Microcell design principles

The ways in which microcell systems can help cellular operators face a number of challenges to achieve continued growth, including the need for increased system capacity, enhanced coverage, lower network cost per subscriber, improved performance, delivery of innovative value-added services, and well-planned equipment and service migration strategies, are discussed. It is argued that microcells must work with conventional cellular systems with lower equipment costs per subscriber, and should require only minimal preinstallation RF design and engineering. Keys to cost-effective microcell deployment are high-performance RF component and digital signal processing technology, efficient radio resource management, optimized distributed network design, and effective switch and network integration.<>