标签: broadband

The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) predicts that global mobile Internet data traffic will increase 18 times from 2011 to 2016, to 130 exabytes annually 1 . Realizing this enormous data capacity with ubiquitous coverage, while providing innovative mobile services, meeting customer quality of service expectations and service provider requirements for cost-effective service delivery is a big challenge. Small cell technology is a fundamental paradigm shift that will address this challenge. Small cells is an umbrella term for low-powered radio access nodes that operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum over a range of ten to several hundred meters. These contrast with a typical mobile macro cell which has a range several tens of kilometers. The term covers femto cells, pico cells, micro cells and metro cells – depending on the range and number of users. There are several distinct applications of small cells – indoor, enterprise, metro and public space and rural areas.   Several challenging technical problems need to be solved in the design of small cells as well as in planning the networks. Some of the key ones are: 1) Mobility management: With the increased number of cells in a given area and fewer end-users per cell, there are more handovers. There is more neighbor management and negotiation required across small cells. 2) Self-organizing Networks (SON): As the number of cells increase in the network, there are more cell borders, leading to greater potential for interference. SON capabilities are required for automated selection of codes and frequencies and setting of power levels to balance interference and coverage. 3) Backhaul: The variety of deployment scenarios are driving a mix of wired and wireless backhaul technologies. NLoS (Non-Line Of Sight) wireless backhaul operating at sub-6GHz out of band is suited for dense urban areas. Wherever fiber is available, Ethernet or GPON backhaul is cost-effective. Market reports are predicting an explosion of adoption of small cells by service providers across the world in the next few years 2,3,4,5,6 . Several companies are involved in developing pieces of this technology and Cisco is rapidly becoming a leading edge developer of small cell products and solutions 7 . References : 1. Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2011-2016)— http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontentarticleId=888280 2. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/111412-cisco-to-build-small-cellular-264247.html 3. 70 million small cell units are expected to be shipped by 2017 – Mobile Experts, February 2012. 4. Small cells units sold will grow nearly 40-fold with 73% CAGR from 2011 to 2016 – Infonetics, September 2012. 5. Small cells will account for 12% of offloaded data by 2016 – Juniper Research, June 2012. 6. Small cell devices will hit US$14 billion in retail value by 2015 – In-Stat January 2012. 7. Cisco to build small cellular base stations— http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/111412-cisco-to-build-small-cellular-264247.html   - Ishwar Parulkar, CTO, Service Provider Access Group, Cisco Systems Ishwar Parulkar, a PhD, is a Cisco Distinguished Engineer and the CTO for Service Provider Access Group. In this role he is responsible for technology and architecture of products spanning small cells, service provider Wi-Fi access and cell-site, access, pre-aggregation and aggregation routers. Prior to joining Cisco India in 2009, Parulkar worked in Silicon Valley in USA at Sun Microsystems and Apple.