Femto/Pico/Micro/Macrocell Network Deployments for Fourth and Fifth Generations

The femtocell concept is one of the examples of new technologies that makes use of the existing 3-G homogeneous and nonhomogeneous cellular networks to yield high-speed mobile communication. The main goal of femtocell–macrocell and femtocell–microcell deployments is to avoid cochannel interference and to increase the overall cell capacity. This chapter focuses on the coexistence analysis that takes into consideration the different scenarios of femtocell access point (FAP) deployment. The analysis is performed in terms of channel capacity estimation for different FAP deployment strategies. The chapter formulates the capacity analysis on the basis of four main terminologies: dedicated spectral assignment, shared spectral assignment, closed subscriber group, and open subscriber group. It discusses the integration of femtocells into a microcell network pattern. The chapter also analyzes three regimes of femtocell deployment: dedicated channel vs. cochannel; open access vs. closed access; and fixed power in the downlink (DL) channel vs. adaptive DL power.