In the United States, Long Term Evolution (LTE) is well-established. When it comes to testing, at this point an LTE antenna test would be for maintenance only, not for initial performance. Yes, some operators are still in the process of launching widespread service, but testing for performance and capabilities is basically a thing of the past. When operators were testing their service companies like Spirent, Azimuth Systems, 7 Layers and Pulse provided the products and services necessary to test performance of LTE networks that were being built. Today, the test for maintenance and ongoing performance. But, if anything, the United States and various international wireless operators and device manufacturers are looking ahead, to 5G testing. Some countries, however, have been slower to launch 4G/LTE services, so they are still undergoing LTE antenna tests.
LTE Antenna Tests – Global
Countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines have been busy testing LTE/4G technology in their respective areas, with some set to launch any day. One country a bit ahead of the curve ball, however, is Japan. Not only is Japan LTE-friendly, (its currently broadening coverage areas of LTE service and improve network quality by utilizing in-house and external technologies for the enhanced convenience of its LTE subscribers) but it’s developing antennae that will be used for future projects.
NTT DOCOMO, a Japanese mobile operator , and provider of integrated services centered on mobility, announced recently that it has tested and successfully connected an active antenna to be used in LTE and LTE-Advanced base stations around the world, to a commercially operational LTE base station in an experiment. The antenna, jointly developed by Tokyo-based Nihon Dengyo Kosaku Co., Ltd. and Ubidyne GmbH of Germany, was connected to a DOCOMO LTE base station via an ORI-standard interface, as reported by www.phys.org. What does this mean? Well, with this antenna in place, DOCOMO will eventually be able to install active antennas quickly and inexpensively without having to set up new base stations. DOCOMO already operates base stations that use the ORI interface, a specification of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.
“Currently, base station frameworks are limited by the fact that active antennas and base stations must be made by the same vendor due to the lack of a standardized interface to interconnect devices of different vendors. Active antennas, which feature energy-efficient operation and small form factors, are expected to be utilized in LTE base stations and future LTE-Advanced base stations worldwide.”
The base station DOCOMO used in its experiment is a remote installation-type base station, comprised of one master station and multiple secondary stations. Signals are sent and received on a traditional secondary station, equipped with an antenna and separate remote radio heads (RRH). An active antenna, however, has built-in RRH, which allows the secondary station to be smaller and gives it the ability to be put in more confined spaces, resulting in denser LTE coverage and reduced installation costs.
Doing it this way, with RRH reduces electrical loss that occurs. As a result, coverage range is extended, power consumption is lowered, and the active antenna’s radio wave transmission directionality can be controlled more precisely for optimized coverage in a variety of situations. This is why this will eventually be an attractive choice.
After next submitting test results to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards organization, DOCOMO is hopeful that its new utility will be used in the utilization of advanced LTE base stations. [1]
Samsung in the Race
It might not be developing a new antenna system, but don’t count South Korea in the Asian wireless race. With LTE not even fully underway in the world, Samsung Electronics boasts that it has tested super-fast fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology with speeds that will leave LTE in the dust. According to Business Insider, the device manufacturer claims that its 5G service would eventually allow users to download an entire movie in one second.
Samsung reports that during testing it saw data transmission of more than one gigabyte per second over a distance of two kilometers.
“The new technology, which will not be ready for the commercial market before 2020 at the earliest, would offer transmitting speeds “up to several hundred times faster” than existing 4G networks, it said in a statement,” as reported by Business Insider.
“As a result, subscribers will be able to enjoy a wide range of services such as 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition (UHD) content, and remote medical services,” it added.
Samsung said it had found a way to harness millimeter-wave bands which have proved to be a sticking point for the mobile industry to date. The test used 64 antenna elements, which the tech titan said overcame the issue of “unfavorable propagation characteristics” that have prevented data traveling across long distances using the bands. The United States may not be 5G-ready quite yet, but the LTE antenna test may be behind us, for the most part. [2]
[1] PHYS ORG, Successful active antenna connection test for LTE base stations, http://phys.org/news/2013-02-successful-antenna-lte-base-stations.html
[2] Business Insider, Samsung Announces Super-Fast Wireless Tech That Will Make LTE Seem Slow, http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-announces-super-fast-wireless-tech-that-will-make-lte-seem-slow-2013-5#ixzz2TDzWkeK3
