Femto Gateway Integrating Small Cells With Broadband Networks
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless communication systems face challenges in providing adequate service coverage within buildings or areas with poor cell tower coverage, leading to inadequate service for mobile nodes such as smartphones and laptops, which affects both service providers and users.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a femto gateway system that extends service coverage by integrating femto cells with broadband networks, enabling handoffs between macro, femto, and enterprise networks, and providing secure, protocol-independent communication, thereby enhancing service quality and reducing network complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If femto cells are deployed to extend service coverage in buildings with poor cell tower coverage, then service coverage and quality are improved, but network complexity and infrastructure requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway acts as an intermediary device that mediates between femto cells and the core network. It provides protocol translation, security functions, and communication aggregation, thereby extending service coverage to buildings with poor cell tower coverage while managing network complexity through centralized control rather than distributed complexity
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple femto cells are merged into a single logical entity managed by the gateway. The gateway aggregates communications from multiple femto cells and presents a unified interface to the core network, extending coverage area while reducing the number of individual network interfaces and managing complexity through consolidation
2Reliability
If secure connections and protocol tunneling are implemented at the gateway, then communication security and flexibility are improved, but processing overhead and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Security associations and protocol translations are established in advance between the gateway and femto cells. By pre-configuring security parameters and translation rules, the gateway reduces real-time processing overhead while maintaining high security standards, balancing security requirements with processing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway serves as a security intermediary that implements protocol translation and tunneling. It handles the complexity of secure communications and protocol conversions centrally, protecting femto cells from direct exposure to core network complexity while maintaining security and flexibility
3Productivity
If the gateway aggregates communications from multiple femto cells, then network resource utilization is improved, but the gateway becomes a single point of failure
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple femto cell communications are merged and aggregated at the gateway, improving network resource utilization by consolidating traffic flows and enabling more efficient routing. The gateway acts as a centralized aggregation point that optimizes resource usage across multiple femto cells
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Systems and methods are provided that allow inter-working between communication networks for the delivery of service to mobile nodes. A gateway is provided that communicates with a femto cell to extend service to an area that otherwise does not receive coverage from a service provider. The femto cell is a small scale base station used to provide coverage over a small area (such as a home or business), and connect to a home or enterprise network. The femto cell provides service for a mobile node and a gateway permits communication over a broadband network. The gateway integrates the mobile nodes connecting via a femto cell into the service provider's network. The gateway also allows provisioning of services and applications, control of service levels, and provides seamless handoffs to marco base stations and other types of access technologies such as Wi-Fi.