A building architecture model for predicting femtocell interference in next-generation networks

This work considers the development of an indoor-to-outdoor signal propagation model, which can be used to analyze and reduce the interference in various wireless communication networks, particularly 4G networks with femtocells and macrocells. The developed model is based on generating a large number of floor plans with random, but realistic, designs and use signal attenuation models to analyze the statistical properties of the signal at a certain distance from the indoor transmitter after penetrating through several layers of construction materials such as wall, doors and windows. Further studies conducted using the developed model demonstrated that the walls and buildings could be exploited to act like a shield that reduces the mutual interference of indoor and outdoor transmitters as in the case of femtocells. As an application, the proposed model is used to investigate the effect of the placement of an indoor transmitter on the signal level outdoors. The obtained results demonstrated that optimizing the location of the indoor transmitter can reduce the power leakage to the outdoor environment by about 18.5 dB.