Electrical Engineering Glossary Definition for Femto Base Station

Definition

A femto base station (also called an Access Point Base Station, femtocell, femtobasestation or femto basestation) is an in-home base station. Like a standard base station, it connects cell phone voice and data to the cell phone network, but it serves a smaller area (the home).

A femto base station benefits the service provider because it offloads cell tower traffic. Subscribers benefit from superior signal strength, due to the proximity of the unit -- especially where a cellular signal is weak or not available.

Femto base stations augment the normal network and replicates the usual telecommunications infrastructure. Connection to the cell phone network is provided by VoIP over the Internet.

More on femto base stations and information on Maxim's femto base station chipsets.

Synonyms

• femtobasestation
• femtocell
• Access Point Base Station
• femto basestation

See Also

• Base Station
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