Overview of femtocell support in advanced WiMAX systems

The femtocell concept is an integral part of the telecommunication industry's efforts to provide high-throughput, high quality services into the users' home. In contrast to conventional cell types which are well-planned by the operators, femtocell base stations are supposed to be installed by customers themselves, similar to a WiFi access point. Unlike WiFi, however, femtocells operate mainly in licensed bands, such that operators are in control of the radio interface. This brings new challenges as well as opportunities for femtocell design; these include sophisticated mobility and interference management, increased reliability, as well as deployment in a plug-and-play manner. Extensive progress in femtocell design has been made in Advanced WiMAX recently, which is associated with the IEEE 802.16m update in 2011. This article gives an overview and update on novel concepts and mechanisms for femtocell support in the network architecture and air interface that have been adopted into the WiMAX Forum network specifications and the IEEE 802.16m specification.