Nndondeni Mudau, Thokozani Shongwe, and Babu Sena Paul
LTE/LTE - Advanced, FemtoCell BS, MIMO
An unrelenting need for mobile broadband data has become the norm for end users. Mobile operators are now faced with a challenge to deliver higher data rates thus has prompted developments for new innovations in mobile technology to satisfy this data hungry generation. Poor indoor building penetration have been a major stumbling block in achieving higher data rates as good signal strength of better quality influences higher data rates. Methods to solve indoor penetration problems such as cranking up power on existing base stations can be an alternate but this can potentially introduce high interference to the system and effectively decrease system capacity. Like in any other wireless communication environment, having a transmitter and receiver closer to each other will potentially increase signal strength thus effectively increasing signal quality and potentially higher data rates. This inevitably means more base stations need to be installed to improve coverage. This idea is not feasible in practice based on financial constraints using traditional macro and micro sites thus the emergence of FemtoCell seems to be a feasible endeavour. A FemtoCell BS is a self-installed low powered base station connected to the mobile operator via backhaul using IP connection. This device brings a lot of benefits such as Opex savings, increased spectral efficiency, improved battery life and higher data rates for customers resulting from increased signal Strength. In this paper an overview of advancement of cellular networks from legacy standards 2G to 4G-LTE/LTE-A and benefits/challenges of FemtoCell are analysed.
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