Abstract
Mobile networks are experiencing a great development in urban areas worldwide, and developing countries are not an exception. However, sparsely populated rural areas in developing regions usually do not have any access to terrestrial communications networks because operators cannot ensure enough revenues to justify the required investments. Therefore, alternative low-cost solutions are needed for both the access network and the backhaul network. In this sense, in order to provide rural 3G coverage in small villages, state-of-the-art approaches propose to use Small Cells in access networks and inexpensive multihop wireless networks based on WiFi for long distances (WiLD) or WiMAX for backhauling them. These technologies provide most of the required capabilities; however, there is no complete knowledge about the performance of WiFi and WiMAX in long-distance links under quality of service constraints. The aim of this work is to provide a detailed overview of the different alternatives for building rural wireless backhaul networks. We compare both IEEE 802.11n and IEEE 802.16 distance-aware analytical models and validate them by extensive simulations and field experiments. Also WiFi-based TDMA proprietary solutions are evaluated experimentally and compared. Finally, results are used to model a real study case in the Peruvian Amazon in order to illustrate that the performance provided by these technologies may be sufficient for the backhaul network of a rural 3G access network based on Small Cells.
Highlights
Users would like to have universal and ubiquitous access to 3G services everywhere, operators limit the deployment of infrastructures to areas where revenues compensate the capital expenditures (CAPEX, mainly related to the deployment of infrastructures) and the operation expenditures (OPEX, including maintenance, operation, licenses, etc)
Obtained for WiFi for long distances (WiLD). e aim of this subsection is to determine what is the optimal performance of IEEE 802.11n depending on the distance for long point-to-point links and how it can be achieved. ere are two main questions that have to be answered: what is the dependence of the capacity on the frame aggregation and what is the expected delay depending on the load level
E performance has been measured for 0 km of distance in laboratory (5 m) and for a 30 km link on the field. e measurements are done with similar adjustments as in the case of WiLD and a frame duration of 2 ms and due to the restrictions of the link budget, only up to 16 QAM 3/4 could be tested (i.e., MCS4 for SISO and MCS12 for Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO))
Summary
Users would like to have universal and ubiquitous access to 3G services everywhere, operators limit the deployment of infrastructures to areas where revenues compensate the capital expenditures (CAPEX, mainly related to the deployment of infrastructures) and the operation expenditures (OPEX, including maintenance, operation, licenses, etc). Erefore, a few small cells may ensure cellular coverage in most human settlements over a large sparsely populated region at a very low cost Backhauling these 3G femtocells may become challenging. The alternatives pointed out above are becoming more and more consistent and widely accepted [4], there is still a lack of accurate knowledge about the behaviour of alternative terrestrial backhaul technologies used under carrier-grade QoS (Quality of Service) requirements in long-distance links For this reason, this paper analyses and compares the expected performance of WiFi, WiFi-based Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) solutions, and WiMAX in long-distance links and determines for these technologies the conditions to be adequate as backhaul technologies for rural 3G femtocells.
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