Autonomous Spectrum Sharing For Unstructured Cellular Networks with Femtocells

Fourth generation wireless networks aim to provide a guarantee of ubiquitous mobile coverage (including indoors), a perception of uniform performance across all users and a network capacity boost to satisfy increasing traffic demands. For this purpose, small-radius femtocells appear as promising solutions to complement macro cell deployment inside buildings and to enhance the global capacity when compared to the macro network alone. Indeed, the capacity delivered by the addition of small cells to macrocell network is increased through several ways. In particular, short radius cells such as femtocells deliver high capacity thanks to increased spatial reuse. Moreover, by ensuring in-building coverage, femtocells bring more opportunities for higher number of subscribers indoors, resulting in global capacity increase.