Small cells play a pivotal role in bringing huge amount of data capacity, where it is needed the most, by bringing network closer to users. Small cells are already popular among mobile operators. But to reach 1000x capacity, we need much more of them, everywhere—indoors, at homes, offices, enterprises, shopping malls etc., and in outdoors, at busy intersections, stadiums etc. And we need in all the familiar flavors—3G, 4G, Wi-Fi (often all integrated in a single box)—in all the different forms, including: user installed small cells, operator installed picos, metros, relays, remote radio heads, distributed antenna systems, etc. For such dense heterogeneous networks, the key is to make sure interference is managed and there by the overall network capacity is increased. Thanks to the already developed interference management techniques, the overall network capacity scales with the degree of densification of small cells. We are now focused on developing enhancements that take the performance even further.

To rapidly achieve hyper-densification, it is important to adopt a more ad-hoc, viral deployment approach, where-in, there is no need for detailed RF network planning, optimization etc. (for outdoor deployments by operators, there may be planning for power, permits etc. needed). The small cells have to be plug-and-play, with self-configuration supported for them as well as the macro network. These small cells could be operator or user installed, but are always managed by operators, and coordinate with macros as well as other small cells. The interference and robust mobility between small cells as well as with the macro network is absolutely critical for such networks. Neighborhood Small Cells (NSC) is a special case of such approach with user installed indoor small cells that leverage existing consumer-grade backhaul, and that also serve outdoor traffic it the vicinity.

Qualcomm has demonstrated ad-hoc deployment concept at MWC2013, utilizing our over-the-air test network in San Diego.

Dense deployment of ad-hoc small cell networks pose multiple challenges, such as network and small cells discovering each other and automatically configuring so as to minimize interference between the two; enabling seamless handoff among small cells and with the macro network; eliminating ping-pong effect, and more. Qualcomm’s UltraSON^TM is a suit of interference and mobility management algorithms designed specifically to addresses all of these challenges and to realize the vision of plug-and-play, self-configuring and self-optimizing networks. UltraSON benefits all the deployment scenarios, from traditional-planned, to unplanned/ad-hoc, user installed and more.