On the in-building performance and feasibility of LTE small cells with beamforming capabilities

We disseminate a set of small cells field trial experiments conducted at 2.6 GHz and focused on coverage/capacity within an office building. LTE pico cells deployed in indoor, as well as LTE small cells deployed in outdoor are considered. The latter relies on small emission power levels coupled with intelligent ways of generating transmission beams with various directivity levels by means of adaptive antenna arrays. We show through measurements that the antenna directivity is well preserved within a building; by employing low power small cells with directive antennas one can establish wireless coverage for a large area of the office building. We demonstrate the possible densification of pico cells deployed in indoor, leading to a capacity solution. Furthermore, we calibrate and validate an analytical three-dimensional (3D) performance prediction framework against field measurements and use it to quantify the angular dispersion which indicates the preservation of the antenna directivity.