Part 1 of our “Revolutionizing 5G Mission Critical Transport Networks” blog post series addressed microwave versus fiber as the better solution for mission critical 5G. We now continue our exploration focusing on mission critical use cases. Many critical applications, such as connected/autonomous cars, industrial Internet of Things (IoT), M2M, and public safety applications, require consistent reliability from their mobile networks. Under threat of multi-day outages from disasters and other types of network downtime and service outages, mobile networks must ensure the reliability and resiliency needed for 5G operation and its critical missions.
Read Moreby Don Frey, Principal Analyst, Transport and Routing
don.frey@ovum.co
5G network services promise higher-speed connections, greater reliability, and low latency. Industrial applications will drive new mobile IoT applications that support mission-critical applications. These demands have led to the development of 5G, built to support an abundance of IoT, higher capacity, and very low latency connections.
Read MoreAs we have talked about in previous posts, Multi-Band is a great way to improve the reliability and reach of E-Band, or to increase the capacity of licensed microwave bands, by combining both into a single, easy-to-deploy solution. More recently, we have seen Multi-Band solutions that utilize unlicensed 5 GHz band radios in place of licensed bands like 15, 18, or 23 GHz, but does this actually make sense?
Read MoreAre you considering deploying microwave links in your network? Instead of deploying 15, 18 or 23 GHz why not try WTM 4800 Multi-Band with 80/xxGHz. You can replace your microwave links with Multi-Band which combines E-Band and traditional microwave (15/18/23GHz) on a single link over a single antenna to drastically improve capacity that can be typically achieved by microwave alone.
Read MoreAuthor: Stuart Little, Director, International Product Line Marketing
Have you heard the buzz about Multi-Band? Multi-Band combines traditional microwave channel alongside an E-Band (80 GHz) channel, joining the capacity of the latter with the high availability of the former. Multi-Band makes E-Band carrier-class over longer distances, making it a much more viable and deployable solution for 5G backhaul.
Read MoreFor years, E-Band has been touted as the next big thing. Likewise, 80GHz technology and solutions have been around for several years, yet the demand has not taken off. Why is that? Well, there are a few excellent reasons:
Read MoreAviat Design, Aviat’s cloud-based link planning application, supports WTM 4800 E-Band and Multi-band designs. Aviat Design is the industry’s first and only integrated Multi-band link design solution showing a combined view of availability and capacity for the link. This enables easy, fast, intuitive E-Band and Multi-Band designs (all specs included, no pathloss files to download or update, easy cloud access). Popular design tools will require 2 separate link calculations for Multi-Band, and will not result in a combined design for the link, making it virtually impossible to understand the expected link performance or capacity or estimate the proper antenna size. Aviat Design is FREE for use at www.aviatcloud.com.
Read MoreMulti-Band involves combining E-Band (70-80GHz) with traditional microwave (6-42GHz) on a single microwave link, usually with a single antenna on each end. Multi-Band drastically improves availability and distance of E-Band links and addresses other issues like pole sway and antenna alignment. If you are thinking of E-Band or microwave, consider Multi-Band, in particular single-box Multi-Band. Check out our infographic below to find out how single-box Multi-Band means high value at a cost that makes sense.
Read MoreAT&T and T-Mobile recently filed comments with the FCC that will enable small cell backhaul in urban cores for greater subscriber connectivity.
In the last few weeks, the future prospects of small cell antennas got brighter and shrank at the same time. AT&T and T-Mobile both filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in support of an industry-wide waiver of rules against flat-panel antennas for backhaul radios in the 70-80GHz bands. Currently, out-of-date FCC regulations about antenna radiation patterns hold back development and deployment of this type of equipment that urban dwellers will find acceptable in big city cores.
The current rules effectively call for the use of parabolic antennas that will be unsightly and would violate the aesthetics considerations and zoning regulations in many city core locations—precisely the type of environment that 70-80GHz radios exist to service. While the FCC regulations seem to necessitate parabolic antennas to keep radio beams focused and from interfering with equipment in the vicinity that uses the same wavelengths, mobile subscribers prefer more visually friendly solutions.
How to get from here to there
For the last few years, Aviat Networks has been working with the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition and others to get the FCC to update its regulations in the 70-80GHz bands. The problem: when the FCC promulgated these rules, the idea had never occurred to anyone that these bands would ever service small cell applications. And the applications that the FCC’s 70-80GHz rules were designed to support never materialized, with only 5,500 links registered in this spectrum since 2005, according to T-Mobile.
However, with this breakthrough in support from Tier 1 operators like AT&T and T-Mobile, the FCC should feel reassured that granting the waiver to the antenna rules for 70-80GHz bands is in the best interest of all the wireless industry service providers. And with OEMs in addition to Aviat asking for the waiver, no specific vendor will be favored. We urge other wireless service providers, communications equipment OEMs, subscribers and anyone else interested in moving forward as fast as the technology can go to also contact the FCC about granting this industry-wide waiver.
In the meantime, to learn more about urbanized small cell backhaul in the 70-80GHz bands, please contact us.
Read MoreWhile U.S. regulators decide on flat-panel antenna rules for E-band, operators and subscribers walk a tightrope of red tape.
Back in April the telecom experts over at CommLawBlog weighed in on a simmering issue in the 70-80GHz radio space. Since October 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mulled over a motion by the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) to relax rules for flat panel antennas as well as a 2013 waiver to the existing rules while it considers a new rulemaking.
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