Nokia Siemens Networks has expanded its Liquid Radio architecture by introducing a high power radio module for its Flexi Multiradio Base Station family. Higher output power means greater GSM coverage and increased 3G data capacity at the edge of cells, providing an overall 40% increase in performance.
The module can allocate carriers frequencies across a broad 60 MHz range, reducing the size of hardware required per base station site allowing more flexibility in deployment.
Nokia Siemens Networks said its all in one radio module can be used for all installation types, such as indoor, outdoor, distributed, mast pole and 6-sector sites, and it can provide up to 240 watts output power per sector, or provide 80 watts output to each of three sectors. It is also capable of allocating carriers within a 60 MHz range, which is particularly useful for operators with fragmented frequency bands. The module supports any combination of GSM, 3G, LTE or LTE-Advanced technologies in a single unit, significantly further reducing the hardware units a site may need.
“Our new radio module is especially suited for refarming GSM frequency bands for HSPA+ and LTE services and network sharing deployments,” said Thorsten Robrecht, head of Network Systems product management at Nokia Siemens Networks. “Moreover, we are the only vendor to combine the capacity to drive three remote radio heads – or sectors – into a single 25-liter unit, offering a smooth evolution for compact multiradio sites with lower power consumption.”
Nokia Siemens Networks’ radio module is also the only three-sector remote radio unit in the industry that can be placed next to an antenna, enabling a light multiradio set-up in limited spaces and sites, which cannot be equipped with traditional base stations.
The first frequency variants of the new radio module – including on the 900, 900 J, 1800 and 2100 frequency bands – will be available for commercial deployment at the beginning of 2012. Further variants will be rolled out during the first half of 2012.http://www.nsn.comEarlier this year, Nokia Siemens Networks unveiled its new “Liquid Radio” mobile network architecture for dynamically directing mobile broadband capacity to where it is needed most. Baseband pooling is at the heart of the approach.
Liquid Radio promises a more economic use of network resources through sharing and redistributing capacity based on user demand. Nokia Siemens Networks said its baseband pooling approach centralizes the resources needed to undertake processing functions common to every base station in a given area. Baseband pooling helps to achieve a more cost efficient sharing of resources over a large geographical area.
Liquid Radio architecture comprises three key elements:
- Baseband pooling achieved via Nokia Siemens Networks‘ recently launched Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station enables centralized pools of over 10 Gbps baseband capacity to manage up to 100 cells dynamically via smart scheduling algorithms.
- A new Flexi Multiradio Antenna System that provides true active antennas and complements the company’s Flexi Multiradio Base Station family. The Flexi Multiradio Antenna System is based on several distributed radio frequency components integrated in the antenna housing to genuinely cooperate as a single entity to enable advanced features like beamforming. Beamforming provides additional capacity exactly where it is needed, allowing up to 65% capacity gain. Commercial availability is expected at the end of 2011.
- Unified heterogeneous networks enable various network layers to be used as a logically unified network with automated management, seamless interworking and uncompromised quality of experience to the user. As modern mobile networks continue to carry most of the traffic for mobile broadband in the future, they are getting more complex with several bands and mobile technologies (like LTE, HSPA+, Long Term HSPA Evolution) and the use of smaller cells like micro, pico and femtocells. Also, alternative technologies like 802.1x WiFi are increasingly being used for mobile broadband capacity enhancement as well as the more traditional in-building coverage.
“Liquids are unconstrained, streaming to fill any gap or space,” said Thorsten Robrecht, head of Network Systems product management, Nokia Siemens Networks. “In the same way, our Liquid Radio architecture removes the constraints of traditional mobile broadband networks to address the ‘ebb and flow’ of traffic created by users’ movements across the network.”
In February 2011, Nokia Siemens Networks unveiled its “Single RAN Advanced” architecture for supporting the full range of air interface technologies from GSM up through LTE-Advanced using software defined radios.
Key components of Single RAN Advanced include a new highly powerful, compact and scalable Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station. This base station will be 10 Gbps capable for high capacity cell sites. Single RAN Advanced also includes the Flexi Lite Base Station for micro and pico deployments, which are ideal for providing hotspot coverage in high traffic areas, and a Multicontroller platform for GSM and 3G.
Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Base Station will also have the capability to reallocate radio frequencies for maximum efficiency. The 4.2 MHz technology can rapidly refarm HSPA to lower frequencies with less spectrum required. It also offers spectral efficiency features like Orthogonal Sub Channel in GSM.
Flexi BTS will also come with integrated IP transport interfaces. Flexi BTS will also feature a modular design and the ability to deployed outdoors, eliminating the need for shelter or huts with air conditioning.
