Interference evaluation and MS controlled

Handoff Technique for FemtoCell

Ahmad Ali Habeeb

Mohammed Abdul Qadeer

Software Engineer,
Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd.,
Bangalore 560037, India
ahmed.ali.habeeb@accenture.com

Department of Computer Engineering,

Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh 202002, India
maqadeer@ieee.org

Abstract- Femtocells (aka Home Node B) are lowpower wireless access points that operate in licensed
spectrum to connect standard mobile devices to a
mobile operators network using residential DSL or
cable broadband connections [1]. This device has
evolved out of the research that despite of large
deployment of Macrocell (BTS/BSC) in high density
apartment areas and densely populated urban
population, the signal strength and voice quality is a
major challenge to achieve. But on the other side of the
coin there are potential handoff challenges in the
implementation of femtocells because of the limitations
in the number of adjacent cell sites and unavailability
of adequate neighboring cell information during
mobility.
This paper focuses on the overview of femtocell
technology, its potential implementation challenges,
Interference evaluation, traditional handoff technique
and the suggestion to adopt Mobile Station (MS)
controlled handoff technique that should be adopted in
order to successfully handover the control from the
Mobile operator cell (Macrocell) to the femtocell and
vice versa.
Keywords: Femtocell, Home Node B, Handoff, 3GPP,
Femto Forum, GSM, UMTS, WiMAX, DSL, Hand over.

1. Introduction to Femtocell
Femtocells are low-power access points,
providing wireless services in licensed spectrum to
customers primarily in the home. The femtocell
communicates back to the wireless operators core
network over the end-users home broadband
connection.
Femtocells can be described as a scaled down
model of a typical base station (BTS/BSC) extended
to allow easier deployment as an autonomous
Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). Although
much attention is being focused on UMTS, but the
concept is applicable to all previous technologies
such as GSM, CDMA-2K, TDSCDMA and WiFi.

978-1-4244-4570-7/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

The typical architecture of Femtocell is depicted

in the Fig. 1 below.

Fig. 1: Femtocell Architecture

The Femtocell promotion body Femto Forum

defines the following key attributes, all of which are
essential for a device to qualify as a femtocell [2]:
Mature mobile technology: Femtocells use
fully standard wireless protocols over the air to
communicate with standard mobile devices,
including mobile phones and a wide range of other
mobile-enabled devices. Qualifying standard
protocols include GSM, UMTS, Mobile WiMAX,
CDMA and other current and future protocols
standardized by 3GPP, 3GPP2 and the WiMAX
Forum. The use of such protocols allows femtocells
to provide services to over 3 billion existing devices
worldwide and to provide services which users can
access from almost any location as part of a widearea network.
Operating in licensed spectrum: By
operating in licensed spectrum, operators are able to
provide assured quality of service to customers over
the air, free from interference but making efficient
use of their spectrum.

 Generating coverage and capacity: As well

as improving coverage within the home, femtocells
also create extra network capacity, serving a greater
number of users with high data-rate services. They
differ in this from simple repeaters or boosters
which may only enhance the coverage.
Using internet-grade backhaul: As shown
in Fig 1, femtocells backhaul their data over standard
residential broadband connections, including DSL
and cable, using standard internet protocols. This
may be over a specific internet-service providers
network, over the internet itself or over a dedicated
link.
At low prices: The large volumes
envisaged for femtocells will allow substantial
economies of scale, accessing consumer electronics
manufacturing approaches and allowing a very low
price point which will be acceptable to most
residential customers and will be comparable with
access points for other wireless technologies.
Fully managed by licensed operators:
Femtocells only operate within parameters set by the
licensed operator. While they have a high degree of
intelligence to automatically ensure that they operate
at power levels and frequencies which are unlikely to
create interference, the limits on these parameters are
always set by operators, not the end user. The
operator is always able to create or deny service to
individual femtocells or users. This control is
maintained whether the femtocell itself is owned by
the operator or the end user.

2. Implementation Challenges
As Femtocell is dependent on DSL or WiMAX
for its implementation, the stakeholders includes
Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telephone
companies, cable operators and wireless service
providers to work together for its successful
deployment.
Some of the potential implementation challenges
are discussed below
1)
Interference Because of the
small size of Femtocell, it can attain spectrum
efficiency much greater than what can be achieved
by a Macrocell and thus can be easily deployed as a
Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). This can
further reduce the operating expense of the Network
Providers.
But with these apparent benefits, there are
some issues with the interactions between the
femtocell technology and the host macro-cellular
radio network into which they are deployed.
If femtocells can only achieve their potential
by disrupting the macro network, then they will be
relegated to niche deployments, of little overall
relevance to next generation networks. On the other

hand, if the interactions between macro and femto

radio layers can be managed to the benefit of all,
then their properties (in terms of lowered cost,
improved spectrum efficiency and link budget and
general performance) can be fully realized, and
femtocells will find themselves an essential
component of all future radio access network
designs.
In a nutshell if a single frequency system is
being operated, where the macro and femtocell
network utilize the same frequency band, then the
power control algorithms of the macrocell and
femtocell can create interference, where for example
a mobile increases its transmit power to the femtocell
as part of the 'near-far' power control inherent in
some of the telecommunication technology like
CDMA, whilst it is within the coverage area of a
macro unit. The resultant high power transmitter in
the macro field acts as an interferer since the
frequency is shared. Finally, there is the issue of
coverage area, where in apartments; femtocell users
on different floors can create interference to other
users. There are several partial solutions to this
problem, but primarily the only way to prevent
interference is to use a different frequency for the
femtocell coverage, particularly for CDMA
deployments. The partial solutions include utilizing
the mode-2 fixed power option available in the 3G
configuration parameters, which would prevent the
mobile unit power from increasing and causing
interference, though there is an obvious performance
trade-off if this approach is used.
Lets talk about another scenario of
Macrocell downlink interference to the femtocell UE
receiver.
A Femtocell is located on a table next to the
apartment window that is in the direct bore sight of a
rooftop macrocell (approx 30m distance). The
macrocell is fully loaded, while a UE is connected to
the femtocell (i.e. FUE) at the edge of its range. In
this scenario the victim link is the downlink from the
femtocell to the FUE whilst the aggressor transmitter
is the downlink from the macrocell. This
interpretation of Scenario A is summarized in the
below Figure 2

Fig. 2: Macro & Femtocell Interference

In order for the Femto User Equipment to detect the

femtocell and camp onto it, the PCPICH Ec/No
must be sufficient. It is assumed that a level of
20dB will be adequate in this respect. To find the
range of the femtocell we need to find the distance
below which the PCPICH power is less than 20dB
below the power from the macrocell. The lines
crossing the P CPICH power curves denote the
range of the femtocell. By observing in Figure 3
where the PCPICH power exceeds the bounds on
the macro interference power minus 20 dB, it is
concluded that the 21dBm femtocell must be located
less than about 4m from the UE to satisfy the
assumption that the edge of range is at the
window. Lower power femtocells must be even
closer and the requirement cannot always be met if
the path loss from the macro is near the lower bound.
Graph in Figure 3 shows the received signal strength
at UE, from macrocell and femtocell.

Figure 5: Co-Channel Interference

Fig. 3: Received signal strength at UE, from Macrocell and

Femtocell

Sparse/Dense deployment data for Indoor-to-Outdoor

Interference and Co-Channel Interference in different
simulation scenario is as below [3]

Fig 4: Indoor-to-Outdoor Interference

2)
Quality of Service (QoS) - A
voice call over a femtocell typically (depending on
the codec) requires as an example 40Kbits/sec (in
both the uplink and downlink). The impact on a
broadband backhaul is minimal for voice services,
but there are other variables that can affect user
experiences. With multimedia applications, the
femtocell shares the cable or DSL connection with
the homes other broadband devices. When some
family members are downloading or uploading high
bandwidth applications through the femtocells, for
instance, priority for femtocell voice traffic can
quickly become an important consideration.
Whether a wireless operator can leverage
those devices depends largely on whether the cable
or DSL owner exercises the power to determine
which service get priority. An ISP may throttle the
traffic on their network when huge amounts of data
are downloaded or uploaded on the network, to avoid
impacting service to their other customers. And
packet switched network such as broadband
backhaul has jitter/recover clock accuracy. One of
the solutions to address this issue is the IEEE 1588
time synchronization standard.
In broader perspective handoff is also one of
the key parameters of QoS as discussed below.

3)
Handoff - Mobility is the most
important feature of a wireless cellular
communication system. Usually, continuous service
is achieved by supporting handoff (or handover)
from one cell to another. Handoff is the process of
changing the channel (frequency, time slot,
spreading code, or combination of them) associated
with the current connection while a call is in
progress. It is often initiated either by crossing a cell
boundary or by deterioration in quality of the signal
in the current channel. Handoff is divided into two
broad categories - hard and soft handoffs. They are
also characterized by break before make and
make before break. In hard handoffs, current
resources are released before new resources are used;
in soft handoffs, both existing and new resources are
used during the handoff process. Poorly designed
handoff schemes tend to generate very heavy
signaling traffic and, thereby, a dramatic decrease in
quality of service (QoS). (In this chapter, a handoff is
assumed to occur only at the cell boundary.) The
reason why handoffs are critical in cellular
communication systems is that neighboring cells are
always using a disjoint subset of frequency bands, so
negotiations must take place between the mobile
station (MS), the current serving base station (BS),
and the next potential BS. Other related issues, such
as decision making and priority strategies during
overloading,
might
influence
the
overall
performance.
Types of Handoff
Handoffs are broadly classified into two
categories - hard and soft handoffs. Usually, the hard
handoff can be further divided into two different
types intra and intercell handoffs. The soft handoff
can also be divided into two different types Multiway soft handoffs and softer handoffs. A
typical example of hard handoff is depicted in Fig 6.

Fig 6: Hard handoff

A hard handoff is essentially a break before

make connection. Under the control of the MSC,
the BS hands off the MSs call to another cell and
then drops the call. In a hard handoff, the link to the
prior BS is terminated before or as the user is
transferred to the new cells BS; the MS is linked to
no more than one BS at any given time. Hard
handoff is primarily used in FDMA (frequency
division multiple access) and TDMA (time division

multiple access), where different frequency ranges

are used in adjacent channels in order to minimize
channel interference. So when the MS moves from
one BS to another BS, it becomes impossible for it to
communicate with both BSs (since different
frequencies are used). Figure 6 illustrates hard
handoff between the MS and the BSs
2.3.1 Handoff Initiation
A hard handoff occurs when the old connection is
broken before a new connection is activated. The
performance evaluation of a hard handoff is based on
various initiation criteria. It is assumed that the
signal is averaged over time, so that rapid
fluctuations due to the multipath nature of the radio
environment can be eliminated. Numerous studies
have been done to determine the shape as well as the
length of the averaging window and the older
measurements may be unreliable. Figure 1.2 shows a
MS moving from one BS (BS1) to another (BS2).
The mean signal strength of BS1 decreases as the
MS moves away from it. Similarly, the mean signal
strength of BS2 increases as the MS approaches it.
This figure is used to explain various approaches
described in the following subsection.
2.3.1.1 Relative Signal Strength: This method
selects the strongest received BS at all times. The
decision is based on a mean measurement of the
received signal. In Figure 1.2, the handoff would
occur at position A. This method is observed to
provoke too many unnecessary handoffs, even when
the signal of the current BS is still at an acceptable
level.
2.3.1.2 Relative Signal Strength with
Threshold: This method allows a MS to hand off
only if the current signal is sufficiently weak (less
than threshold) and the other is the stronger of the
two. The effect of the threshold depends on its
relative value as compared to the signal strengths of
the two BSs at the point at which they are equal. If
the threshold is higher than this value, say T1 in Fig
7, this scheme performs exactly like the relative
signal strength scheme, so the handoff occurs at
position A. If the threshold is lower than this value,
say T2 in Fig 7, the MS would delay handoff until
the current signal level crosses the threshold at
position B. In the case of T3, the delay may be so
long that the MS drifts too far into the new cell. This
reduces the quality of the communication link from
BS1 and may result in a dropped call. In addition,
this results in additional interference to co-channel
users. Thus, this scheme may create overlapping cell
coverage areas. A threshold is not used alone in
actual practice because its effectiveness depends on
prior knowledge of the crossover signal strength
between the current and candidate BSs.

BS is lower than that of another BS by a certain

threshold.
The third technique could not become popular
because of so many reasons like abundance of BS
resource to control handoff, centralized handoff
procedure, interoperability of handsets, priority
technique for making handoff decisions etc. But in
case of Femtocell the major challenge in handover
from non-CSG(Closed Subscriber Group) to an
allowed CSG cell is still and open issue as per the
latest 3GPP technical specification TS 25.367 V8.1.0
(2009-03) which states In Cell_DCH state,
handover from a non-CSG cell to an allowed CSG
cell is not within the scope of Release 8
Fig. 7: Signal strength between two adjacent BS for potential
Handoff

2.3.2 Handoff Decisions: There are numerous

methods for performing handoff, at least as many as
the kinds of state information that have been defined
for MSs, as well as the kinds of network entities that
maintain the state information [4]. The decisionmaking process of handoff may be centralized or
decentralized (i.e., the handoff decision may be made
at the MS or network). From the decision process
point of view, one can find at least three different
kinds of handoff decisions.
2.3.2.1 Network-Controlled Handoff: In a
network-controlled handoff protocol, the network
makes a handoff decision based on the measurements
of the MSs at a number of BSs. In general, the
handoff process (including data transmission,
channel switching, and network switching) takes
100200 ms. Information about the signal quality for
all users is available at a single point in the network
that facilitates appropriate resource allocation.
Network-controlled handoff is used in firstgeneration analog systems such as AMPS (advanced
mobile phone system), TACS (total access
communication system), and NMT (advanced mobile
phone system).
2.3.2.2
MS-Assisted Handoff: In a
mobile-assisted handoff process, the MS makes
measurements and the network makes the decision.
In the circuit-switched GSM, the BSC is in charge of
the radio interface management. This mainly means
allocation and release of radio channels and handoff
management. The handoff time between handoff
decision and execution in such a circuit-switched
GSM is approximately 1 second.
2.3.2.3 MS Controlled Handoff: In MScontrolled handoff, each MS is completely in control
of the handoff process. This type of handoff has a
short reaction time (on the order of 0.1 second). MS
measures the signal strengths from surrounding BSs
and interference levels on all channels. A handoff
can be initiated if the signal strength of the serving

Adoption of MS controlled handover for

Femtocell: In the case of Femtocell, Macrocell
cannot contain information about the neighboring
femtocells because there might be hundreds of
femtocell within a high rise. So when the user is in
call mode and moves from macro to femtocell, the
BS wont be in a position to handover all the control
to the femtocell. So in this scenario, the only way left
is to let MS decide and camp-on to the best signal
cell by measuring the signal strength of both the cell.

3. Conclusion:
In this paper, the overview of femtocell technology,
its implementation challenges and interference were
discussed and evaluated and the best handover
technique which can be adopted in order to
successfully camp on to femtocell from macrocell
and vice versa while in the voice mode were also
evaluated. As handover is still a potential problem
for femtocell, we hereby propose the MS controlled
handoff technique for the femtocell.

4. References
[1] 3GPP TS 25.367 V8.1.0 (2009-03), Technical
Specification Group Radio Access Network; Mobility
Procedures for Home NodeB, Stage 2 (Release 8), 3GPP,
http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/25367.htm
[2] Femto Forum, http://www.femtoforum.org, as on
05/15/09.
[3] Femtocell Networks: A Survey IEEE Communication
Magazine Vol. 46, Issue 9, Sep. 2008
[4] N. D. Tripathi, J. H. Reed, and H. F. Vanlandingham,
Handoff in Cellular Systems, IEEE Personal Comm.,
December 1998
[5] R. Inayat, R. Aibara, and K. Nishimura, A Seamless
Handoff for Dual-Interfaced Mobile Devices in Hybrid
Wireless Access Networks, Proc. IEEE Intl Conf.
Advanced Information Networking and Applications
(AINA 04), pp. 373-378, Mar. 2004