3D Performance analysis of a heterogeneous LTE network with indoor small-cells in a real urban environment

Indoor small-cell (Femto) technology recently gained attention due to its potential benefits for wireless carriers (significant capacity off load and extension of coverage at low cost). These indoor small-cell base stations are seen as enablers of heterogeneous networks in urban areas. However, there are still hard technical challenges to be addressed (e.g. the optimization of the interference management) and deployment strategies to be planned out (e.g. open or closed access mode, spectrum usage, etc.). Consequently, reliable simulations are necessary in the perspective of massive femto-cell deployments leading to heterogeneous topologies. A novel solution is introduced and exploited in this paper. It relies on a suite of simulation tools including generation of random 3D femto-cell deployments in real environments, realistic path-loss predictions using a ray-based model and a 3D downlink performance analysis (i.e. considering all floors) of heterogeneous LTE networks in terms of coverage, macro offload and throughput. A first study demonstrates a significant macro offload and power consumption reduction in a realistic dense corporate FAP deployment. Then, a second study shows the large growth of indoor capacity enabled by dense FAP deployments but also the coverage degradation for non-subscribers when closed-access mode is used.