Microlab, a division of RF Industries, lives in the critical interconnect space when it comes to RF, optical and electrical transmission. Its portfolio of high-performance passives includes a variety of RF signal combining and distribution products, RF interconnect products, coaxial assemblies, and fiber and copper assemblies. These products make possible the transport of signals and information to the radios and antennas, which is essential for small cell transmissions.
Microlab develops a full line of small-cell filter solutions, including cross band combiners, filter combiners, diplexers, triplexers, and multiplexers. Managing the manufacturing operations and supply chain of almost all the components and integrating small cell concealment solutions allows Microlab to meet customers’ schedules.
Enable 5G carrier aggregation – BK-3104T compact triplexer
“The biggest advantage of having a complete line of related interconnect components is to give our customers a one-stop shopping experience, so that they don’t have to go to four or five different vendors to get all the different interconnect components,” explained Sri Arunachalam, Director, Applications Engineering at RF Industries.
Microlab is able to ship items from its stock within three days of an receiving an order, getting the materials to the cell site just in time for installation and deployment. “Having stock of the right materials with short lead times helps system integrators and installers to manage their project build schedules,” Arunachalam said. “It also puts customers’ cash to work more effectively, as they can manage their spend closer to deployment.”
Schrofftech, another division of RF Industries, develops mid-pole and pole-top concealment shrouds to house the small cell equipment including radios, combiners, antennas, power distribution, and all the associated interconnect cabling.
“As a value-added service, turnkey integration is available to customers to pre-assemble the shrouds,” Arunachalam said. “The speed of the small cell product turnaround is driven around shroud integration. So, those who can manage the supply chain of the various components that go into the assembly will be the fastest.”
Turnkey integration – examples of pre-assembled shrouds
Small Cell Technology Trends
Microlab’s business is driven mainly through the tier one carriers as they densify their AWS/PCS networks in major metropolitan areas, adding layers of 5G spectrum in the C-band and 2.5 GHz, in the case of T-Mobile. Neutral host operators, such as Crown Castle, are deploying both single and multi-tenant small cell sites on behalf of these carriers. Localized neutral host operators, such as MuniSite Networks, are also joining the small cell field.
Since around 2016, small cells that typically hosted two radios (AWS/PCS) and a 2X2 MIMO antenna have evolved to three radios (AWS/PCS/C Band) and a 4X4 MIMO antenna, which triples the number of cable routes. However, the size of the shroud accepted in jurisdictional zoning boards has not increased in most cases.
Plus, small cell radio power levels have dropped from 20 watts down to 5 watts. “When you get to lower power levels, you can reduce the power level requirements, the isolation requirements, and shrink the filter combiners,” Arunachalam said.
RF Industries is setting new industry benchmarks for small size and low weight to enable deployments in the most constrained spaces, according to Arunachalam. “When it’s coming down to the main interconnect components fitting within that same shroud, it benefits us to design for that smaller volume and footprint,” he said. “The challenge before us is how do we as an industry continue to find ways to innovate and create smaller, more efficient equipment to be able to fit within the existing real estate?”
The Differentiator: Network Performance
For high network quality, Microlab’s components are designed with low PIM and extremely low insertion loss, says Arunachalam. The inputs are well isolated and have minimal insertion loss over their respective frequency bands to minimize band inter-reaction. Power losses can result in shrinking the size of the coverage provided by the small cell or adversely affecting its capacity.
“We improve the performance of the product by ensuring minimal RF losses to provide higher transmission power,” Arunachalam said. “The loss of only a quarter dB in the C-band can actually reduce the small cell radius by about 3 percent, which in turn affects the coverage by 6 percent.”
Microlab publishes data sheet specs that inform their customers of the exact minimum and maximum performance levels that can be expected from their products. “It is important for our customers to know these specs, such as the minimum intermodulation PIM and the maximum insertion loss, so they can design very consistent, reliable and repeatable networks,” Arunachalam said. “Our typical numbers are much better than that, but they’re getting a known quantity from us.”
Individual radios have evolved to a dual-band structure but that has not eliminated the need for a diplexer. Dual band AWS/PCS radios still need to be diplexed with 5G frequencies in either the C-band or the 2.5 GHz band.
“The topology of what’s needed for interconnect will change and evolve with changes in the radio architecture,” Arunachalam said. “We are the glue between the radio and the antenna, so how we focus our products follows in concert with how the evolution of antennas and radios plays out.”
Similarly, in terms of antennas, there are now multiport antennas with 12 to 24 ports and even higher, which can support more service bands. Potentially, Arunachalam says, they could eliminate the need for external combining or pre-combining.
“When you add ports, the antenna size also grows,” Arunachalam said. “There’s always going to be this trade off, where there will be some amount of combining that’s needed to condense the radio resources into a fixed pool to go into an antenna. Combiners may frequently change as the antennas evolve.”
Turning Feedback into High Tech
Through its Microlab and SchroffTech divisions, RF Industries has significant experience with small cell integration, which has allowed them to put extensive field and customer feedback into the products they make.
“We provide the best solutions to the market without compromising on quality or performance,” Arunachalam said. “Also, with our hands-on approach, our application engineering team is available to consult with customers on questions and recommendations for their small cell needs. It’s really engaging in that conversation to understand what they need and how we can best address it in the most efficient manner.”
RF Industries will be at Connect X, booths 230 and 232. The team will be there to talk about TruField® Concealment Shrouds, Direct Air Cooling for Shelters and Cabinets, Passive DAS Connectivity and Small Cell Solutions. For more information, go to https://microlabtech.com/small-cell-applications.html or email Microlab support [email protected].
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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