Utilization of hybrid access femtocells during multicast transmissions in mobile networks

Abstract

Femtocells enhance indoor coverage of mobile services using the owner's broadband connection. They were initially designed to serve a number of subscribed User Equipments within their range. This design however, resulted in underutilization of the femtocells resources, and simultaneously in high interference levels for nearby non-subscribed users. Nowadays, femtocells can support multicast transmissions, while their hybrid operation allows non-subscribed users to use a portion of their resources. In this paper we propose a novel mechanism that is based on the selection of the appropriate Modulation and Coding Scheme. The mechanism allows non-subscribed users to utilize a portion of the femtocells' resources for multicast transmissions when located inside their coverage, without affecting the owners' satisfaction. The simulation results show that depending on the portion of the femtocells' resources allocated to non-subscribed users, the mechanism may significantly increase the average user throughput.