SOFOCLES - Self-Organized FemtOCeLls for broadband sErviceS

SOFOCLES (Self-Organized FemtOCeLls for broadband sErviceS) project aims to research and develop evolved femtocell technologies that accelarate cost-effective provision of ubiquitous boadband services by convergence between fixed and wireless broadband.
The approach adopted is pragmatic. On the one hand, this project aims at solving the main open issues and concerns related with the expected mid-term massive deployment of femtocells. In this context, non-cooperative femtocells will be considered and issues related with interference management and coexistence with cellular macro system and with other femtocells, admission control, handoff, self-organization for low operational costs, QoS provided by the backhaul, low power consumption, low cost, business model, etc., will be addressed and performance results will be analyzed through system level simulations. On the other hand, it expands the market opportunities for femtocells and facilitates the entrance of new services, by proposing new deployment scenarios like cooperative, networked femtocells, to provide service to big areas like malls, airports, etc., where unprecedented spectrum efficiency will be achieved by means of a novel joint access and wireless backhaul network design.
Particular attention will be paid to self-organization of femtocells, supported by machine learning schemes, which is expected to significantly decrease the operational costs and facilitate the scalability of the operator’s management of the femto network. The self-organization proposed by SOFOCLEs project, together with the capital cost savings promised by the convergence of fixed and mobile broadband services, and the unprecedented spectral efficiency provided by femtocell technology, will significantly increase the cost efficiency of the access infrastructure. This will be captured by a business model, in which six EPOs have shown significant interest and which will be one of the outputs of the project.