An Introduction to Heterogeneous Networks

At present there is a huge demand for wireless broadband data fuelled by the rapid growth of smartphones and new bandwidth‐heavy applications such as real‐time mobile gaming and video. Traditional macro‐cellular‐based mobile networks cannot deal with this demand. To increase capacity and coverage and reduce cost, network operators therefore have to deploy an overlay network of small cells with low transmit power and coverage over a macro area. This system is called a heterogeneous network and is the future of cellular communications. This chapter introduces various features and deployments of heterogeneous networks. Heterogeneous networks based on the 3GPP LTE (Long‐Term Evolution) standard will be widely deployed in the coming years; the chapter therefore also introduces LTE and the process of standardization.