kbps

Macro Users Macro Femtos Femto Users Macro Femtos

served by macro Only Added served by Only Added
1) macro 2) femto

Assumptions:
8
Example for HSPA+. 16 Users per cell for dense urban HSPA+ system: 10 macro users and 6 home users served either by macrocell or added femto cells. Rx diversity and MMSE
Equalizer used. The median user data rates are shown. Note: Also, the worst 10% of macro users get ~15% higher throughput with proper interference management techniques.
 Handset Advanced Receivers Even More
Beneficial for Femto Deployments
RECEIVE DIVERSITY AND EQUALIZER IMPROVES QUALITY AND CAPACITY

ALL MACRO USERS ‘WORST’ FEMTO USERS

IMPROVED IMPROVED MOST
6.2 Mbps
390 kbps 2X
>3X

140 kbps
3.2 Mbps
X X

1 RX antenna 2 RX antennas 1 RX antenna 2 RX antennas

and Equalizer and Equalizer
Median DL data rates 10% worst femto users’
macro users DL median data rates

Close Macro User impacted Home Users Impacted

(Restricted Access ) By Neighbor Femto

9 Assumptions: Dense urban system simulation for HSPA+. 16 Users per cell: 10 macro users and 6 home users served either by macrocell or added femto cells. Rx diversity and MMSE
Equalizer used. The median user data rates are shown for macro users and the 10% percentile for the ‘worst’ femto users.
 Femtocells Require Innovative Interference
and Mobility Management
ENABLING LARGE SCALE DEPLOYMENTS

MOBILITY MANAGEMENT INTERFERENCE MANAGEMENT

 Need to discover femto
(with femto beacon supporting INTERFERENCE
legacy devices) To macro or other
femtos
Femtos typically
 Need reliable macro/femto share macro
handovers spectrum
(e.g. femto beacon assisted hand-in)

Femto Optimal
User coverage?

ALL PART OF
QUALCOMM’S UltraSON Unplanned femto
deployment
Macro
INTERFERENCE
More severe with User
restricted access
Typically
restricted
access
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 Qualcomm’s Innovative Interference
Management—Part of UltraSON
ENABLING LARGE SCALE DEPLOYMENTS

INITIAL SELF-CALIBRATION
 Network listen to select carrier,
set femto transmit power etc.
JAMMING
FEMTO RANGE TUNING
Sets optimal
 Fine tune range with handset assistance Femto coverage:
 Technician assisted for Enterprise femtos 1) Initial Calibration
2) Range Tuning

FEMTO USER PROTECTION Protects

 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold Protects Femto user
Macrocell
based on femto location E.g. Limit femto user
power
Femto JAMMING
GUEST / NEARBY MACRO USER PROTECTION User
 Detect active guests/macro users to
temporarily throttle femto power

Macro
MACROCELL PROTECTION User
Protects Macro user
 Limit femto user transmit power E.g. temporarily throttle femto power to
 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold protect active macro user

based on femto location

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 Enables New Femto Zone Services
Femto RNC/
Gateway BSC
Operator’s
Network

LOCAL IP ACCESS
 Connect locally to any IP
device (3G, WiFi, LAN etc)
 Offload Femto backhaul Internet

FEMTO ZONE Macro Cell

FEMTO ZONE SERVICES REMOTE ACCESS2

 Leverage location, relationship etc. for new services  Access Femto zone remotely
 Synch with local media/data servers (music, videos, data)  Remotely control media
 Stream to/from local media servers, screens, printers servers, appliances…
 Push services to Femto zone, remote control
 Additional Enterprise opportunities such as integrated
12 IP-PBX services and desk phone substitution
 Examples—Femto Zone Services

Location Based Synch & Stream Remote Control Push

 Alert family members  Automatic synchronization  Use mobile device as  Push content to femto
when a family member between mobile device and remote control for the based on location, context
enters the femto zone home media servers (music, media servers, TV etc. and customer relationship
 Virtual home number— videos, data, etc)  Use mobile device for  Femtocells can utilize
call all mobile devices in  Stream media (music, videos home controls appliances unique knowledge of femto
home zone etc.) to/from mobile device and home settings like usage pattern and
and home entertainments temperature and lights for subscriber relationship to
 Interact with social the connected home
system, screens, etc. push personalized services
media—update presence
and location information  A business can deploy
automatically when femtocells and push
entering femto zone location based
advertisement

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 The Residential Femtocell Can Evolve to
a Home Entertainment Gateway

Integrated Router Home Entertainment Gateway

Personal
3G Access
Femtocell Other Access Home Backhaul Media Media Storage More…
(e.g. WiFi) (Router with DSL/Cable) Consumption (e.g. DVR)
(e.g. IPTV)
INTEGRATED NETWORKING, ENTERTAINMENT HARDWARE, ETC.

INTEGRATED SERVICES
Home Zone Push Personalization Home More…
Services Services based on usage and Control
user profile

New Home Personalized Connected

Zone Services services Home

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 Up Next: Large Scale Enterprise Femtocell
Deployments

 UltraSON enables large scale

enterprise deployments

 Requires technician assisted

coverage planning/range tuning
 Different challenges than residential deployments,
such as larger interference variations
 Technician assisted range tuning helps to set
optimal femto coverage with least macro impact

 Inter-femto soft handover ensures

Typically Multiple Femtos To Cover a Floor
voice quality (or transmit diversity)
 Frequent Hard Handovers (HHO) can disrupt voice
calls in an enterprise environment
 Soft handover (SHO) reduces HHO rate, or if SHO
is not available, use femto transmit diversity

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 Qualcomm: Industry Leading Femto Platform

Small Office /  Comprehensive, highly

Residential Enterprise
Home Office integrated solution
4 Users 8 Users 16 - 32 Users  Baseband, RF & power mgmt, integrated GPS
 Common UMTS/HSPA+ & EV-DO/1X platform
 1GHz CPU based on Snapdragon
 Transmit/Receive diversity and 2 x 2 MIMO
 WiFi support

 Enables very small form factor,

low power products
Chipset Platform

 State-of-the-Art UltraSON
interference, mobility and
discovery management
Baseband RF and  With integrated multiband network listen
FSM 9xxx: Power  Support for pilot beacons and active hand-in
UMTS/HSPA+ FTR8700
CDMA2000 1X RTR8605
EV-DO Rev. A/B PM8058
 Commercial FSM Products
Launched in 2011
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 A Low Cost Solution To Increase Indoor
Coverage and Capacity

Femtocell
Improved Voice, Higher Data Rate, Macro Offload
With existing devices

Expands Beyond Hot-Spot—to Femto Networks

To enable dense, large scale residential and enterprise deployments

Requires Innovative Interference Management

Due to restricted access but also for large scale open access deployments

Qualcomm: Industry Leading Femto Platform

Comprehensive, highly integrated solution with state of the art UltraSON
interference management

17
 Questions? Connect with Us

www.qualcomm.com/technology

@qualcomm_tech

m.qualcomm.com/technology

http://www.qualcomm.com/blog
/contributors/prakash-sangam
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 Thank You

19
 Qualcomm’s Innovative
Interference management
—Part of UltraSON

20
 Qualcomm’s Innovative Interference
Management—Part of UltraSON

INITIAL SELF-CALIBRATION
 Network listen to select carrier,
set femto transmit power etc.
FEMTO RANGE TUNING
 Fine tune range with handset assistance
 Technician assisted for Enterprise femtos
Sets proper femto coverage and
minimizes impact on macrocell
 Measure strength of macro signal
(and other femto cells)
 Power is set to achieve fixed
femtocell coverage

FEMTO USER PROTECTION

 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold
based on femto location

GUEST / MACRO USER PROTECTION

 Detect active guests/macro users to
temporarily throttle femto power

MACROCELL PROTECTION
 Limit femto user transmit power
 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold
based on femto location

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 Qualcomm’s Innovative Interference
Management—Part of UltraSON

Fine tune femto range with handset assistance

 Increase power to improve indoor coverage—based on
INITIAL SELF-CALIBRATION femto device measurements (too low power)

 Network listen to select carrier,  Reduce power to limit outdoor leakage—based on

set femto transmit power etc.
FEMTO RANGE TUNING
 Fine tune range with handset assistance
registrations from restricted users (too much power)
 Continuous monitoring—periodic updates (e.g. daily)
 For enterprise femtos, a technician walks around to
trigger measurements

 Technician assisted for Enterprise femtos

FEMTO USER PROTECTION

 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold
Measurements
based on femto location

GUEST / MACRO USER PROTECTION

 Detect active guests/macro users to Femto
temporarily throttle femto power User

MACROCELL PROTECTION Registration

 Limit femto user transmit power Macro Attempt
 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold User (restricted access)
based on femto location

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 Qualcomm’s Innovative Interference
Management—Part of UltraSON

INITIAL SELF-CALIBRATION
 Network listen to select carrier,
set femto transmit power etc.

FEMTO RANGE TUNING

 Fine tune range with handset assistance
 Technician assisted for Enterprise femtos
FEMTO USER PROTECTION
 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold
based on femto location
Location based femto noise rise
 A femto closer to the cell edge is set to higher noise
rise threshold to mitigate interference created by a
nearby macro user (protecting the femto user)
JAMMING

GUEST / MACRO USER PROTECTION

 Detect active guests/macro users to
temporarily throttle femto power
(especially for restricted access)

MACROCELL PROTECTION
 Limit femto user transmit power Macro
 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold Device
based on femto location (or neighbor
femto device)

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 Qualcomm’s Innovative Interference
Management—Part of UltraSON

INITIAL SELF-CALIBRATION
 Network listen to select carrier,
set femto transmit power etc.
FEMTO RANGE TUNING
Guest/macro user protection
 Detect nearby active macro mobiles by
monitoring uplink on macro frequencies

 Fine tune range with handset assistance  Temporarily throttle femto transmit power
(and beacon power) to protect an active
 Technician assisted for Enterprise femtos macro user

FEMTO USER PROTECTION

 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold
based on femto location
Temporarily
throttle femto
GUEST / MACRO USER PROTECTION power
 Detect active guests/macro users to
temporarily throttle femto power

MACROCELL PROTECTION Femto impacts

 Limit femto user transmit power nearby active
Macro
 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold macro user
User
based on femto location

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 Qualcomm’s Innovative Interference
Management—Part of UltraSON

INITIAL SELF-CALIBRATION JAMMING

 Network listen to select carrier,

set femto transmit power etc.
FEMTO RANGE TUNING
 Fine tune range with handset assistance
 Technician assisted for Enterprise femtos
Limit femto user transmit power
 Cap device power dynamically, based on
path loss to nearest macro, to keep uplink
interference below noise floor of macrocell

FEMTO USER PROTECTION

 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold
based on femto location Femto
User
GUEST / MACRO USER PROTECTION
 Detect active guests/macro users to
temporarily throttle femto power

MACROCELL PROTECTION
 Limit femto user transmit power
Location based femto noise rise
 A femto closer to the macro is set to lower noise rise
 Set appropriate femto noise rise threshold threshold to limit the interference created by the user
based on femto location trying to access the femtocell (To protect macro users)

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 Qualcomm’s Pilot Beacon
for Femtocell Discovery
—Part of UltraSON

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 Femto Beacons Ensure Efficient Femtocell
Discovery for Legacy Devices
Options to find femtocell
• CHANGES TO MACRO NETWORK
1 SETTINGS: Increase macrocell search
PROBLEM: FEMTO DISCOVERY parameter—impacts battery life

 User may never discover its femtocell in in good

macro coverage—reselection may not be triggered • DEVICE ENHANCEMENT: Device
2 performs periodic full search of across
frequencies—requires new devices2

SOLUTION: FEMTO BEACONS1

 Minimize discovery time without battery impact • FEMTO BEACONS1: Controlled
3 transmissions of beacon on macro-only
 Voice quality not affected and no impact on macro frequencies—no battery life impact
user’s throughput with properly designed beacons

FEMTO BEACONS ALSO ENABLE

Carrier 2
EFFICIENT INTER-FREQUENCY ACTIVE
HAND-IN
 Active hand-in reduces call drops and ensures
that the femto is used whenever possible
Carrier 2

Carrier 1 Carrier 1
1Femtobeacon transmits on macro carriers not used by femto. 2Future standards
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enhancements will enable new devices to find femto faster, but not as efficient as beacons.
 Femtocell Beacons Transmit On Macro
Frequencies to Trigger Search
 Beacon triggers inter
frequency search
 Temporarily reduces Macro Ecp/Io in
the vicinity of the femtocell
 Voice quality not affected, no impact
on macro user’s throughput with
properly designed beacons

Macro signal
CPICH Ec/Io (dB)

-6 Beacon burst
Low power
beacon
-12
Sintersearch = 4 dB
UE trigger level for search
-18

Due to beacon
Low power beacon minimizes interference
Time (seconds) Periodic high power bursts ensures good coverage

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 Summary: Qualcomm’s UltraSON
FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Network Listen Based transmit Power
Location aware transmit power calibration after femtocell is installed
Calibration (NLPC)

Optimized residential femto transmit power calibration based on

Femtocell Mobile Assisted Range Tuning (MART) mobile reports and registrations
Transmit Power
Calibration Suite Supervised Mobile Assisted Range Optimized enterprise femto transmit power calibration based on
Tuning (SMART) mobile reports via a technician walk

Transmit power throttling based on uplink RSSI measurements to

Guest Mobile Protection (GUMP) protect nearby active macro mobiles

Controlled Limit on Mobile Power Dynamic capping of femto mobile transmit power to limit uplink impact
Uplink (CLIP) to macro
Interference Femto noise rise setting to protect femto/macro mobiles uplink
Macro Aware Rise Setting (MARS)
Management throughput
Suite Receive Diversity
Dual femto receive antennas to improve the uplink throughput of the
femto user and also to reduce the interference to macro network

Idle Mode Femtocell Discovery Fast and reliable femtocell discovery via pilot beacon transmission

Reliable macro to femto handover via pilot beacon for active mode
Mobility Active Hand-in
service continuity
Management Mobile Assisted Self Configuration Enhancement of femto Neighbor cell List configuration for reliable
Suite (MASC) femto to macro handover

Dual femto transmit antennas to reduce number of handovers and

Transmit Diversity improve voice quality via diversity

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