Modeling of Femto Cells - Simulation of Interference and Handovers in LTE Networks

Mobile operators are facing capacity problems due to the rising demand for data services, particularly in indoor environments. In order to ensure high data rates, femto cells will be part of the solution. Since they are operated by the customers, the influence of a network operator on the installation location is limited. Thus, femto cells have to be taken into account in future network and handover planning where the level of detail in modeling is crucial. A simple prediction model is not detailed enough to simulate spatially very limited femto cells. Therefore, this paper compares two different levels of complexity in the prediction of femto cells and their resulting effects on handovers as well as on call drops in long-term evolution (LTE) networks under various configurations of the handover parameters.