Welcome to RCR Wireless News’ weekly look at the heterogeneous networks (hetnet) landscape. RCR Wireless News technology reporter Kelly Hill will be keeping you up on the latest announcements, trends and developments in Wi-Fi, distributed antenna systems and small cells as mobile evolves toward hetnet deployments. We focus this week on news from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Small cells are drawing big interest in Barcelona, Spain, as vendors offer new products to support operator deployments. TE Connectivity announced a new 10 Gbps optical transport solution for small cell networks and will be demonstrating its Serial Link Combiner at MWC this week. According to TE Connectivity, the SLC reduces required fiber from up to six strands to one two-strand pair, reducing fiber leasing requirements and allowing for re-use of existing fiber infrastructure.
“By reducing the amount of fiber needed and transporting up to 225 MHz of spectrum over a single 10 Gbps fiber pair, the SLC streamlines and reduces the cost of optical transport networks for small cells,” said Peter Wraight, VP and GM of TE Wireless at TE Connectivity.
The company will be demonstrating a range of DAS and optical infrastructure solutions this week, including advancements in its DAS radio heads for migration to LTE and a CPRI interface card for DAS products that TE Connectivity says makes for more efficient multiband, multiservice small cell distribution.
Aricent Group and Mindspeed Technologies are also working on small cells. The two companies today launched a metrocell reference design that supports 20 megahertz LTE FDD and throughputs of up to 150 megabits per second, using Aricent’s software stacks and Mindspeed’s PHY software with a Transcede T3300 baseband processor. Both companies are hosting demos this week at MWC, with Mindspeed focusing on small cell technology and Aricent showcasing an integrated LTE offering that includes ENodeB, evolved packet core and voice over LTE.
Symmetricom is introducing a new portfolio of Edge Master Clocks designed specifically to support the precise synchronization of 3G and LTE small cell deployments.
“The advent of small cells in the mobile network increases the complexity of synchronization,” said Jennifer Pigg, VP at Yankee Group. “Small cells need to be synchronized within the tight tolerances of precision defined by the standards and required for delivery of end user services. Moving master clock capability to the edge will help satisfy several requirements that mobile operators tell us are critical for improving service delivery and performance at the edge of the network where bandwidth is need the most.”
We Fi launched its User Experience Topology product, which is designed to help mobile operators and cable companies with multiple ways to analyze data in order to optimize their Wi-Fi and small cell deployments. The solutions works in concert with WeFi’s enhanced Access Network Discovery and Selection Function, which crowd-sources data on services used, bandwidth consumed and user experience fluctuations, using topographic maps that the company says can show the activity of every Wi-Fi hotspot or cellular base station in a city.
WeFi says that its solution allows operators to deliver better overall network performance in order to stem churn and generate new revenues – which, by the way, is the focus of RCR Wireless News’ March special report. Register now for the webinar where we discuss the topic of using network and service intelligence to optimize the customer experience and increase profitability.
CommScope, which helps operators deploy macro cell sites, is also adding small cells to its repertoire. The company has a turnkey design, installation, project management and commissioning service in North America and plans to expand that offering to other regions later this year. CommScope’s small cell portfolio includes integrated concealment solutions, wireless backhaul support and its ION-M DAS for outdoor campuses, which the company views as “the original small call platform for improving data throughput and quality of service for the subscriber,” according to Philip Sorrells, VP of strategic marketing of wireless for CommScope.
Small cell systems provider SpiderCloud Wireless said that a study has found that as much as 88% of an operator’s licensed spectrum is underutilized in enterprise campus buildings.
The report, from Signals Research Group, found that a wireless device might handover as many as 51 times on the upper floors of high rise buildings, due to fluctuating signal strength from nearby macrosites – and illustrates why operators are so interested in small cell deployments to solve coverage issues and improve network efficiency.
“When operators attempt to use the outdoor macro network to provide in-building coverage and targeted capacity to a relatively small geographic area, this research shows that they are falling short,” said Michael Thelander, CEO of Signals Research Group. “Their spectrum, which is their most valuable asset … is not only being under-utilized, in some indoor scenarios isn’t being used at all.
“By shifting the in-building mobile voice and data traffic on to an in-building solution, not only is in-building coverage and capacity improved, but there is also a direct impact on the capacity of the outdoor macro network,” Thelander added.
