Media access protocol for a coexisting cognitive femtocell network

Femtocell networks are widely deployed to extend cellular network coverage into indoor environments such as large office spaces and homes. Cognitive radio functionality can be implemented in femtocell networks based on an overlay mechanism under the assumption of a hierarchical access scenario. This study introduces a novel femtocell network architecture, that is characterized by a completely autonomous femtocell bandwidth access and a distributed media access control protocol for supporting data and real-time traffic. The detailed description of the architecture and media access protocol is presented. Furthermore, in-depth theoretical analysis is performed on the proposed media access protocol using discrete-time Markov chain modeling to validate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol and architecture.