Changes to Canada’s Antenna Tower Siting Policy Will Hurt Small Cells

Cell TowerTowers are not a ‘sexy’ topic of discussion – but this one is interesting… New regulations by Industry Canada will require of wireless operators additional commitments to build sub-15 m wireless towers, or let’s call them poles as that’s what most would be.

When I was in the business of designing and building networks, the sub-15 m rule was a blessing: it allowed us to quickly place a cell site until permits for the large cell were completed. With the new rules, this option is gone.

But more importantly, what would the new rules mean for small cell sites? The age of building macros will come to an end as the density of cells is simply too high to get more macros built. This leaves the option to place small cells where needed. The new rules mean that public consultation will be required for small cells. This will add time and cost to the process. Continue reading →

What Will 5G Be Like?

5GWe are still at the beginning of the 4G road – in fact some may argue that we did not even reach 4G… officially. Nevertheless, industry chatter on 5G is here. We at Xona Partners have put our thoughts together on what 5G can look like. We recently published a whitepaper on this topic leveraging our multidisciplinary background in different parts of the mobile network. The whitepaper be downloaded through our web site at this link.

I would really like to hear from you what you thoughts are on 5G, what it will be like, how and what it will be used for, and how we will evolve to realize that vision.  Drop me a comment and let’s start the conversation!

Carrier Aggregation and the Road to Cognitive Radio and Superwide Spectrum

Carrier AggregationOften, the least hyped technologies are the most effective, get the widest adoption, and have the greatest impact. Carrier aggregation is one such technology that I don’t think it received its fair share of attention. LTE did bring a number of new features that were not available in 3G, such as MIMO. But MIMO was already deployed in other technologies including both Wi-Fi and WiMAX. Carrier aggregation on the other hand developed by the requirement to achieve higher data rates in LTE network. True channel bonding is a feature of Wi-Fi, but it applies to adjacent channels. Carrier aggregation on the other hand combines distinct channels in different bands. From that perspective, I am not aware of any wireless technology that has implemented carrier aggregation. Continue reading →

The Coming of Cloud RAN

Cloud RANThe evolution of wireless communications has spawned many innovations but the cellular concept where base stations are dispersed to meet coverage and capacity requirements remains constant. This is about to change, sort of, if Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) architecture lives up to its vision. What makes CRAN such an interesting development is that it leverages advances in a number of different fields to pull together a solution to two perpetual problems facing network operators: cost reduction and increased capacity. Continue reading →

Top 12 Blog Posts of 2013

By Kellie Wong – Cisco Communities – Service Provider Community Manager

Firstly, may I say Happy New Year and I hope everyone had a safe and nice Holiday season. 2013 proved to be an eventful year in the Service Provider space with the introduction of the Network Convergence System (NCS) to power the Internet of Everything (IoE) as well as the release of the Cisco Global Cloud Index, 2012-2017 and Cisco Visual Networking Index Mobile Data Traffic Forecast, 2012-2017 to name a few. In the beginning of every year I like to gather a list of the Top 12 Blog Posts from the previous year to get a quick overview of hot topics and conversation trends within the Service Provider Community. It is safe to say that future predictions for the mobile industry took a front seat in 2013 with Cisco’s Stuart Taylor’s, Managing Director in the Service Provider Transformation Group, five part blog series Trends in Mobility. In the series, he offers insights and thoughts on Wi-Fi and the mobile Internet. Continue reading →

Site Seeing in Hong Kong!

SightSeeingIf a picture is worth a thousand words, this is the longest post I’ve ever written…

Let’s check out how Hong Kong operators address outdoor coverage and capacity with a few snapshots of base stations in Mong Kok and Wan Chai. What comes through is a clear approach favoring high power systems to blast energy in an area and use buildings to shield against interference. This raises a few questions: will low power small cells take hold in such environment? Is Cloud RAN a better alternative? And of course, are these small cells? Browse through and let me know.

Continue reading →

Between DAS and Small Cells – A Practical Guide

Between DAS and Small CellsWhen small cells started appearing on the market, DAS was one of their targets. The thought was small cells would make DAS obsolete. After all, small cells are inexpensive and easy to deploy. This did not happen and not likely to happen for many reasons. DAS will be around as will small cells. While both serve similar functions, there are a few critical differences that ensure continuity for both types of technologies. Continue reading →

What the Future Bodes for Small Cells: An Operator Perspective

Small Cells New Order: Operator SurveyThe market awaits the arrival of outdoor small cells, but the wait continues. When small cell deployments will happen keeps sliding from one year to the next. I have always thought that some in the industry have been too optimistic on small cells deployment timelines and they have ignored important facts that define the deployment timelines and the shape they will take. In the last couple of months, I spent quite a bit of time looking at various aspects of small cells as part of two market reports that are now published talking in the process to a number of vendors and operators. In “Small Cells New Order” we surveyed leading operators on their plans for small cell deployments. What we found was clear indication that there will be no hockey stick curve yet for small cells. Instead, deployment will be organic and tactical to fill certain performance shortfalls. To put this in context, consider the following point: Continue reading →

Energy Consumption in Wireless Networks: The Big Picture

Green Energy

I recently came across a presentation on advanced antenna systems with the statement: “advanced antenna systems for power consumption savings not for capacity.” I was very intrigued for a couple of reasons. The first is how much of a problem is power consumption in wireless networks is. The second is that I recalled a conversation I had over 14 years ago with a colleague at Metawave prior to joining them. He said that they were approaching smart antenna systems from the perspective of capacity and not coverage. Back then, the nascent technology was traditionally targeted at improving coverage which was the reason why these systems failed to get traction in the market. So, today, we are changing the pitch for these systems from a capacity focus to a power savings focus. But will that make them more attractive? How much of a problem power consumption is?

Continue reading →

An Evaluation of LTE Frequency Selective Scheduling

Guest post by Faris Alfarhan*

Frequency selective scheduling

Channel dependent scheduling is commonly used in cellular systems. In LTE, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) in the uplink allow scheduling to be performed orthogonally in both the frequency and time domains. Instead of exploiting the frequency diversity of the channel, frequency-selective scheduling leverages the channel’s time and frequency selectivity to allocate valuable radio resources in an optimal manner. The OFDMA and SC-FDMA shared channel transmissions incorporated in LTE offer great flexibility for integrating adaptive scheduling strategies. The minimum resource allocation corresponds to a resource block of 180 kHz and a time duration of 0.5 ms. Downlink resource allocation relies on the channel quality index (CQI) reported by the user. For frequency selective scheduling to be applicable, the CQI must be reported for all of the carrier’s resource blocks. Continue reading →

A Quick Tour of SON Basics

SONIf operators are really serious about HetNets, then network operations cannot remain as usual. Deploying hundreds if not thousands of small cells is an operational nightmare that cannot be left to manual processes which is what operators do today. Automation becomes critical – and it has a name in wireless network: self-organizing networks (SON). So let’s take a quick tour of SON. Continue reading →

LTE-Advanced, 3.5 GHz, Small Cells and Neutral Host Services: A Powerful Mix to Abundantly Increase Network Capacity

ConnectivityAt a recent GTI event in Japan, Huawei demonstrated 770 Mbps peak throughput in a market trial of LTE-Advanced in 3.5 GHz spectrum. This was achieved with TD-LTE access mode with carrier aggregation. The trial showed 500 Mbps average throughput over multiple sites. Furthermore, Softbank demonstrated the ability to provide 1.2 Gbps peak throughput using 5-carrier aggregation in 3.5 GHz spectrum using TD-LTE.

Now, I think this is a significant demonstration for different reasons. It clearly shows the maturity level of TD-LTE technology and the thrust to implement carrier aggregation to achieve super fast wireless connectivity. It also demonstrates interest in using the abundant bandwidth in 3.5 GHz band to significantly grow the capacity of mobile networks. Continue reading →

Korea Spectrum Auction Unloads More 1800/2600 MHz Spectrum

Spectrum AuctionThe latest round of spectrum auctions in Korea concluded with KT acquiring precious 15 MHz of 1.8 GHz spectrum adjacent to its existing band. The country’s largest operator, SK Telecom acquired 35 MHz in the 1.8 GHz band but has to give up some other spectrum in return. In the meantime, the smallest operator, LG U+, acquired 40 MHz in the 2.6 GHz spectrum. All results are summarized in the table below. Continue reading →

SON Load Balancing and the Success of Disruptive Ideas

disruptive ideasThirteen years ago we were working at Metawave to address the capacity challenge operators were facing (sounds familiar?). Our solution was an adaptive system that automatically adjust the antenna beamwidth to change the coverage area of a given sector according to the traffic load. By changing the antenna patterns, and consequently the coverage footprint, it is possible to shift traffic from one sector to another. In other words, we were doing ‘load balancing.’ This ought to sound familiar too, right? Continue reading →

New FCC Rules Give 60 GHz a Boost

SpectrumThe FCC enacted changes to Part 15 rules for the 60 GHz band (57 – 64 GHz) that will give a boost to different types of data backhaul applications. In a very significant move, the FCC increased the allowed transmitted power for 60 GHz systems deployed in point-to-point configuration outdoors. This will improve the competitiveness of V-band millimeter wave products and set to positively impact companies with solutions in this band such as NEC, Huawei, Bridgewave, Siklu, and Sub10 among many others.  Continue reading →