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CUBE Macro Cell Site Cabinet Solutions Dominic Imbrogno
Sr. Director, Active Electronic Enclosures and Wireless Product Solutions Demand for greater bandwidth for mobile data traffic continues to advance at breakneck pace. To address the demand and provide users with the best experience, wireless carriers are feverishly building network infrastructure by leveraging newly available spectrum to install small and macro cells. Charles has been working closely with carriers during the planning and implementation stages of this infrastructure build out phase, particularly in the areas of enclosure design and fiber management. Our extensive background as an innovative enclosed solutions provider as well as fiber management provides an ideal canvas on which to create new solutions for the changing requirements at the cell site. Traditionally, carriers have built macro cells using a common collection of equipment including a power plant to power all the equipment at the site, battery backup in the event of power outages, Baseband Units (BBUs) for various radio frequencies to interface with the Remote Radio Heads (RRHs), a router for aggregating and backhauling traffic, fiber backhaul mux, fiber management equipment and Over Voltage Protection (OVP) to protect equipment against electrical surges. Carriers lease a fiber backhaul service and tie the traffic back to hub sites or a Mobile Switching Center (MSC). All of this equipment is commonly stored in a shelter where technicians have access and perform maintenance. With the emphasis to get new sites deployed, carriers have increasingly run into the problem of identifying where to place new sites. To address some of the bandwidth demand, small cells are being deployed. However, small cells are but one part of the solution. Simply put, the need for macro cells persists. While shelters provide environmental protection, their large size presents real estate and installation challenges, especially as the number of sites increases. Municipalities provide stiff opposition to placement of sites that inhibit views or visually contaminate the landscape. Therefore, alternate deployment scenarios outside of shelters are being developed. CRAN is a relatively new architecture which leverages dark fiber to enable physically smaller cell sites by reducing the amount of network equipment required at the site. By leveraging dark fiber, BBUs can be placed remotely where they can interface with their RRHs over CIPRI communication protocol. In this fashion, carriers are able to move BBUs and routers from the cell site to a centralized location. At the same time, using dark fiber eliminates the need for fiber backhaul equipment. The result is a significantly reduced overall footprint. Therefore, a large shelter solution is no longer needed, as it now represents a valuable real estate and capital expense savings. Remaining equipment can be placed in an electronic cabinet in a much smaller and more economical deployment. How is this achieved you might ask? Let’s take a closer look.
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The remaining equipment at the cell site consists of the power plant, batteries, fiber management and OVP. Depending upon the number of frequencies (technologies) being installed and the amount of battery backup that is required, one or more cabinets may be required. In many cases, the necessary deployment can be done with a single cabinet. For larger sites, two cabinets may be required. While the CRAN evolution is likely to gradually occur, initial deployments are already taking place which reduce the overall deployed footprint significantly. One challenge which inhibits a faster migration is the fact that dark fiber is not yet available in many areas. Without it, it is not possible to eliminate all of the equipment immediately. Therefore solutions are being created to support the necessary equipment today, but with an eye towards the future. This implies different needs from a space and thermal management standpoint, as some BBU and Router gear is not temperature hardened. Charles Universal Broadband Enclosure (CUBE) solution set boasts an impressive and expansive array of solutions which are actively being deployed by many carriers today. Within this family there are three main families which are ideally suited to macro site deployment: the Site Support, Battery Backup and PM639 Equipment Cabinets. Each of these enclosures is 73”H x 32”W x 32”D and is designed to align with one another for side‐by‐side deployment. Depending upon the site, a single standalone solution may be required. For other sites, two enclosures may be combined to provide adequate space for everything that is needed at a site. Site Support Cabinets Charles Site Support cabinets allow wireless carriers to install highly efficient rectifiers and the latest in battery technologies in durable, robust and GR‐487 compliant enclosures. With support for VRLA or Ni‐Cd batteries, various rectifier and power distribution options, and thermal management options; Charles' site support cabinets protect network integrity with an environmentally friendly, energy efficient solution. Charles has relationships with all major telecom power suppliers and can integrate specific power solutions as required. All site support cabinets feature front and rear access doors and 23” fixed mounting rails.
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BBU Charles Battery Backup solutions are rugged outdoor cabinets that comply with GR‐487 and support up to (10) strings of 24VDC or (5) strings of 48VDC batteries. Importantly, the battery trays have been constructed in such a manner to support both VRLA as well as Ni‐Cd battery technologies. All CUBE‐BB cabinets feature front and rear access doors.
Equipment Cabinets Charles PM639 Equipment cabinets are rugged outdoor pad mount cabinets that comply with GR‐487 and support up to 39 RU of equipment mounting space. Equipment cabinets are pad mount and possess front and rear doors, various thermal management options, AC power termination and integrated rectifiers. A battery compartment that supports 180Ah Saft Ni‐Cd or 155Ah VRLA batteries is located at the bottom of the cabinet.
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Recommended Go Forward Solutions Depending upon site requirements one or more of the above cabinets may be utilized to deploy the future macro cells. In a single cabinet configuration, the total footprint (including door swing) is reduced to 3’ x 6’. Adding a second cabinet increases the footprint to 6’x6’. Common configurations include:
Site Support Cabinet (Ideal for small site)
Equipment Cabinet with Battery Cabinet (For larger site with integrated OVP)
Site Support Cabinet with Battery Cabinet (For larger site without integrated OVP) Contact Charles today at 847‐806‐6300 to learn more about CUBE Macro Cell Site Cabinet Solutions and how we can help design your future cell site! _____________________________________________________________________________________
Charles complete line of CUBE Cabinets includes GR‐487 and NEMA 4X (sealed cabinets) or 3R (vented cabinets) rated solutions for:
Wireless Backhaul
Site Support
Small Cell / Pico Cell
Fiber to the Node (DSLAM)
Base Transceiver Station
Ethernet / GPON / RFoG
Automatic Meter Reading
OEM Charles Industries, Ltd. • 5600 Apollo Drive, Rolling Meadows IL • www.charlesindustries.com • (847) 806‐6300
INNOVATIVE ENCLOSED SOLUTIONS™