On the High Capacity lightRadioTM Metro Cell Design for Stadiums

Offering good Quality of Experience (QoE) in stadiums poses unprecedented challenges to Wireless Operators, due to extreme traffic conditions. During popular sporting events, there could be tens of thousands of active users packed into a relatively small area, sharing pictures and video clips through smart phone applications. This creates high traffic densities and drives requirements for high capacity, and yet economically feasible solutions for stadiums. However, ensuring high capacity in such open, highly interfered environments is a daunting task. In this paper we explain why lightRadioTM metro cells are suitable for stadiums, thanks in particular to their ability to provide high "local" capacity. We demonstrate some key design concepts employed to achieve a target capacity with lightRadioTM metro cells, e.g. number of metro cells and their optimal locations, power levels, antenna patterns and orientation, frequency reuse patterns. We further quantify the metro cells capacity benefits through a comprehensive performance analysis framework taking, LTE as an example.