Deployment of small cell technology is an important part of a hetnet solution to expand network coverage by mobile network operators, but finding “real estate” to deploy small cells is not always easy. Due to a lack of space and cost of utilizing the space, obtaining an ideal location can become problematic. Freescale has teamed up with The Technology Partnership to provide a new option.
As mobile operators look for new ways to deploy small cell technology, the question arose: Why not street lights? A smaller small cell option has been developed that allows this deployment solution to become a reality. This small LTE cell reduces overall costs to deploy and potentially speeds deployment due to reduction in planning approval process timelines. The solution is backhaul agnostic and supports fiber, copper and power-over-Ethernet wireless point-to-point options.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anAbZqD9wQ0
TTP’s ENodeB is based on the QorIQ Qonverge BSC9131 SoC from Freescale. This small form factor fits into a photocell socket of a standard lamppost and doesn’t require any modification to the lighting column or its power supply. The solution has been demonstrated supporting up to 32 active users at downlink rates of up to 100 megabits per second. 
TTP is located in Cambridge, U.K., and brings together science and engineering to create commercial solutions for its clients. For over 25 years, TTP has worked across many industry sectors such as drug discovery and pharmaceutical automation, bioprocess automation, laboratory instrumentation, wireless communications, digital printing, electric vehicles, digital radio, food and beverage, drug delivery, diagnostics, micro-devices and sensing, and consumer products.
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Claudia Bacco, Managing Director – EMEA for RCR Wireless News, has spent her entire career in telecom, IT and security. Having experience as an operator, software and hardware vendor and as a well-known industry analyst, she has many opinions on the market. She’ll be sharing those opinions along with ongoing trend analysis for RCR Wireless News.
