Ubiquisys, the developer of intelligent cells, and the Centre Tecnològic
de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), the leading research
organization in communication technologies, are working together to
develop the world’s first open source product-oriented LTE network
simulator.

The simulator will provide a common platform for LTE femto vendors and
LTE macro vendors to evaluate their different solutions. The advantage
for operators is that they can be sure that large and small cells from
different vendors will work harmoniously before they are deployed.

In WCDMA networks, femtocells and macro cells work independently, but in
LTE all cells work together as a single SON. This means that the
adaptive behaviour of femtocells and macro cells is interdependent.

Simulators are important because they can evaluate product behaviour in
a mature, densely deployed and heavily used network, at a time when real
deployments are in their infancy. Ubiquisys made extensive use of a
WCDMA network simulator during the development of its first generation
of intelligent femtocells.

The open source LTE simulator is based on the popular ns-3 network
simulator for internet systems. The development of the LTE simulator is
open to the community in order to foster early adoption and
contributions by industrial and academic partners.

Further information on this project is available here.