Capacity challenges faced by operators
On a global scale, operators are facing serious challenges from the growing demand for communication reliability, high speed and stability of cellular services. The key to solving this problem is to increase network capacity.
In the past, operators have acquired additional capacity in three main ways: increasing spectrum efficiency, expanding spectrum range, and adding cells or sectors above existing network infrastructure.
Since the amount of capacity depends on the Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR), to achieve maximum throughput, various techniques are needed to minimize noise in the RF path and maximize interference suppression. Below I will briefly explain the antenna technology that is most commonly deployed to address related issues.
Increased capacity antenna solution
Sector shaping
For operators that have deployed LTE networks, they have realized that LTE networks are more sensitive to interference. To this end, RF engineers must be extra cautious when it comes to designing cellular and LTE antenna specifications for LTE networks.
When operators deploy LTE networks in new frequency bands, they usually replace the old antennas with new ones, because the new antennas can add more antenna arrays in the same radome, providing additional LTE bands. port. Without increasing the radome, increasing the capacity of the site will not have much impact on site rental cost, wind load and aesthetics. However, adding more antenna arrays to the same radome is not an easy task because the interaction between the arrays reduces the beam pattern performance and thus the quality of service of existing networks. Therefore, operators must ensure that the new multi-band antennas deployed in the network are not less than the replaced antennas in terms of performance.
Operators should bear in mind two points when choosing a new antenna: the performance of the antenna should be described by a data sheet that conforms to the BASTA antenna standard, and the antenna should have good sector shaping performance. An antenna with excellent sector shaping performance maximizes the radiant energy that covers the user's cell and minimizes radiant energy outside the cell that interferes with other users. The beam of this antenna has excellent sector edge roll-off characteristics as well as front-to-back ratio (F/B) and front side ratio (F/S).
Multi-beam antenna
Increasing the number of sectors in a site is a cost-effective way to expand. By covering a 120-degree sector with a single 65° beam and splitting it into two sectors by using a multi-beam antenna that radiates a pair of 33° beams, the capacity can almost double. Both beams are formed by a BSA pointing in the range +/- 30° from the normal, so that the dual beam antenna can simply replace the existing BSA without repositioning or re-pointing.
CommScope offers a range of multi-beam solutions, including a 5-beam antenna system with high and low band options, and the industry's first 18-beam antenna, which can also be mounted on a vehicle-mounted base station (CoW).
Increase the capacity of metropolitan sites in heterogeneous networks
HetNet is comprised of macrocells and outdoor small cellular/metro cellular sites that collectively provide broad coverage and targeted areas of high volume data. Metropolitan cells are typically installed in streetlights and roadside facilities and are envisioned with simple omnidirectional directional whip antennas. CommScope's research with RF Planning and the University of Texas shows that deploying higher performance antennas at the metro site level can significantly increase capacity. CommScope designed a wide range of MetroCell antennas with smaller vertical beamwidth, upper sidelobe suppression, and beam down-tilt functionality to deliver the higher performance required to achieve the value of a metro station investment.
Looking to the future
In the future, operators will inevitably face pressure from users to become more and more demanding on network speed and quality. Operators should continually advance the modernization of their networks and deploy advanced technologies for wireless infrastructure and services to prepare them for capacity challenges.
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