Project HOMESNET

Start date

Various in-building solutions have conventionally been employed in order to provide acceptable indoor coverage for wireless networks. Recently, the Home Base Station (HBS) concept has been gaining significant interest as an in-building solution. A HBS is characterized by very low costs, plug-and-play installation, low transmission power, use of existing fixed broadband (typically, digital subscriber lines) backhaul and limits access to a closed user group, such as, household members. Mass adoption HBSs will strongly influence the local area evolution towards International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced) and create new business opportunities for mobile operators. However, the uncoordinated nature of the HBS installation and operation, coupled with the need to co-exist with reliably conventional mobile wireless networks makes the HBS concept technically challenging. The HOMESNET project will seek to address these technical challenges, as well as, contribute actively in the regulatory and standardisation initiatives that serve to bring the HBS concept to forefront as mainstream in-building solution. The HBS concept innovations expected from the HOMESNET project include: HBS concept framework and related requirements for IMT-Advanced, local and remote management, interference control methods, localization functions for improved service and application provisioning, and techno-economical models for an HBS ecosystem.