Super Antenna Systems™

RI offers higher-performance cellular antenna systems and site solutions called Super Antenna Systems (SAS). Featuring numerous technical and financial advantages over standard panel antennas or active antennas, RI's solutions are commercially available for rural, countryside, suburban and urban base stations, including greenfield and mature networks, various terrains, customer densities, and traffic patterns.

Super Economical Coverage™

For maximum coverage, RI offers Super Economical Coverage (SEC) systems that increase per-site coverage area 10–40 times in relation to standard antennas. SEC supports antenna gains of 27, 30, 32.5, and 34.5 dBi, a standing wave ratio of 1.12, horizontal beam widths of 38°, 22°, 12°, and a vertical beam width of 1°. The number of lobes can be 6, 9, 12, 18, or 24 depending on the selected tower payload capacity. Link budget gains are 18–30 dB, efficiency is up by 27.7 dB (588 times). SEC is recommended for greenfield suburban or rural networks and upgrade of existing sites with optimized Super Efficient Towers.

SEC is compatible with GSM/EDGE, CDMA, UMTS, WiMAX, and LTE in the 380–3800 MHz frequency range. SEC works in three distinct ways: (1) it can increase the signal level within a defined coverage area, (2) it can increase the defined coverage area several times keeping the original signal level, and (3) it can increase both the signal level and the coverage area. For example, with a 5 dB lift in signal level, per-site coverage area is increased 7.1–8.7 times.

A typical SEC system has antenna gain of 30 dBi, radiation pattern 38° × 1°, six lobes, noise figure less than 1.0 dB (with VLNA), 1/4-inch or 3/8-inch feeders, overbalanced TMBs (80/40 W) at a height of 102 m. Antenna hardware includes 2.5 × 0.35 m panels with 4 or 8 inputs, vertical lobe-shaping units (VLSUs), horizontal lobe-shaping units (HLSUs), jumper cables, and dummy panels if needed. Other antenna configurations for coverage and capacity are possible with up to 34.5 dBi, 12° × 1° patterns, 18 or 24 lobes, and with remote radio heads only (no TMBs).

In terms of CAPEX and OPEX, SEC enables 80% reduction in transmission node costs, 70% savings in site establishment, and 60% reduction in site energy consumption costs. This means 60% fewer TRXs, 60% fewer MSC input ports, faster roll-outs, and a larger market share. For more information and technical details, please see Doc 101, Doc 110, and Doc 392.

Super Capacity™

For maximum spectral efficiency, RI offers high-performance Super Capacity (SCAP) antenna solutions that enable 6–16 times more capacity via multiple narrow lobes and overall antenna improvements. The number of lobes can be increased from three to 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, or 42. Lobes can be used independently by different operators or one operator deploying several services on the same site. All lobes support the Robin Hood effect for uniform coverage.

A basic 12-sector SCAP configuration supports up to six times more capacity due to side and back lobe attenuation being 10–20 dB lower than for standard antennas. With 18 or 24 sectors, site capacity can be multiplied 7.5–16 times. Such results are possible due to efficient side lobe suppression, the Robin Hood effect, large distances between the nearest rings of interference sources, higher antenna positioning, less hill shadowing, etc. All site-allocated frequencies are further re-used in back lobes with orthogonal lobe planning, thus doubling traffic capacity.

Capacity increases for GSM with a bandwidth of 4.4 MHz, in comparison to sites with standard antennas, can be 3.1–6.1 times with six lobes and 5.8–9.7 times with 12 lobes (see Doc 122S). For the largest increase in capacity and coverage, Super Capacity depends on Super Efficient Towers as the required antennas can have too much of a wind drag for the existing standard towers. The capacity gains are possible for all major standards (GSM, UMTS, CDMA, LTE).

Super Macro™

Existing towers and masts can be upgraded with a Super Macro system. The best towers and masts, judged on their location and payload capacity, can be upgraded with RI's Super Antenna Systems (antennas and feeders) to provide several times more traffic capacity and coverage area. Operators can close down redundant macro sites, consolidating most of the TRXs on the upgraded base stations with high-capacity multiple lobes, higher trunking efficiency, 3.5–8 times more coverage area, and about 30% fewer TRXs to be supplied from the system houses.

Super Macro solutions feature 4, 6, 8, or 10 antenna floors, can support the Robin Hood effect, and represent a compromise design between Super Micro and Super Economical Coverage in terms of technical performance and financial savings.

Super Micro™

Designed for strong rooftops, Super Micro increases traffic capacity and coverage in premium locations. When construction of additional sites nearby is not feasible due to prohibitive costs, site-to-site interference or regulatory issues, existing rooftop sites can be quickly upgraded to Super Micro. This is ideal for urban UMTS, WiMAX and LTE base stations where customers require faster data rates than could be provided by traditional panel antennas.

Most of the high-rise buildings have strong rooftops that can easily support SAS hardware with 1–3 antenna floors. Each such floor consists of 2.5 m high antenna panels with (12), 18, 24, or 30 antenna modules around. In a single-floor setup, Super Micro provides up to six times more traffic capacity through better re-use of the available spectrum. Super Micro supports 6, 12, or 18 lobes per operator with good side lobes, many frequency bands, and much more TRXs per site. If more coverage is required, a 2-floor or 3-floor antenna setup should be used to increase capacity and coverage (without the Robin Hood effect that is not needed in urban networks).

With very cost-efficient production and the lowest costs of every minute of use and gigabyte of data (see the four financial claims of SAS™), Super Micro requires less investments in relation to other solutions in the SAS family. Installation of Super Micro helps to free network resources, including closing redundant micro base stations around the upgraded rooftop site.

Super Efficient Towers™

RI recommends Super Efficient Towers (SET) that are optimized for Super Antenna Systems and support more than 20 times more antenna modules than standard towers, providing the foundation for higher-performing antenna solutions. Super Efficient Towers support (12), 18, 24, 30, 36 or 42 antenna panels per floor, with a total height of antenna systems being 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 m. Each antenna floor is mounted on precision steel rings. Dummy panels are used to cover empty antenna slots that are reserved for future capacity expansion, forming cylindrical shapes with low wind drag. Available in 90–120 m configurations and weighing less than 45 tons, SET enables efficient, future-proof, multi-band, highest-capacity and highest-coverage site solutions based on Super Antenna Systems.

Zero-Power Super Efficient Autonomous Site™

For networks in regions with sunny days and strong winds, RI offers Zero-Power Super Efficient Autonomous Sites that derive 95% of the required power from green on-site sources (solar PV cells and wind turbines). ZPSEAS is independent from power grids and can be used in remote hard-to-reach locations that lack electricity. Used with Super Efficient Towers, ZPSEAS can be equipped with surplus power generating capacity that can be sold to a grid or local users.