A Performance Evaluation of WLAN-Femtocell-LTE beyond the Capacity Crunch. Does Femtocell have to overcome WLAN or can they coexist in HetNets?

Abstract This paper originates from a practical experiment based on Mesh Networks. The promising results obtained from this experiment prompted us to discuss in greater depth whether Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) are still useful for current communications. This means that on the one hand femtocells can be defined as small base stations that use the same frequency bands as cellular networks. This has become a key feature in LTE to improve capacity and enhance data rates. On the other hand, WLAN, which in terms of infrastructure is similar to femtocells due to the IP backhaul network, see...