clearing up cloud - antenna magazine · best in class optimized rf performance. planning tool &...

CLEARING UP CLOUD RAN ANTENNA SYSTEMS 2015

NOVEMBER 5 LAS VEGAS

Keith Radousky

Quintel CTO – Americas

Clearing up Cloud RAN - Outline

• What is Cloud RAN? • Small Cells – State of the Union –Massive Confusion • DAS – Migration to Digital – Public Safety • Fronthaul - Fiber and Microwave - KEY • Centralized Baseband – OEM and NewCo • Remote Radio Heads – Mid and High Power • Panel Antennas – Graceful Upgrade - Crisp • New Siting Model – More Options & Lower OPEX • Driver - Massive Growth – Connected Car - Home

Small Cells State-of-the Union • Small Cells in Large Numbers (Low Power Omni) are in the future

and may always will be – Too expensive to deploy, not enough coverage – HetNet Issues

• Carrier aggregation • Traffic management

– Cost per bit per meter too high

• Lack of Multiport Antenna Products

• Multi-Operator an Issue

• OEM’s Introducing Better Products (higher power and more features) – Some traction

• Migration to Cloud RAN Architecture

DAS State-of-the Union • Losing Favor with some Wireless Carriers

– Too Expensive – CAPEX – Need lots of space – Difficult to grow – Expensive to operate – Poor TCO

• Need Digital

– CPRI Routing – No OEM Radios Needed – Easy to manage – Better performance – Lowers CAPEX and OPEX – Dynamic Traffic Management – Fits into Cloud RAN Architecture – Excellent TCO

The Wireless Fronthaul Opportunity -

• Fronthaul: links a base station’s main unit to remote RF units

• Shift from analog to digital fronthaul under way – Evolution from macro sites to distributed transceivers (ultimately, cloud

RAN) – Traditionally seen as the exclusive domain of fiber transmission – Wireless fronthaul: a risk free approach to small cell deployment

• EBlink: worldwide leader in wireless fronthaul solutions – Patented wireless fronthaul technology

Wireless fronthaul

Antenna (RF head)

Antenna (RF head)

BTS/ eNodeB Cable Tray

Fiber & coaxial fronthaul

Back-haul BTS/

eNodeB

Back-haul

Confidential information 6 11/9/2015

Network Densification – Most Doable Model

Small sector

Small sector Small sector

Small sector

Wireless fronthaul

Remote Sector

Remote Sector

Wireless fronthaul

Wireless fronthaul

Base Station / eNode B

Macro cell site

Leveraging existing macro infrastructure to create Cloud RAN

Cloud RAN Enabler – Hybrid Fiber/Radio Model

11/9/2015 Confidential information 7

Eblink – bridging the missing link Reaching the last 400m Lower TCO Greater flexibility Quicker deployment

Fiber ring

Fiber POPs Fiber POPs

Fiber POPs

Fiber POPs

Eblink’s wireless fronthaul

RRH

RRH

RRH

RRH

RRH

RRH

Centralized BB processing

Hybrid Public Safety & Cellular Carrier Indoor Coverage Improvement • Definite Need – Many Buildings have Low Signal

Levels for First Responders and Cellular

• Obstacles – Funding

• First Net – Leverage “Public Private Partnership” Language

– Liability • Need “Good Samaritan” Legislation

– Reform “Safe Building”

• Evanston Township High School Example

Leveraging Quintel for Cloud RAN See next deck

Copyright © 2015 Quintel. All rights reserved. Quintel Confidential.

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Why Quintel Antennas for Cloud RAN

• 6, 8, 10 and 12 Port Antennas

• All Look Identical – Only Weight Changes

• Same Brackets – Easy to Swap

• Easy to Add Capacity (Carriers and/or LTE Advanced)

• Excellent Sector Power Ratio (Crisp) – High Throughput

• Lowest PIM -159dBc Interband, -153dBc Inband


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Quintel Multiport Antenna Highlights • Operating in Nearly Every Market in the US • Best-in-Class wind loading (12” wide x 52”/72”/96” lengths) plus special design • 6, 8, 10 and12 Ports in Same Form Factor – SAME BRACKETS • Field Proven Best in Class Azimuthal Roll-off (C/I) RF Performance • Independent tilt-per-technology-per-band - eliminates band combiners • Most Reliable / All Internal “Closely Coupled” RET Design • World’s only 10-12 Port antenna with true 6’ high-band arrays • SONWav Elevation Beamforming LTE 700 2T4R Proven in Field Trials

6 port 8 port 10 port 12 port

R


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Sector Power Ratio (SPR)

4

What is it? SPR is a ratio expressed in percentage of the power outside the desired sector to the power inside the desired sector created by an antenna’s pattern.

Why is it useful? It is a percentage that allows comparison of various antennas. The better the SPR, the better the interference performance of the system.

How is it measured? It is mathematically derived from the measured range data.

What is Quintel standard? Quintel antennas have SPR’s typically less than 3 percent. Best in Class!

PUndesired

SPR (%) = X 100 PDesired

300

60 Σ 60

300 Σ

120°

DESIRED

UNDESIRED


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Comp A 6ft 8-Port 3x65o Low-Band 7o

Best in Class Optimized RF Performance Planning Tool & Proven in the Field

Comp B 6ft 6-Port 3x65o Low-Band 7o

Quintel 6658-3 3x65o Low-Band 7o

Overlap regions causes reduced C/I

C/I plots when deployed on 7x sites

• Sector Power Ratio (SPR) is becoming a vital specification parameter for LTE antennas

• SPR dictates inter-sector-interference which impacts C/I and spectral efficiency

• Integrating C/I around a site of 3 or 4 cells and across multiple sites is best metric

• Our C/I is optimized for LTE and best in the industry for 65o BW Multi-port antennas

30% more throughput/capacity vs. 65o & some equivalent 45o Antennas

25dB

-1dB

C/I


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Atoll ACP Simulation Quintel vs. Another Vendor

• 35 Site cluster in California • LTE700 Layer optimized via ACP for each Antenna (“vendor” and “Quintel”) • Monte-Carlo based traffic simulation • >40% Capacity increase observed


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Quintel Optimized for Wind Loading

Quintel Antennas have a unique profile designed to minimize wind load or drag. The images below are illustrations of wind velocity around a conventional curved antenna radome (left) and a Quintel antenna radome (right). This shows that The Quintel antenna has a much reduced wake, and drag. This is protected under filed IP.

25% Lower Tower Wind-load

Conventional radome

Quintel’s radome

SONWav LTE 700 2T4R Single Antenna

November 2015

Keith Radousky CTO - Americas


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The Case for LTE 700 2Tx-4Rx RAN • Most, if not all, RF engineers would agree 4Rx better than 2Rx

• That’s why 4Rx is standardized at the Highbands….Why not the low

bands? – At Highband 2 X-POL (4 ports) antennas are possible in a standard

form factor (12” wide), along with 1 X-POL (2 ports) at Lowband, and if feasible engineers would have supported 2 X-POL Lowband antennas…but the antenna would be too wide!

– This is why 2Tx-2Rx is the LTE 700 standard, it’s not that it isn’t preferred, it’s simply not practical, until now!!

• Quintel’s SONWav has been trialed by three Tier 1’s, and three other operators, and has proven to provide a 50% gain, and will likely also greatly improve VoLTE performance


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LTE700 4Rx Antenna Options

2T4R

2T4R

2T4R

DIV-2X Configuration 2x Aperture increase plus 4x de-correlated branches 3-4dB Uplink Gain Increase Increased Wind-Load 4T4R schemes sub-optimal Could share Rx’s from G/U900 Antenna if separate from L800 and share tilt (unless MultiServ antennas used). Need to be mindful of PIM. Ideal for unconstrained, low-traffic sites.

CLA-2X Configuration 2x Aperture increase plus 2x de-correlated branches 2-3dB Uplink Gain Increase Increased Wind-Load (less than DIV-2X) 4T4R schemes are optimal Unusual or less popular Antenna topology. Typically not multi-banded. Ideal for Low-Band only unconstrained, low-traffic sites, where zoning/rental is based on No. of antennas

SONWav Configuration No Aperture increase 2x de-correlated branches Gain increase via independent UL tilt 2-3dB Uplink Gain Increase (Tilt > 6o) No Wind-Load increase 4T4R schemes are optimal Ideal for Multi-Band, constrained, higher-traffic sites, where zoning/rental is based on No. of antennas.


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SONWavTM

CLA-2X 4-Port

Antenna

Tx Pattern

Adaptive (per UE) Rx Patterns

4x Rx Branches at Baseband MRC or IRC (per user)

Σ Tx

/Rx

2T4R

Rx

Tx/R

x R

x

Tx Pattern

Adaptive (per UE) Rx Patterns

Σ 4x Rx Branches at Baseband

MRC or IRC (per user)

Logically Equivalent

Tx/R

x

2T4R

Rx

Tx/R

x R

x

Crude Azimuthal Beamforming Elevation Beamforming (Tilting)

A Smarter Antenna for Lowband Spectrum


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Rx

Rx

Tx/R

x

Tx/R

x

2T4R

SONWavTM

Tx/R

x

Tx/R

x

2T2R

Single X-Polar

Array 2T2R

Same size antenna array AWS Band/10MHz LTE

North American Op • AWS Band • Trial Sites 28m Height • Inter Site Distance ~1.1km • Two Sectors “facing each other” tested • LTE service tested

Multiple Interferers in adjacent cell to North

Multiple Interferers in adjacent cell to North

Mbps 20-30 15-20 10-15 5-10 1-5 0-1

Mbps 20-30 15-20 10-15 5-10 1-5 0-1

SONWavTM

~30% increase in avg throughput

~80% cell edge gains

First Trials Show up to 80% Cell Edge Gains


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Test Cell

Test Cell

50% Gain

Drive Survey UE Uplink Throughput CDF of the Test Cell where: (a) No inter-cell interference present and using 2T2R X-Pol antenna (b) UE causing Inter-Cell interference and using 2T2R X-Pol antenna (c) UE causing Inter-Cell interference and using 2T4R SONWav antenna

Static location of the Interfering UE, camped onto an adjacent cell creating co-channel inter-cell interference into the Test Cell.

(Standard 2T2R X-Pol Antenna)

(With Quintel 2T4R SONWavTM Antenna)

Rx

Rx

Tx/R

x

Tx/R

x

2T4R

Tx/R

x

Tx/R

x

2T2R

SONWav at LTE700


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Optimized for Cell Coverage (VoLTE) Gain w/Capacity Gain

Cel

l Edg

e

Downlink Tx Uplink Rx (4R MRC)


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Optimized for Cell Capacity Gain w/Coverage Gain

Cel

l Edg

e

Downlink Tx Uplink Rx (4R MRC)


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Qui

ntel

Vec

tor C

ombi

ning

N

etw

ork

(+45

o )

+45 700

Uplink signal arriving at

SONWavTM

Antenna with an Angle of Arrival

Creates a phase difference

Shown after down-conversion to Baseband 4-Way Rx MRC or IRC process per User… Performs the adaptive Phase Shifting and Summing at Baseband on per-UE basis; equivalent to tilt per UE or Beamforming per UE.

Σ LTE700

2T4R eNB

4xR

x

Just one polarization and Rx only shown for clarity

Quintel SONWavTM (Uplink with MRC)

Quintel Vector Combining Network

• Has 2x ports per polarised

array; thus 4x ports per dual–polarised X-Polar array.

• A plane wave signal arriving at the SONWavTM antenna on Uplink is converted to a pair of signals (per Polz) of equal amplitude but with a phase difference proportional to the Angle of Arrival in elevation.

• The vector combining is in an arrangement such that beam tilt is a function of phase difference.

Moves phase shifting to baseband


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Qui

ntel

Vec

tor C

ombi

ning

N

etw

ork

(+45

o )

+45 700

Shown after down-conversion to Baseband 4-Way Rx MRC or IRC process per User… Performs the adaptive Phase Shifting and Cancelling at Baseband of any co-channel interference; equivalent to directing a null toward the Interference

Σ LTE700

2T4R eNB

4xR

x

Just one polarization and Rx only shown for clarity

Unwanted Signal components

Wanted Signal components

Unwanted Signal components are cancelled.

Wanted Signal components remain. Maximizing C/I ratio.

Co-channel Inter-cell Interfering UE(s) in adjacent cell(s)

Wanted UE in current Cell

Wanted and Unwanted signals

arriving at SONWavTM

Antenna with different AoA’s

Wanted and Unwanted signals have different Phase differences

Quintel SONWavTM (Uplink with IRC)

Moves phase shifting to baseband


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Rx

Rx

Tx/R

x

Tx/R

x

4T4R

SONWavTM

4T4R

Rx

Rx

Tx/R

x

Tx/R

x

4T4R

SONWavTM

4T4R

+ =

1x Az null

1x El null

8T8R 8T8R

Too Wide, even at 0.5λ spacing?

• Standard <300mm (12”) Wide Form Factor; doesn’t have to be 0.5λ array column spacing • SONWavTM gives close in Null Fill effect = coverage and performance close to cell site • Ideal for TD-LTE applications and offers promise of a higher gain BCH • Flexible to provide additional bands (i.e. Lowband Array and/or 2nd Highband via MultiServ) • Practical, near term solution

CLA-2X +

SONWavTM

Future Applications – 8T8R


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When wireless is pushed to the limit the answer isn’t more of the same

The answer is

more innovation

clearing up cloud - antenna magazine · best in class optimized rf performance. planning tool &...

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