WCDMA radio network planning and optimization including picocell and femtocell technologies

The advention of new smart mobile devices and the delivery of new high speed services for mobile devices bring about the need for more and more accurate coverage and capacity. For indoor systems, appropriate solutions will be picocell and femtocell that improve both indoor and outdoor capacity. Picocells are adapted for huge buildings because the mobile operator's engineers install, manage and optimize them from the beginning to the end. On the other hand, femtocells use customer's internet connection as backhaul, are self-configuring, real-time optimizing and do not require a professional for installation. In this thesis we study the consequence of introducing Pico Node Bs and Femto Access Points on the coverage and capacity of the whole mobile network. We start with an overview and the challenges of wireless cellular networks, in particular UMTSWCDMA. We study the possible problems of the deployment of Pico Node Bs and Femto Access Points in UMTS-WCDMA network and evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of the particular case of Femto Access Points which are supposed to be randomly installed by the customers. A simulation that copes with macrocell, picocell and femtocell in heterogeneous fashion is presented. The scenario of macrocell and picocell using same carrier and the scenario of macrocell and femtocell using same carrier are examined. Keywords: WCDMA, Picocell, Femtocell, planning, optimization