Optimal placement of Femto base stations in enterprise femtocell networks

Abstract

Femto cells a.k.a. Low Power Nodes (LPNs) are deployed to improve indoor data rates as well as reduce traffic load on macro Base Stations (BSs) in 4G/LTE cellular networks. Indoor UEs getting high SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) can experience good throughput, but SNR decreases at faster rate due to obstacles, present along the communication path. Hence, efficient placement of Femtos in enterprise buildings is crucial to attain desirable SNR for indoor users. We consider obstacles and shadowing effects by walls and include them in the system model. We develop a Linear Programming Problem (LPP) model by converting convex constraints into linear ones and solve it using GAMS tool, to place Femtos optimally inside the building. Our extensive experimentation proves the optimal placement of Femtos achieves 14.41% and 35.95% increase in SNR of indoor UEs over random and center placement strategies, respectively.