The art of deploying small cells: field trial experiments, system design, performance prediction, and deployment feasibility

Abstract

We disseminate a set of small cells’ field trial experiments conducted at 2.6 GHz and focused on coverage/capacity within multi-floor office buildings. LTE pico cells deployed indoors as well as LTE small cells deployed outdoors are considered. The latter rely on small emission power levels coupled with intelligent ways of generating transmission beams with various directivity levels by means of adaptive antenna arrays. Furthermore, we introduce an analytical three-dimensional (3D) performance prediction framework, which we calibrate and validate against field measurements. The framework provides detailed performance levels at any point of interest within a building; it allows us to determine the minimum number of small cells required to deliver desirable coverage and capacity levels, their most desirable location subject to deployment constraints, transmission power levels, antenna characteristics (beam shapes), and antenna orientation (azimuth, tilt) to serve a targeted geographical area. In addition, we disseminate specialized solutions for LTE small cells’ deployment within hotspot traffic venues, such as stadiums, through design and deployment feasibility analysis.