Open vs Closed Access Femtocells in the Uplink

Femtocells are assuming an increasingly important role in the coverage and capacity of cellular networks. In contrast to existing cellular systems, femtocells are end-user deployed and controlled, randomly located, and rely on third party backhaul (e.g. DSL or cable modem). Femtocells can be configured to be either open access or closed access. Open access allows an arbitrary nearby cellular user to use the femtocell, whereas closed access restricts the use of the femtocell to users explicitly approved by the owner. Seemingly, the network operator would prefer an open access deployment since this provides an inexpensive way to expand their network capabilities, whereas the femtocell owner would prefer closed access, in order to keep the femtocell's capacity and backhaul to himself. We show mathematically and through simulations that the reality is more complicated for both parties, and that the best approach depends heavily on whether the multiple access scheme is orthogonal (TDMA or OFDMA, per subband) or non-orthogonal (CDMA). In a TDMA/OFDMA network, closed-access is typically preferable at high user densities, whereas in CDMA, open access can provide gains of more than 200% for the home user by reducing the near-far problem experienced by the femtocell. The results of this paper suggest that the interests of the femtocell owner and the network operator are more compatible than typically believed, and that CDMA femtocells should be configured for open access whereas OFDMA or TDMA femtocells should adapt to the cellular user density.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to IEEE Trans. on Wireless Communication

Adaptive schemes for packet data in a ds-cdma environment

This paper presents a novel adaptive DS-CDMA slotted-ALOHA packet random access scheme for improving the throughput of the conventional DS-CDMA slotted-ALOHA system. For this purpose a mobile-assisted algorithm is envisaged to control the change of the transmission rate according to the traffic load. This algorithm revealed that the optimum behavior may be almost reached at a low complexity cost. Moreover, the proposed algorithm was found to be robust to intercell interferencePeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Interference analysis of and dynamic channel assignment algorithms in TD–CDMA/TDD systems

The radio frequency spectrum for commercial wireless communications has become an expensive commodity. Consequently, radio access techniques are required which enable the efficient exploitation of these resources. This, however, is a difficult task due to an increasing diversity of wireless services. Hence, in order to achieve acceptable spectrum efficiency a flexible air– interface is required. It has been demonstrated that code division multiple access (CDMA) provides flexibility by enabling efficient multi user access in a cellular environment. In addition, time division duplex (TDD) as compared to frequency division duplex (FDD) represents an appropriate method to cater for the asymmetric use of a duplex channel. However, the TDD technique is subject to additional interference mechanisms in particular if neighbouring cells require different rates of asymmetry. If TDD is combined with an interference limited multiple access technique such as CDMA, the additional interference mechanism represents an important issue. This issue poses the question of whether a CDMA/TDD air–interface can be used in a cellular environment. The problems are eased if a hybrid TDMA (time division multiple access) / CDMA interface (TD–CDMA) is used. The reason for this is that the TDMA component adds another degree of freedom which can be utilised to avoid interference. This, however, requires special channel assignment techniques. This thesis analyses cellular CDMA/TDD systems used in indoor environments. A key parameter investigated is the interference in such systems. In the interference analysis a special focus is placed on adjacent channel interference since the jamming entity and victim entity can be in close proximity. The interference analysis shows that co–location of BS’s using adjacent channels is not feasible for an adjacent channel protection factor that is less than 40 dB and frame synchronisation errors of more than 10%. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that ideal frame synchronisation does not necessarily yield the highest capacity. As a consequence, a new technique termed ’TS–opposing’ is introduced. This method is intended to enable a cellular TD–CDMA/TDD system to apply cell independent channel asymmetry. For this purpose, a centralised DCA is developed. It is found that this algorithm indeed enables neighbouring cells to adopt different rates of asymmetry without a significant capacity loss. Moreover, a decentralised DCA algorithm based on the TS–opposing principle is developed. In this context, a novel TS assignment concept is proposed which reduces the complexity associated with the TS–opposing technique. In addition, the TS assignment plan allows for full spatial coverage. It is shown that the capacity of a TD–CDMA/TDD interface can be greater than the capacity of an equivalent FDD interface. The performance of the decentralised DCA algorithm is limited by the interference in the uplink. Therefore, additional methods which assist in reducing the interference in the uplink are envisaged to further improve the performance of the decentralised DCA algorithm. The exploitation of the TS–opposing technique in two different ways demonstrates that this method can be used to improve the performance of a TD–CDMA/TDD system significantly

An Adaptive Soft Handover Scheme Using Fuzzy Load Balancing for WCDMA Systems

In cellular systems, user distribution variations can cause load imbalance between cells. Embedding a load balancing strategy within the handover scheme means that ensuing traffic congestion can be alleviated by dynamically reallocating load between neighbouring cells. An adaptive soft handover scheme for multimedia cellular communication systems is proposed in this paper, that considers both the cell load factors as well as the pilot channel signal-to-interference-and-noise-ratio (SINR) for soft handovers. By using fuzzy principles, the soft handover thresholds and time hysteresis are adapted dependent upon the loads of the neighbouring cells. Simulation results show that the new algorithm provides improved system performance in terms of a more evenly distributed load, lower blocking probabilities and higher throughput