A picocell is a small cellular
base station
Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."
The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless com ...
typically covering a small area, such as in-building (offices, shopping malls, train stations, stock exchanges, etc.), or more recently in-aircraft. In cellular networks, picocells are typically used to extend coverage to indoor areas where outdoor signals do not reach well, or to add
network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
capacity in areas with very dense phone usage, such as train stations or stadiums. Picocells provide coverage and capacity in areas difficult or expensive to reach using the more traditional
macrocell
A macrocell or macrosite is a cell in a mobile phone network that provides radio coverage served by a high power cell site (tower, antenna or mast). Generally, macrocells provide coverage larger than microcell. The antennas for macrocells are mou ...
approach.
Overview
In cellular wireless networks, such as
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
, the picocell base station is typically a low-cost, small (typically the size of a
ream
Ream may refer to:
* Paper ream, unit of 500 sheets of paper
* Ream (surname)
* Reamer, tool used to widen a hole
* Ream, West Virginia
* Ream, the name of Rama in the Khmer version of the Ramayana, the Reamker
* Ream National Park, a national pa ...
of
A4 paper
ISO 216 is an international standard for paper sizes, used around the world except in North America and parts of Latin America. The standard defines the "A", "B" and "C" series of paper sizes, including A4, the most commonly available paper size ...
), reasonably simple unit that connects to a
base station controller
The base station subsystem (BSS) is the section of a traditional cellular telephone network which is responsible for handling traffic and signaling between a mobile phone and the network switching subsystem. The BSS carries out transcoding of s ...
(BSC). Multiple picocell 'heads' connect to each BSC: the BSC performs radio resource management and hand-over functions, and aggregates data to be passed to the
mobile switching centre
Network switching subsystem (NSS) (or GSM core network) is the component of a GSM system that carries out call out and mobility management functions for mobile phones roaming on the network of base stations. It is owned and deployed by mobil ...
(MSC) or the gateway
GPRS
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Insti ...
support node (
GGSN
The GPRS core network is the central part of the general packet radio service (GPRS) which allows 2G, 3G and WCDMA mobile networks to transmit IP packets to external networks such as the Internet. The GPRS system is an integrated part of the G ...
).
Connectivity between the picocell heads and the BSC typically consists of in-building wiring. Although originally deployed systems (1990s) used
plesiochronous digital hierarchy
The plesiochronous digital hierarchy (PDH) is a technology used in telecommunications networks to transport large quantities of data over digital transport equipment such as fibre optic and microwave radio systems. The term ''plesiochronous'' is ...
(PDH) links such as E1/T1 links, more recent systems use
Ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
cabling. Aircraft use satellite links.
More recent work has developed the concept towards a head unit containing not only a picocell, but also many of the functions of the BSC and some of the MSC. This form of picocell is sometimes called an
access point base station
In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is ''small cell'', with ''femtocell'' as a subset. It c ...
or 'enterprise
femtocell
In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is ''small cell'', with ''femtocell'' as a subset. It c ...
'. In this case, the unit contains all the capability required to connect directly to the Internet, without the need for the BSC/MSC infrastructure. This is a potentially more cost-effective approach.
Picocells offer many of the benefits of "
small cell
Small cells are low-powered cellular radio access nodes that operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum that have a range of 10 meters to a few kilometers. In other words, they are base stations with low power consumption and cheap cost that ...
s" (similar to femtocells) in that they improve data throughput for mobile users and increase capacity in the mobile network. In particular, the integration of picocells with macrocells through a heterogeneous network can be useful in seamless hand-offs and increased mobile data capacity.
Picocells are available for most cellular technologies including GSM, CDMA, UMTS and LTE from manufacturers including
ip.access, ZTE, Huawei and Airwalk.
Range
Typically the range of a
microcell
A microcell is a cell in a mobile phone network served by a low power cellular base station (tower), covering a limited area such as a mall, a hotel, or a transportation hub. A microcell is usually larger than a picocell, though the distinction ...
is less than two kilometers wide, a picocell is 200 meters or less, and a femtocell is on the order of 10 meters, although AT&T calls its product, with a range of , a "microcell". AT&T uses "AT&T 3G MicroCell" as a trademark and not necessarily the "microcell" technology, however.
See also
*
Femtocell
In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. A broader term which is more widespread in the industry is ''small cell'', with ''femtocell'' as a subset. It c ...
*
Macrocell
A macrocell or macrosite is a cell in a mobile phone network that provides radio coverage served by a high power cell site (tower, antenna or mast). Generally, macrocells provide coverage larger than microcell. The antennas for macrocells are mou ...
*
Microcell
A microcell is a cell in a mobile phone network served by a low power cellular base station (tower), covering a limited area such as a mall, a hotel, or a transportation hub. A microcell is usually larger than a picocell, though the distinction ...
*
Small cell
Small cells are low-powered cellular radio access nodes that operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum that have a range of 10 meters to a few kilometers. In other words, they are base stations with low power consumption and cheap cost that ...
References
Mobile telecommunications
9. http://defenseelectronicsmag.com/site-files/defenseelectronicsmag.com/files/archive/rfdesign.com/mag/407rfdf1.pdf {{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812180031/http://defenseelectronicsmag.com/site-files/defenseelectronicsmag.com/files/archive/rfdesign.com/mag/407rfdf1.pdf , date=2016-08-12