Want to know more about the technical progress of small cells, as well as recommendations and considerations for small cell deployment? RCR Wireless News recently explored these topics in a special report on small cell testing, and has gathered the most useful information and links to industry groups working on advancing small cell technologies in one place. The top six resources for technical, trend and ecosystem information on small cells include:
Small Cell Forum has all of its releases, including business case, testing suggestions, small cell case studies and market update information available here. This is a treasure trove of small cell deployment information, from the latest market figures to the Forum’s releases on the business case and technical recommendations on small cells in urban, residential, enterprise and remote/rural applications.
The Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance makes its technical documents – including its recommended practices for multivendor SON deployment – available here. For an overview of its work program related to small cells, check out this page. NGMN Alliance does include Wi-Fi in its small cell work, and its current work includes three areas of focus: use cases and scenarios; multivendor deployment; and backhaul.
Additional technical documents on small cells are available in the online library of the International Wireless Industry Consortium. Click on any topic and the full list of related documents comes up – particularly relevant are the documents on evolving mobile backhaul from Vodafone, and small cell deployment and hetnet operations information from AT&T. Free registration is required for many documents, but it’s well worth the effort to browse their selections.
For a highly technical update on the standards work being done, including in the small cell arena, you can check out 3GPP’s list of documents on its releases. These include details on its work on small cells and self-organizing networks, which is a key feature for enabling small cell deployment. While much of the information may be more esoteric than immediately practical for deployment, it does provide a framework and timeline for LTE releases that is useful to keep in mind.
ETSI makes available the anonymized results of its plugfests, including its ongoing program for small cell interoperability testing in partnership with Small Cell Forum. The results give a bird’s-eye view on the state of various features in a multivendor environment, and the last several plugfests have focused on various aspects of LTE. The next event will explore the role of virtualization in a small cell environment. The results, including small cell plugfests, can be downloaded here.
For more perspective on the role and integration of Wi-Fi in small cell networks, the Wireless Broadband Alliance has a series of white papers (free registration required). The WBA has been working with Small Cell Forum on “exploring the benefits, opportunities and challenges of the adoption of integrated networks based on Next Generation Hotspot Wi-Fi and small cells technologies and standards. As a result, both organizations intend to put in place a common roadmap of joint activities to accelerate the industry adoption of this crucial technological evolution.”
Many network vendors also have specific resources on small cells, and one of the most comprehensive is Ixia’s 150-page ebook “Small Cells, Big Challenges,” available as a free download from this page.
Read more on small cell deployment, testing and trends in RCR’s special report and watch the accompanying webinar with industry experts.
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