CORPORATE CAREERS PARTNERS SUPPLIERS CONTACT LOG IN/REGISTER English Search REQUEST A DEMO PRODUCTS SOLUTIONS SUPPORT RESOURCES HOW TO BUY INVESTORS Contact Us Get Ready to Go Live with VoLTE Learn more Mobile Networks Reference Poster View the poster Simulator Solutions Professional Services Overview Visit the page Home / Solutions / Simulation and Load Testing / Small Cells Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Small Cells Innovations and evolutions are constant in cellular technology to handle the increasing demand of mobile internet traffic. Small Cells are seen as the most effective way to handle this traffic surge. Operators are relying on it to help them deploy networks that will minimize the cost-per-bit while developing pricing models to maximize revenue-per-bit. Small Cells, which started as cellular only supporting 2G and later evolving to 3G and 4G, are now multiradio capable, supporting unlicensed spectrum, such as Wi-Fi. The future of mobile networks seems to be a heterogeneous network (HetNet) having very dense deployment of multiradio capable access points of varying transmission power. The core network is also evolving toward supporting multiple technologies, ensuring seamless mobility across the RAN and dealing with the increased signaling rate and user-plane traffic originating from them. The above scenario presents significant challenges to network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) and mobile network operators (MNOs). While some NEMs already support both licensed and unlicensed spectrum simultaneously in the same equipment, others are still moving toward that objective. They still require entities to be tested in isolation and for a particular technology. In both cases, it is essential to have a test platform that supports multiple technologies and makes it easier to isolate or combine them as per the test requirement. EXFO’s scalable QualityAssurer platform supports multiple technologies and allows the validation of different elements in the Small Cells ecosystem. LTE Femtocell Testing Carrier Wi-Fi Offload Testing Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is being aggressively rolled out by several operators. Like the macro cell networks, small cells are also expected to support VoLTE and essentially provide the same quality of experience (QoE). Users will continue to use VoLTE service and also several more data-hungry applications like video on demand (VoD), video call, file transfer, etc. These different data types have separate QoS requirements and they need to be handled by the access point simultaneously without compromising the quality of service for any of them. Massive deployment of these small cells requires the Femto gateways to handle the tremendous amount of traffic originating from these small cells and the users. The functionality, capacity and performance of the network and the network equipment must be validated in the lab because of the security requirements, increased number of connections and the high volume of user plane traffic towards the gateway. EXFO’s small cell testing solution offers advanced features to test the small cell access point and also provides leading capacity and performance on the QualityAssurer platform to validate the gateways. Figure 1: EPC and IMS simulation in a box for (H)eNB validation Figure 2: Simulation of LTE RAN and EPC for LTE Femtocell gateway validation Key Features (Home) eNodeB Testing Simulation of EPC, IMS and eNB in the same box to validate S1 and X2 interfaces Extensive support of VoLTE testing based on IR.92 and IR.94 Validation of dense X2 links and SON features Support of IPSec, IRAT mobility, location-based services LTE Femto GW Testing Simulation of several thousands of access points and subscribers Mix of several state full traffic with 10G line rate capability Ability to analyze statistics in real time The Benefits Core Network in a single box with advanced features Unmatched flexibility to cater to changing requirements Very high capacity and performance per chassis Line-rate traffic generation and analysis on 10G Related Resources Library Related products Related solutions Sort by: Latest first Alphabetical 1 2 Share/Embed EPC-SIM Specification sheets Flexible load and functional testing tool for LTE RAN testing. Other languages >ZH Last updated: 2017-03-24 Share/Embed EXFO's Wi-Fi Offload Testing Solution Specification sheets Industry reports suggest that in the coming years more than half of mobile Internet traffic is expected to be offloaded to the fixed network by means of Wi-Fi and femtocells. According to one report in particular (Cisco VNI Mobile, 2015), by 2019, Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) minutes of use will account for more than half (53 percent) of all mobile Internet protocol (IP) voice traffic. Other languages >ZH Last updated: 2015-07-11 Share/Embed Wi-Fi: Leveraging Unlicensed Spectrum to Offload Cellular Networks Webinars (videos) The low cost and the use of unlicensed spectrum has made carrier-grade Wi-Fi of strategic importance to many mobile network operators (MNOs). MNOs view it as a means to expand service coverage with very low CAPEX and OPEX. In this context, it is imperative to understand the various challenges of this integration and of ensuring optimal performance to deliver seamless mobility and enhanced quality of experience to subscribers. Last updated: 2014-07-29 Share/Embed Understanding Small Cells— Addressing Unparalleled Network Expansion and Traffic Growth White Papers This white paper analyzes the major trends in the small cell industry and the different challenges that the mobile network operators (MNOs) will face when deploying small cells. Other languages >ZH Last updated: 2014-06-16 1 2 YOUR NETWORK CHALLENGES, OUR SOLUTION Linkedin Facebook Twitter Google+ Youtube VIEW OUR PRODUCT LINES Lab and Manufacturing Testing Network Simulation and Load Testing Transport and Datacom Testing Optical Testing Field Network Testing EXFO TFv FTB Ecosystem Transport and Datacom Testing Optical Testing Copper Access/Multiplay Testing Mobile Network Testing Quality of Service Assessment Service Assurance Platform Fiber Network Monitoring and Management Service Assurance Remote Network Monitoring FIND SOLUTIONS FOR: FTTx Access Networks FTTA/RRH/DAS Networks FTTH Networks FTTN Networks Multiplay Services POL Testing Metro/Core Networks Carrier Ethernet Packet Optical Transport Fiber Characterization 40G/100G Networks Submarine Networks CWDM Networks Cloud Services DWDM Networks Simulation and Load Testing Wireless Networks WebRTC VoLTE Policy and Charging Control Small Cells Network Function Virtualization Diameter Testing RAN Testing IMS Testing Wireless Core Testing Service Assurance Multiplay Converged Service Assurance Mobile Backhaul Assessment Fiber Network Monitoring and Management Small Cells Assessment Carrier Wi-Fi Monitoring and Management VoLTE QoE Solution VoWi-Fi and Subscriber QoE Assessment EXPLORE YOUR INDUSTRY Wireless Network Service Providers Wireline Network Service Providers Cable TV and Multiservice Operators Network Equipment Vendors LAN/WAN/Enterprise and Data Centers Educational and Research Labs Government, Aerospace and Defense Visit EXFO Blog Support | Contacts | Blog | Glossary | Send Feedback © 2017 EXFO Inc. 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