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Active Antennas: The Next Step in Radio and Antenna Evolution

Kevin Linehan VP, Chief Technology Officer, Antenna Systems Dr. Rajiv Chandrasekaran Director of Technology Development, RF Power Amplifiers

WP-105435-EN (10/11)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1  2  3  4 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................... 3  RADIO ARCHITECTURE EVOLUTION....................................................................................... 3  ACTIVE ANTENNA SYSTEM (AAS) ARCHITECTURE .............................................................. 5  AAS BENEFITS............................................................................................................................ 6  4.1  SiteFootprint......................................................................................................................... 6  4.2  Improved System Availability ................................................................................................ 6  4.3  RF Planning with Advanced Antenna Tilt Features .............................................................. 7  4.3.1  Tilt byStandard.............................................................................................................. 8  4.3.2  Separate Tx and Rx Tilt ................................................................................................. 8  4.3.3  Tilt by Carrier ................................................................................................................. 8  4.3.4  SelfOptimizing Networks (SON) and Advanced Beam-tilt Features............................. 9  5  FAMILY OF AAS ARCHITECTURES .......................................................................................... 9  5.1  Integrated RRH with Passive Antenna.................................................................................. 9  5.2  Distributed Amplifiers............................................................................................................ 9  5.3  Redundancy for Integrated RRH with Passive Antenna ....................................................... 9  5.4  Distributed Transceivers with Sub-arrays ............................................................................. 9  5.5  AntennaCombinations.......................................................................................................... 9  6  SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................. 10 

TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Market trends and resulting radio architecture evolution. .................................................... 3  Figure 2: Cell site architecture evolution............................................................................................. 4  Figure 3: Active antenna architecture compared with a remote radio head plus antenna.................. 5  Figure 4: Self-healing of beam patterns for improved system availability........................................... 7  Figure 5: RF planning with advanced tilt features............................................................................... 8  Figure 6: A high-band active-passive array....................................................................................... 10  Figure 7: A 700 MHz active antenna developed by CommScope in partnership with Ubidyne........ 11 

WP-105435-EN (10/11)

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1 INTRODUCTION
In this white paper we examine the evolution of cell site architectures fromlegacy systems to active antennas. We outline the market trends and requirements that are driving this transition and describe the technological innovations being introduced to meet these requirements. We then describe the benefits of the active antenna architecture over traditional implementations and demonstrate the benefits to the operator from a total cost of ownership. We also describe a...