Adaptive Media Awareness: Making Layer 3 Microwave Aware
- November 24, 2015
- 2G, 5G, coax, copper, fiber, IP, IT, Layer 1, LTE Advanced, microwave, Microwave Router, SCADA, transport
In many wireless networks, transport engineering looks after the microwave radio function while the IT department has domain over IP equipment. These two organizations started independently and grew separately over many years. It did not seem that there was any problem with this arrangement.
However, it led to the selection of equipment—radios and routers—that worked really well on their own but had no awareness of one another. Not surprisingly, these technology solutions did not perform together optimally.
Public Safety Voice Legacy vs. LTE Broadband Future
- March 22, 2013
- APCO, FirstNet, IWCE, LTE, LTE Advanced, Motorola, public safety, Raytheon, wireless
IWCE 2013 (International Wireless Communications Expo), March 13-14, was a tale of two different but related stories. The first was the continuing enhancement of legacy P25 voice-centric products/features/ applications and the second was discussion of the LTE broadband data-centric network plan/products/ solutions of the future.
P25 continues to be the only source of mission-critical voice, and the consensus is that will not change for maybe 10 more years—or longer. We saw really cool product enhancements from Motorola and Harris. Clearly, there is plenty of investment continuing in P25, and vendors believe they will get a return on that investment. There is still a tremendous amount of work to be done on going from analog to digital systems and wideband to narrowband.
In contrast, LTE broadband will probably take another 1.5 years just to get to the stage of RFQs. However, we did see a lot of innovative technology and interoperability demonstrations. Who would have thought that Harris handheld radios would be located in the Alcatel-Lucent booth and Motorola in the Raytheon booth?
There were many talks on FirstNet strategy and planning. Chief Dowd said FirstNet would announce a general manager within a couple weeks…let’s hope it is a public safety professional with many years of experience in setting up mission-critical networks. Of course, the industry pundits were there to discuss their view of this enormous challenge…unfortunately it appears the thinking is still very divergent…which can only mean that someone is going to be disappointed by the decisions FirstNet will make.
Many provider-based discussions were also held. For example, Aviat’s own Gary Croke gave a presentation on the considerations that any organization must make for high-speed backhaul and how microwave fits into those.
Lastly, we heard some excellent talks on engineering this network. Skilled network designers like Bob Shapiro gave us some insight into how the LTE network will look different from P25 networks (e.g., number of basestations, capacity of traffic, complexity of design). Good news is the industry is developing some excellent design tools to aid in designing the network.
The signs are positive for the public safety industry. IWCE show attendance was good, vendors showed up with real innovation and investment in new products, the Public Safety Broadband Network continues to move ahead…cannot wait for APCO in the fall!
Randy Jenkins
Director Business Development
Aviat Networks
Related articles
- FirstNet Board Named for Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (aviatnetworks.com)
- NTIA will hand out $121.5M to aid FirstNet effort (fiercebroadbandwireless.com)
- VoLTE outshines emergency communications radios (fiercebroadbandwireless.com)
- DHS to Discuss FirstNet During Twitter Chat (psbroadband.com)
- Critical Role of Microwave in LTE and Small Cell Backhaul (aviatnetworks.com)
- Broadcom’s new chip could bring 150 Mbps mobile broadband to your phone or tablet (gigaom.com)
Is the Backhaul Really the Bottleneck for LTE?
- June 22, 2012
- 3GPP Long Term Evolution, backhaul, Capital expenditure, IPad, iPhone, LTE Advanced, Operating expense
The popularity of smartphones and tablets, motivated by the launch of the iPhone (2007) and the iPad (2010) have created a dramatic increase in mobile data consumption. The need to provide higher throughputs at the base station level to serve this demand has concerned operators, equipment vendors and industry watchers about a possible bottleneck in the backhaul network.
The basis for this concern is that microwave technology will not be able to provide enough capacity, and that only fiber is able to meet the capacity needs of 4G/LTE networks. This apprehension is being capitalized on by some optical network providers who argue that fiber connections are needed to provide gigabit levels at each base station. Although a gigabit connection in each base station is desirable, extremely high costs, slow deployment and inflexibility of fiber optic networks prevent this from being a viable option for operators who are CAPEX and OPEX constrained.
Aviat Networks’ studies, based upon our early involvement in some of the largest LTE network deployments, show that an average of 100 to 200 Mbps of backhaul capacity per LTE cell site is more than adequate and easily achievable with current microwave technologies. Read the white paper below or see our case study on a national U.S. LTE operator.
Related articles
- Salanave: The LTE deployment equation (fiercewireless.com)
- AT&T’s LTE network now in 32 cities (macworld.com)
- Construction, Not Capacity, is the Real LTE Challenge in U.S. (aviatnetworks.com)
- The Modulation Arms Race: A Case of Diminishing Returns (aviatnetworks.com)
- Report: Sprint’s LTE network is as fast as its competitors (fiercewireless.com)