Multi-frequency and ultra-Broadband Antennas must not be underestimated in LTE deployment

Multi-frequency and ultra-Broadband Antennas must not be underestimated in LTE deployment

According to the latest GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) statistics, operators in 112 countries around the world have commercialized 331 LTE Networks. It is estimated that by the end of 2014, the number of Global LTE commercial networks will reach 350. With the arrival of the world's LTE construction wave, domestic operators have also accelerated the pace of LTE construction. Domestic LTE has two kinds of systems: TD-LTE and fdd lte, including FDD 1.8 GHz, FDD 2.1GHz and TDD 2.6GHz. The tdd spectrum of 190MHz and the fdd spectrum of 120MHz are carefully prepared for TDD/FDD convergence network. Fdd lte spectrum is relatively narrow than that of TD-LTE. It can use the advantage of low frequency band to achieve fast and effective coverage and achieve the diversity of spectrum. It is foreseeable that if China's operators collectively embark on the road to converged networks, not only will TD-LTE build a complete and powerful industrial chain in China, even the focus of fdd lte industrial chain will be transferred to China.

As the frequency band increases, antenna deployment becomes a major challenge in LTE construction. Under the overall deployment policy of TDD/FDD hybrid networking, the network is constantly adjusted to meet the development needs, such as visible coverage, variable region, and dynamic capacity adjustment. The operator hopes to ensure that one deployment of the antenna meets the requirements of the next 5 ~ 7 years of network evolution, while taking into account the overall investment income, to meet the "fast, good, and save" deployment needs, however, real problems such as difficulty in obtaining space on the sky, difficulty in deploying on the sky, difficulty in deploying on the earth, difficulty in adjusting the inclination to the near end, and obstruction by residents have also become the biggest headache for operators..

To solve the antenna deployment problem in the LTE era, multi-frequency and ultra-Broadband Antennas have become the best choice for operators. Multi-frequency and Ultra-Wideband Antennas support hybrid networking in TDD/FDD scenarios. A single antenna supports multiple frequencies to solve the problem of sky space and reserve possible frequencies, this service can meet the needs of future network evolution and effectively protect long-term investment by operators.

TDD/FDD hybrid networking is divided into three scenarios: intensive urban areas and hotspot areas, general urban areas, rural areas, and suburbs based on actual scenarios. The demand analysis for different scenarios is carried out, combined with the network deployment strategy, provide proper Antenna Selection suggestions.

Scenario 1: intensive urban areas and hot areas

The traffic volume in intensive urban areas and hotspot areas is the most concentrated, and there is also a high demand for data services. It is the main investment area of operators. The deployment strategy should be based on both FDD and TDD. Due to different frequency bands, the requirements for downtilt are also different. At the same time, intensive urban areas and hotspot areas have high requirements on communication quality, and the network needs to be adjusted frequently, when selecting an antenna, you must consider the need for independent adjustment of different frequencies.

With the LTE full-band (LTE1.8GHz/LTE2.1GHz/LTE2.6GHz) as the target network, we recommend that you use a quad-Band 8-port antenna (790 ~ 960/1710 ~ 2690/1710 ~ 2170/2490 ~ 2690 MHz), supports TDD 2T2R/FDD 2T2R, supports independent adjustment of each band, supports simultaneous deployment of MHz and LTE1.8GHz/LTE2.1GHz/LTE2.6GHz.

If the sky space is not tight, use a three-Frequency 6-port antenna (1710 ~ 2690/1710 ~ 2170/2490 ~ 2690 MHz), supports TDD 2T2R/FDD 2T2R, supports independent adjustment of each band, and supports simultaneous deployment of LTE1.8GHz/LTE2.1GHz/LTE2.6GHz.

The deployment of these two antennas in dense urban areas and hot areas can effectively solve the problem of space shortage and reduce the difficulty of property coordination. Remote independent dip adjustment and real-time network optimization ensure optimal coverage for different frequencies.

Scenario 2: General Urban District

Generally, both coverage and capacity should be taken into account in urban areas, and the cost of comprehensive investment should be reduced. Considering that the network optimization frequency is relatively low in urban areas, you can use the combined bandwidth to connect the LTE1.8GHz and LTE2.1GHz ports to reduce the antenna complexity and deployment costs.

If the target network uses the full-band LTE (LTE1.8GHz/LTE2.1GHz/LTE2.6GHz) as the target network, we recommend that you use the six ports of the Three-band antenna (790 ~ 960/1710 ~ 2690 MHz), supports TDD 2T2R/FDD 2T2R, supports simultaneous deployment of 800MHz and LTE1.8GHz/LTE2.1GHz, and reserves LTE2.6GHz for future evolution. If the sky space is not tight, use a dual-band 4-port antenna (1710 ~ 2690 MHz), supports TDD 2T2R/FDD 2T2R, supports simultaneous deployment of LTE1.8GHz/LTE2.1GHz, and reserves LTE2.6GHz for future evolution.

The deployment of these two antennas in common urban areas can effectively solve the problem of space shortage in the sky and avoid the difficulty of property coordination caused by the new system in the future. The new version GHz supports independent downtilt adjustment to avoid affecting the optimized network.

Scenario 3: suburbs and Rural Areas

In suburban and rural areas, the traffic volume is small, and the data business demand is not high. The main goal is to achieve wide coverage. We recommend that you select an nTnR antenna to improve the uplink network capacity and coverage in the same coverage area to meet the needs of wide coverage.

Deploy FDD. in the case of insufficient space, we recommend that you use a three-Frequency 6-port antenna (790 ~ 960/1710 ~ 2180 MHz), supports FDD 1.8 GHz 2 t4r, and simultaneous deployment of MHz and LTE1.8GHz. If the sky is not tight, we recommend that you use a dual-band 4-port antenna (1710 ~ 2180 MHz), supports FDD1.8GHz 2T4R.

Based on the above analysis, the suggestions and advantages of various scenarios are summarized in table 1.

For operators, antenna deployment costs should be comprehensively considered, such as the cost of a single antenna, antenna acquisition, property coordination costs, and daily space rent. The cost of deploying an antenna for the first time is high when you select a multi-frequency, ultra-wideband antenna, but the cost of a single antenna greatly reduces the cost of daily rent. In the future, the antenna system of new frequencies will not need to be changed, reducing the cost of new antennas and the cost of property coordination and manual installation. Reducing the number of antennas also facilitates the management of the entire antenna system, improving network optimization and management efficiency. Multi-frequency and ultra-Broadband Antennas have gradually become mainstream antennas in the LTE era, effectively reducing the long-term TCO and protecting customers' long-term investment.

With the wide application of multi-frequency and ultra-Broadband Antennas, the industrial chain has become very mature. Currently, four-frequency and three-frequency antennas have been applied in many European countries. With the large-scale deployment of LTE Networks in China, multi-frequency and ultra-Broadband Antennas will help domestic operators build high-quality LTE Networks.