Broadband Frequency Domain-Based Air Interfaces for 4G Cellular
Femtocells in the Broadband Home – Will 4G Solve Current Challenges?
12
27 September 2011 Dr. Christian Krapichler Director of Technology Altran Technologies UK BBWF Master Class – Broadband Home Symposium Femtocells in the Broadband Home – Will 4G Solve Current Challenges?
-
Upload
altranmarketing -
Category
Technology
-
view
10.211 -
download
1
description
Why talk about femtocells now? Frost & Sullivan estimates the femtocell market to grow to $5.94 billion by 2016, from less than $0.05 billion in 2009! Although long expected, femtocells are now gaining momentum. Driven by the need to extend indoor and metro coverage and capacity of existing wireless services including LTE, to reduce backhaul costs and to provide cost-effective macro network offload, they are expected to be a strategic solution for mobile broadband networks. Context The explosion of data traffic generated by smartphones, video, OTT players is altering the quality of service of mobile networks. Operators are looking for technical solutions that can ensure optimum customer experience. Femtocells bring an adequate answer. By connecting a mobile phone to the service provider’s network via broadband, they offer the operator a solution to offload their macro access network and therefore offer consumers an improved coverage and potentially better voice and data quality of service. Challenges We foresee 6 significant challenges before femtocells become a true success. 1.Which tradeoffs on Spectrum and Interference? What impact on Macro network? 2.What is the level of reliance on Backhaul and Quality of Service? 3.How to find the optimal configuration for Network and Device Management ? 4.Standardization and interworking - LTE, HSPA+, mWiMAX, EV-DO… What about WiFi, MiFi? 5.Security - in light of recent news, how easy is it to tamper with femtocells? 6.Does the eco-system provide sufficient momentum and support for the expected growth?
Transcript of Femtocells in the Broadband Home – Will 4G Solve Current Challenges?
27 September 2011
Dr. Christian Krapichler Director of Technology
Altran Technologies UK
BBWF Master Class – Broadband Home Symposium
Femtocells in the Broadband Home –
Will 4G Solve Current Challenges?
Altran & Femtocells
15% Financial Services & Government
22% Aerospace & Defence
18% Automotive Infra & Transportation
24% Energy, Utilities, Industry, Healthcare
21% Telecoms & Media
Altran
“Bringing our clients' ideas to life”
» €1.4bn turnover
» 17,000 staff
» 5 key industries
» 26 countries
Altran & Femtocells
From technology strategy to R&D… to deployment and operations
» All key players
» Connected Solutions
Altran & Telecoms
€300m of technology innovation & services
» Complete lifecycle
» E2E value chain
» 4 lines of expertise
Femtocells – Current Challenges
Femtocells are rapidly gaining momentum in the market...
...and so are the challenges!
Femtocell Challenges
Radio
Security
Standards, Inter-
operability
Eco-System
Network / Device Mgmt
QoS / QoE
Femtocells – Current Challenges
Current challenges stretch across many aspects:
• Technology
• Regulatory
• Business
• Market
...and from R&D to Integration, Deployment and Operations
Interference at the Heart of Radio related Challenges
Interference
Spectrum
Throughput
Complexity
Coverage
• Indoor coverage key to Femtocell proposition
• 70% of calls indoors –vs. 2% of buildings with indoor solution
• Technology evolution and new capabilities
• Complex algorithms to address radio performance and interference issues
• Operating Femtocells on dedicated band leads to shortage
• UMTS 900 as viable option
• Femto-Femto Self-Optimization
• Femto-Macro dedicated bands for Residential, impact on Metro / Enterprise
Keywords include: 64QAM, MIMO, Adaptive Signal Processing, Tx/Rx Diversity, Cooperative Comms, Beamforming, Cognitive Radio
FemtocellChallenges
Radio
Security
Standards, Inter-
operability
Eco-System
Network / Device Mgmt
QoS / QoE
4G will help addressing issues with Throughput, Interference, and – depending on licenses – Spectrum, at the cost of increasing Complexity
Our Verdict:
Recent Headlines emphasize need to ensure Security
• Recent headlines highlight security concerns around Femtocells – whilst some are biased or exaggerated, others emphasize the need to address Security across the entire network.
• The impact on Residential Femtocells is limited, whereas Metro / Enterprise deployments will require additional effort – to meet the security expectations of mobile networks and keep the advantage over other technologies such as WiFi.
FemtocellChallenges
Radio
Security
Standards, Inter-
operability
Eco-System
Network / Device Mgmt
QoS / QoE
“Insecure [...] femtocells allow eavesdropping, call fraud”
“Femtocells wilt under attack” “Security Issues in
Next Generation Mobile Networks: LTE and Femtocells”
“UMA FemtoCell Security Concerns”
“MAJOR HACK: [...] femtocells open phones up to intercept”
“Femtocell Security: Capturing phone numbers of passers-by”
Such Security concerns are particularly applicable to new technologies – and 4G Femtocells will be no exception.
Our Verdict:
Standards – Interworking – Interoperability: Vital for the success of Femtocells
FemtocellChallenges
Radio
Security
Standards, Inter-
operability
Eco-System
Network / Device Mgmt
QoS / QoE
Femtocells have many touch points towards various networks - 4G network architectures support interworking, albeit new standards & increasing complexity require further effort.
Our Verdict:
Femto-cells
Macro-Network
WiFi (UMA)
Fixed
M2M
• Seamless H/O • IMS integration • Network / Device
Management
• No H/O • Need Dual Stack:
• Complexity • Higher Cost • Less Battery Life
• DSL as Backhaul • Need E2E Security • QoS / QoE impact • Triple/Quad Play
vs. separate ISP
• Need standardized interfaces
• Example: Smart Metering for Residential Solar
The nature of Femtocells requires co-existence and interfacing with various other technologies.
Expanding Eco-System provides Basis for expected Growth
FemtocellChallenges
Radio
Security
Standards, Inter-
operability
Eco-System
Network / Device Mgmt
QoS / QoE
Although driven by Operator ‘push’ more than Consumer ‘pull’, demand and growth forecasts show that Femtocells have found their place – supported by a strong eco-system.
Our Verdict:
9 new deployments
in 2011Q2, now totalling
31 commercial
services
8 of Top 10 Operator Groups
offer Femto
68 vendors in Femto Forum –
incumbents and new entrants, ‘Telecoms’ and
‘IT’ players
Current Transition from Early
Adopters to Early Majority
Growing demand (Data Explosion) –
but revenues lagging behind
Exponential growth
forecasts Growth in breadth and depth – Eco-System ‘getting crowded’
Sources: • Femto Forum / Informa • Frost & Sullivan • Pyramid Research
Network / Device Management – “Two Worlds Colliding”
Managed Networks
Femto-cells
Consumers
Auto-Configuration and Self-Optimization are mandatory in residential setups – requiring time and effort to identify and tune right parameters particularly for new technologies.
Our Verdict:
FemtocellChallenges
Radio
Security
Standards, Inter-
operability
Eco-System
Network / Device Mgmt
QoS / QoE
• NOC, NMS
• Managed NW Performance
• Strong Security
• Radio Optimization
• Capacity & Site Management
• SW/HW Upgrades
• Technology Roadmap
• Multitude of profiles
• Untrained – requires customer support
• Uncontrolled – risk of mis-configuration, tampering
• Provides ‘own’ backhaul
• Large number of ‘sites’
Femtocells as Enablers for Services and Improved QoS / QoE
FemtocellChallenges
Radio
Security
Standards, Inter-
operability
Eco-System
Network / Device Mgmt
QoS / QoE
Femtocells promise to be enablers for a new generation of services.
4G will significantly improve the underlying ‘Core’ services and strengthen ‘connected’ and ‘localized’ services.
Our Verdict:
Improved “Core Services”
• Voice Quality • Data Speed • Indoor Signal Strength • Latency
Source: Femto Forum
“Connected Home” Services
• Multimedia (incl. mobile TV, interactive TV, HD IPTV)
• Home Networking, access to PC / other services
• M2M, Automation • FMC Integration
“Femtozone” Localized Services
• Home Tariffs • Location Based Services • Presence • Context
Dependency on Backhaul for E2E QoE: • Integrated Femto / HomeGW • Optimize bandwidth efficiency • Traffic Shaping Detection
Conclusions – Turning the Question on its Head!
“Femtocells in the
Broadband Home –
Will 4G Solve Current
Challenges?“
“4G in the
Broadband Home –
Will Femtocells Solve
Current Challenges?“
Yes – Femtocells provide many solutions to achieve the goals of 4G deployment, and help addressing technical and commercial challenges and considerations.
Our Verdict:
4G technology will address some of the current challenges for Femtocells – others are yet to be solved, and new challenges will arise.
Our Verdict:
