ORLANDO, Fla. - More spectrum isn’t the only answer to resolving capacity issues for network operators. Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) thinks it has another answer by moving network capacity around to places it is needed.
NSN announced its Liquid Radio architecture at CTIA 2100, a strategy using the company’s new Flexi Multiradio Antenna System in a scheme to redistribute capacity in a network to meet user demand.
In today’s network infrastructure, all the radios at a cell site are operating at full power all the time, even if there is little end-user demand. Chris Ebert, head of strategic marketing for NSN’s 4G business unit in North America, said Liquid Radio can increase capacity in a specific area by as much as 65 percent through “baseband pooling.” NSN accomplishes that by centralizing network resources and processing functions that normally have been in individual base stations.
“The baseband unit doesn’t have to be located at the cell site,” Ebert said. “We allow the network to use thebaseband capacity of up to 100 cell sites.”
Fluid Radio uses the NSN Flexi Multiradio Antenna System, which combines the antenna and radio in one enclosure. The active antenna uses beamforming to direct the radio connection to specific users. If beamforming is used in combination with macro, pico and micro site configurations, Ebert said, it creates potential for large capacity gains.
NSN also announced its FlexiPacket Microwave platform in North America, which includes programmable software for hybrid and full-packet traffic. The all-outdoor microwave radio allows operators to migrate different links independently with a capacity of up to 2Gbps, the company said.