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The appetite for wireless services and applications is driving hundreds of billions of dollars of revenue annually for operators. Building an infrastructure that meets the capacity and reliability necessary to support that consumer demand is quite a challenge. Maintaining an acceptable quality of service level that keeps customers happy while transitioning to 3G/4G/LTE technologies adds considerable complexity to the challenge.
Seamless interoperability between the best mix of the legacy network and 4G/LTE technologies is absolutely essential. While decommissioning the legacy network can lower expenses, revenue can be increased through network optimization, load balancing and maximizing available spectrum, which may defray some capital expenditures over longer revenue generation periods.
The planning and design of these network upgrades are unique to each situation, to say the least. Each requires its own approach. However, inevitably the use of a heterogeneous network (hetnet) will be needed to achieve contiguous coverage, capacity and reliability goals within the constraints of available spectrum.
While there is no accepted industry-wide standard of hetnet components at this time, a hetnet is universally described as a radio access network comprised of macrocells, distributed antenna systems, microcells, picocells and femtocells (small cells).
Ideally, the right combination of technology enables a wireless operator to deliver on the promise of seamless coverage and an unfettered high-speed network. A hetnet will take full advantage of spectrum, capacity and coordination between technologies to deliver smooth handoffs and interference avoidance. Such a combination, when properly engineered, can help reduce churn by increasing subscriber satisfaction and providing users with the best possible quality of service and experience.
A blog post by Peter Linder, a networked society evangelist for Ericsson, segmented the planning of hetnets into four key challenges: petabytes; placement; power; and plant, which he coined as “the 4Ps.” These categories work very well when drilling down to the best practices for hetnet deployment.
To best address traffic patterns to handle the petabytes of traffic, a number of different tactics are necessary. These include offloading traffic from macro networks to small cell solutions, building scalable networks that more easily accommodate the ability to add capacity, and the evaluation of services and applications to best determine the volume of traffic a network may experience.
When working to understand the most effective placement of technologies, a radio frequency spectrum analysis is an excellent first step. Testing how technologies work within the potential coverage environment will also help to determine the right technology for specific locations, particularly since brick, glass and other building materials impact wireless signals.
The number of users within a given area plays a role, as well, in determining where cells are placed, the type of cells and even the specific antennas that are deployed.
Other considerations include the aesthetics of the antennas and its visual impact along with the environmental conditions the equipment is exposed to, like sunlight.
Placement also has to take into consideration access to the right power supply, which is an integral part of any wireless network. Securing the necessary power sources depends a lot on good relationships with the utility companies or the owners and managers of strategically located buildings. Ensuring a power source that can accommodate an antenna or cell site is also necessary.
Ultimately, an electrical engineer may be required to design or augment an existing power source if the existing source is inadequate.
As far as the “plant,” wireless networks, particularly next-generation systems, will require access to fiber for backhaul capabilities. Wireless backhaul is limited when it comes to handling large blocks of traffic, which fiber can accommodate. Microwave technology can fill gaps where wired infrastructure is unavailable.
Less data-intensive services and applications, on the other hand, can rely on traditional copper infrastructure for backhaul.
As wireless technology continues to evolve, the infrastructure and design of networks play key roles in enabling and supporting revolutionary services and applications. Hetnets, with the right planning and approach, can help evolve and transform the wireless landscape, enabling operators to deliver increasingly valuable services to subscribers.
