Smartphones are great - next to that essential phone call, they give us email and Internet access on the go, updates on friends through social media, help in finding the way to a new restaurant, and a plethora of other useful features. On the other side, they give operators the challenge and headache of how to solve congestion on their cellular networks. Apple's first iPhone, its touchscreen, its app concept, marked an iconic game change in the industry, not only for the user, but even more so for cellular infrastructure. Its introduction opened the sluice gates for mobile data demand, and ever since the need for more bandwidth on networks continues to surge.
Femtocells surfaced first, as far as I can recall, and they were toted as technology to storm consumer's homes for solving weak indoor signals. Metrocells, considered femtocells with an increased range, followed on. Then microcells and picocells. Nanocells seemed missing on most product roadmaps. In strict math terms, micro is one millionth, nano one billionth, pico is one trillionth, and femto one thousand trillionth. In other words, each metric prefix is one thousandth smaller. This appears to be linked in no way to small cell technology rationale, or their coverage range, and is probably a marketing ploy for naming small, smaller, smaller still... Good thing that these monikers with their differing and overlapping definitions were all placed in the superset "small cells" at some point.
This plain picture becomes more complex when other forces are factored in. Are we dealing with indoor or outdoor coverage? What about using Wi-Fi and public hotspots in the unlicensed spectrum as a cellular network offload? How do you connect these small cells to the operator's existing macro network (backhaul) and best manage and dynamically allocate bandwidth? How to find and deploy new sites for small cells and make sure they provide a profitable perspective?
Each scenario comes with its own set of specific challenges. To further the cause of expediting roll out of small cell technologies, the Small Cell Forum was founded in July 2007 by the companies Airvana, ip.access, NETGEAR, picoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys. The group has done some great work to address these challenges by providing concrete return-on-investment and best practices technology guides for residential, enterprise and public scenarios. Notwithstanding, even many years down the road it is evident that the manifold challenges facing small cell deployments are hindering their adoption. Yet time is playing into the hands of this technology as an efficient means of solving the data bottleneck.
Monica Paolini, founder of Senza Fili Consulting, contends that small cells will need Wi-Fi to succeed, as its uses license-exempt spectrum, a technology that is still not a close chum to many cellular operators. Small cells and their operators will eventually accept the wisdom of utilizing ubiquitous Wi-Fi and find ways to solve the complex interoperation between macrocell, small cell, and Wi-Fi elements to deliver adequate bandwidth and seamless handover whereever one may be. Such solutions are coined as wireless HetNets (heterogenous networks).
Other research outfits such as iGR are acutely aware of the cost of deploying sites that is hindering small cell roll out. Their scenarios breakout the cost in detail based on small cell type, backhaul (fiber or microwave), backhaul speed, labor and installation, power and ancillary equipment expenses.
Analysts at Tolaga Research point out that the industry requires an average $5,000 target site cost for small cells to succeed and the backhaul contribution should constitute no more than 20-30 % of this figure.
Ultimately small cells will allow smartphone, tablet and portable computing device owners to stay reliably connected and consume bandwidth no matter where they are or what they do.
Small cells: from micro to femto
Not only do small cells offer operators a way out of the data crunch dilemma, but they also improve call reliability and quality indoors where mobile connections often fall victim to weak reception.Femtocells surfaced first, as far as I can recall, and they were toted as technology to storm consumer's homes for solving weak indoor signals. Metrocells, considered femtocells with an increased range, followed on. Then microcells and picocells. Nanocells seemed missing on most product roadmaps. In strict math terms, micro is one millionth, nano one billionth, pico is one trillionth, and femto one thousand trillionth. In other words, each metric prefix is one thousandth smaller. This appears to be linked in no way to small cell technology rationale, or their coverage range, and is probably a marketing ploy for naming small, smaller, smaller still... Good thing that these monikers with their differing and overlapping definitions were all placed in the superset "small cells" at some point.
Small Cell Classification
|
Typical Range
|
Microcell
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2 km
|
Picocell
|
200
meters
|
Femtocell
|
Several
tens of meters
|
Reference: a base station macrocell has
a typical range of ca. 35 km
|
|
Many shapes, sizes, scenarios
Essentially small cells provide an opportunity in solving mobile network overloads by adding further access points (read base stations) within the cellular operator's macro network at a higher cell resolution or smaller range. That's a very simplified view.
Small Cells: different formats, different deployments,
different approaches
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Residential
Sagemcom AP2820V plugs into an AC socket: 8 calls
in parallel, 7.2 Mbps, 30 meter range
Photo courtesy of Vodafone
|
Enterprise
Ericsson’s “Dot” solution is a radio-only access
point connected to an "enterprise base station" and powered by LAN
Photo courtesy of Ericsson
|
Outdoor Rural
Ubiquisys' Tecom FC1080 outdoor solution with coverage up to 3km – 16 voice
calls, 14.4Mbps HSPA
Photo courtesy of Ubiquisys
|
This plain picture becomes more complex when other forces are factored in. Are we dealing with indoor or outdoor coverage? What about using Wi-Fi and public hotspots in the unlicensed spectrum as a cellular network offload? How do you connect these small cells to the operator's existing macro network (backhaul) and best manage and dynamically allocate bandwidth? How to find and deploy new sites for small cells and make sure they provide a profitable perspective?
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| Click to enlarge |
Each scenario comes with its own set of specific challenges. To further the cause of expediting roll out of small cell technologies, the Small Cell Forum was founded in July 2007 by the companies Airvana, ip.access, NETGEAR, picoChip, RadioFrame, Tatara and Ubiquisys. The group has done some great work to address these challenges by providing concrete return-on-investment and best practices technology guides for residential, enterprise and public scenarios. Notwithstanding, even many years down the road it is evident that the manifold challenges facing small cell deployments are hindering their adoption. Yet time is playing into the hands of this technology as an efficient means of solving the data bottleneck.Highly-integrated small-cell SoCs bring equipment cost down
Semiconductor vendors such as Cavium, Freescale, Mindspeed and Qualcomm are addressing the nascent market with offerings that combine 3G or 4G (LTE) technology with latest WiFi standards (802.11ac and 802.11n) on a single piece of silicon or system-on-a-chip (SoC). Combined with the a transceiver and power amplifier for the RF section and other ICs for the type of backhaul desired, they deliver a complete base station in a compact, access-point format. A central theme of all such designs is their focus on energy efficiency. As such they employ a number of smart schemes to mimimize energy consumption so that power requirements don't impede the small cell uptake in homes or their placement on so-called street furniture (lamp poles, building walls etc.).Small cell market research
The market for such equipment will indeed become huge. The research company Infonetics expects a $3.6 billion worldwide spend on small cells during the period 2013 - 2017.Monica Paolini, founder of Senza Fili Consulting, contends that small cells will need Wi-Fi to succeed, as its uses license-exempt spectrum, a technology that is still not a close chum to many cellular operators. Small cells and their operators will eventually accept the wisdom of utilizing ubiquitous Wi-Fi and find ways to solve the complex interoperation between macrocell, small cell, and Wi-Fi elements to deliver adequate bandwidth and seamless handover whereever one may be. Such solutions are coined as wireless HetNets (heterogenous networks).
Other research outfits such as iGR are acutely aware of the cost of deploying sites that is hindering small cell roll out. Their scenarios breakout the cost in detail based on small cell type, backhaul (fiber or microwave), backhaul speed, labor and installation, power and ancillary equipment expenses.
Analysts at Tolaga Research point out that the industry requires an average $5,000 target site cost for small cells to succeed and the backhaul contribution should constitute no more than 20-30 % of this figure.
Reports galore
There is a lot of market research available that proves the smattering of small cell alternatives available and implementation scenarios.
Over 50 research reports covering Small Cells at http://www.wi360.org/
Small cell events
Equally many events are going to be hosted in 2014 on this subject (see http://www.wi360.org/ too) that keep industry participants in touch with the latest developments in the small cell market.Ultimately small cells will allow smartphone, tablet and portable computing device owners to stay reliably connected and consume bandwidth no matter where they are or what they do.
