A context-aware framework for the efficient integration of femtocells in IP and cellular infrastructures

Abstract

In today's heterogeneous networking (HetNet) environments, where end users are provided with universal connectivity opportunities, femtocell deployments can become key players in the enhancement of critical performance indicators such as capacity, coverage, QoS, etc. In order to confront the up-to-date LTE femtocell challenges, we propose a context-aware framework that provides a controlled environment from the femtocell point of view, which is required for applicable functionality. More specifically, we aim to (a) control the local environment where the femtocell is placed within, by efficiently managing the total incoming traffic load and by continuously adjusting the distribution of the backhaul capacity among the coexisting networks and (b) control the macro-femto interference caused by macrocell users transmitting close to the femtocell by investigating the "femtocell as a relay" concept. Finally, the performance of the proposed framework is evaluated via simulation results showing that the overall performance of a HetNet environment can be leveraged in terms of QoS requirements, energy saving and data rate enhancement.

Heterogeneous Networks

“…In autonomic computing, any device or object, either physical or logical, that is relevant to a specific task is considered to be part of the context [17]. The main challenge in context-aware computing was the definition of a new class of applications that were aware of the context in which they would run.…”

“…Generally, the context information of interest in HetNets, as stated in [1,17], includes the following:…”

Context aware resource management for mobile and fixed networking systems

“…small cell gateways, machine-to-machine gateways, etc), which consist an aggregation point for mobile data traffic. As a result, integrated QoS provisioning and efficient resource management solutions are needed in order to achieve an efficient integration of small cells in IP and cellular infrastructures [27]. The idea of combining WiFi, femtocell, router and DSL modem in a single box was first introduced by NETGEAR in 2008 and since then many vendors and operators have encouraged their fixed line and mobile teams to combine their strategies, breaking down the silos between them.…”