The Femto Forum, the independent industry and operator association that supports femtocell deployment worldwide, today published a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) which help enable Long Term Evolution (LTE) femtocell semiconductors and protocol software stacks from different vendors to interoperate. The Forum says that compatible interfaces of this type will help create a more competitive marketplace by ensuring that femtocell device manufacturers can cost-effectively source these critical components from multiple suppliers while also maximising the market for semiconductor manufacturers.
The APIs address three fundamental LTE femtocell functions:– RF modulation (to generate LTE radio signals), scheduling (to accurately assign packets to frequency and time slots) and network monitoring (to minimise interference with the macro network and optimise femtocell coverage). Crucially, the APIs support vendors’ unique approaches to these three key areas, which essentially differentiate their products, while helping ensure their solutions are compatible with all other femtocell components.
“Femtocells could have a crucial role to play within LTE by providing users with the best possible user experience whether this is in the home, office or even outdoors in cities and rural areas,” said Alan Law, Chairman of the Femto Forum’s LTE SIG. “We are taking the lead in the LTE SIG in order to help ensure this vision becomes a reality. The publication of these APIs is an important first step.”
The publication of the LTE femtocell APIs comes at a time when major telecommunication manufacturers are ramping up their participation in the femtocell market due to increasing deployment activity. Together with the LTE femtocell specification encapsulated in 3GPP’s release 8 and 9, these APIs will help enable devices from different vendors to interoperate.
The API specifications are freely available from the Femto Forum’s website.
Alan Law, LTE and Innovative Product Manager, from Vodafone Group is the newly appointed chairman of the Femto Forum’s LTE SIG.