WISPAPALOOZA 2019 Show Daily Day 3

www. WISPA .org 2 5 www.bekabusinessmedia.com DAY 3 A s 5G networks start commercial opera- tions in countries including the United States, South Korea, China and Japan, base station antenna (BSA) vendors are inno- vating and coming to grips with the complex feature sets and performance demands required in a modern BSA. ABI Research identified three trends in BSA design which improve the perfor- mance, enhance the features and reduce the costs associated with a modern BSA. “Sectorization, active antenna systems (AAS) and cell shaping are the three over- arching trends emerging from vendor’s road- maps which are used to tackle the demands of 5G,” said Nick Marshall, research director at ABI Research. Higher order sectorization using multi-port/ multi-band and/or multi-beam antennas is being used to upgrade a cell site from a standard three sectors to six sectors or more. “Sectoriza- tion increases the number of sectors without increasing the number of antennas or radiation centers on the tower and represents important cost savings because towers are increasingly occupied by multiple BSAs and other equip- ment,” continues Marshall. Active antenna systems (AASs) are the second trend. An AAS contains active radio elec- tronics inside the BSA radome with the antenna/ radio combination connected back to the base- band with fiber. “Although more expensive than legacy passive antennas, AASs enable high- order and massive MIMO features for sector throughput enhancements, reductions in cable losses and power consumption,” said Marshall. Included in AAS are a new type of hybrid active/passive BSA which are antenna systems integrating massive MIMO antennas with passive antennas and which share electronics, radio frequency components and chassis between the active and passive antennas. “As a compact single unit, hybrid active/ passive antennas reduce wind load and, since components are shared, offer a lower initial cost when compared to traditional options,” continued Marshall. The third overarching driver is proactive cell shaping, said ABI, where beamforming is used to shape or sculpt overall cell coverage. Sector sculpting in the cell shapes the RF radiation pattern with directional antennas, which can be steered both in azimuth and elevation, said the research note. Sculpting delivers precise wire- less coverage with minimal interference with neighboring cells. “The key takeaway from these and other innovations is that antenna vendors are rising to the complex challenges of delivering 5G with highly innovative and technically elegant BSA designs,” concludes Marshall. m ABI: Base Station Vendors Turn to Sectorization, AAS, Cell Shaping to Tackle 5G