Macrocells are the backbone of the cellular wireless network, providing durable, wide-area coverage and convenience for cell phone users. Their antennas are mounted on towers, monopoles, rooftops & other existing structures at a height that provides a clear view over the surrounding buildings and terrain. Generally, macrocells provide coverage to a cell radius of 1-30 km.
DAS networks are designed to provide coverage and add capacity in difficult-to-cover high traffic structures like tall office buildings, parking garages, stadiums, airports and shopping malls. They work by installing a network of relatively small antennas throughout the building to serve as repeaters.
Small cells allow the mobile network to improve in both coverage and capacity, which is instrumental in meeting the anticipated exponential data usage growth. Small cells can better serve high traffic areas and ensure true mobile broadband capacity to address the needs of today’s data-intensive users. They are “small” compared to a mobile macrocell with cell radiuses of 1 or 2 km, and can be discreetly placed on utility/telephone poles, street lamps, or traffic signal poles.
Centralized Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is an architecture where the baseband processing for many cells is placed at a centralized location and the Remote Radio Units (RRU’s) are placed at distances up to several kilometers away from the baseband site. Benefits of C-RAN include improved performance & network security, network controllability, network agility & flexibility, and cost reduction.
To learn more about Amphenol Wireless Solutions download our brochure.
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