AUGUST 2024TELECOM BUSINESS REVIEW8IN MY OPINIONFor nearly 50 years, mobile networks have relied on cellular network topologies, where geographical areas are divided into smaller areas known as cells, each served by a single radio tower called a base station. Through the successive generations of wireless technology, this approach to network design has undoubtedly proven its worth, although it is not without its limitations. Reliability, interference, latency and coverage are all challenges which have dogged mobile networks throughout the years. As we continue to push the boundaries (no pun intended!) on the number of users a single cell can serve (purportedly up to 10 million per square kilometre in 6G), coupled with ambitious user-experienced data rates (1 Gbps in 6G) and nearly negligible latency (~100s in 6G), a rethink of how we approach the design of mobile networks is undoubtedly long overdue. Enter cell-free access. CELL-FREE ACCESS: THE NEW NETWORKING TOPOLOGY ON THE BLOCKBy Simon Cotton, Director of Research, School of Electronics, Electrical Eng. & Comp. Science,Queen's University BelfastFig. 1: Cell-free networks.Cell-Free Access: How does it work?Unlike traditional mobile networks, cell-free networks, upon which cell-free access is built, eliminate cell boundaries. In cell-free architectures, base stations are replaced by access points (APs) that are densely distributed across the entire geographical area. Each mobile user or user equipment (UE), as they are referred to in 5 and 6G, is served by all of the APs in the surrounding area, as shown in Figure 1.Cell-Free Access: Cell-Free Networks vs. Traditional Mobile NetworksCell-free networking offers several advantages over traditional mobile networking (disclaimer: this is not an exhaustive list!). First of all, we can look forward
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