Macro and small cell/Wi-Fi networks: An analysis of deployment options as the solution for the mobile data explosion

• Published in: Bell Labs technical journal Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 59 - 79
• Main Authors: Dhawan, Perminder, Mukhopadhyay, Amit, Urrutia-Valdés, Carlos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Murray Hill IEEE 01-06-2013
• Subjects: Cellular; Computer architecture; Data communication; Devices; IEEE 802.11 Standards; Microprocessors; Mobile communication; Mobile computing; Networks; Operators; Protocols; Quality of service; Quality of service architectures; Telecommunication traffic; Traffic engineering; Traffic flow; Wireless networks
• ISSN: 1089-7089; 1538-7305
• DOI: 10.1002/bltj.21593

With the tremendous growth in mobile data traffic triggered by increases in data subscriptions, powerful devices, and richer applications, operators are seeing Wi-Fi as not only a complementary technology to offload cellular data traffic but also as a seamless extension of their mobile networks. The advent of Hotspot 2.0, enhanced Wi-Fi quality of service (QoS) techniques, and transparent authentication mechanisms between mobile and Wi-Fi networks will pave the way for seamless mobility and roaming between these two technologies and provide a better quality of experience to the end user. With web-based applications like Skype, Google Talk, and WhatsApp becoming mainstream media for communication, operators are looking at the combination of licensed band and Wi-Fi technologies to meet capacity demands. This paper discusses the evolution of basic network Wi-Fi -based hotspots to become the trusted partner of mobile operators. We present architectures and required features for data offload and seamless mobility and provide an in-depth techno-economic analysis comparing various deployment alternatives for data offload in a heterogeneous network.