The Mid-band spectrum for 5G is one of the most valuable wireless resources available in recent years. Wireless operators are vying for this new mid-band spectrum in FCC auctions, most recently for 3.5 GHz CBRS priority access licenses and the C-band (3.7-3.98 GHz) auction.
Microlab is poised and ready with new products for CBRS and C-bands. The company is a leading component and an integrated solution partner for tackling the challenges with 5G network deployments.
Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, Microlab designs and manufactures a line of RF signal distribution and conditioning components, including splitters, directional couplers, combiner, tappers, attenuators, DC blocks, and cable assemblies.
“Microlab offers a multi-pronged approach to assist mobile network operators and network designers with 5G roll-outs. We focus on ensuring that customers maintain their deployment schedules, reduce deployment costs, and achieve optimal system performance,” says Rohan Shah, Product Manager.
Component availability poses a challenge for MNOs to maintain 5G deployment schedules. Ensuring these customers have ready access to Microlab’s products is vital. The company sells through major wireless equipment distributors in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. If needed, Microlab will drop ship products from its stock directly to customers on short notice.
Shah says Microlab helps reduce infrastructure ownership costs by sharing opportunities to future-proof their networks with solutions to handle the new mid-band spectrum allocations. “This way, the scope of network component ‘rip-and-replace’ is minimized,” adds Shah.
With growing small cell deployments, small form factor components give designers more flexibility in their mechanical designs and lower deployment costs. This approach enables better concealment, decreased overall wind load, more room for heat dissipation, and even smaller small cells for quicker local approval.
To optimize network system performance, Shah points out that Microlab guarantees its electrical specifications. This commitment reduces the commissioning and troubleshooting time during installation. Capacity increases are achieved with an improved signal-to-noise ratio necessary for higher-order modulation in 5G. With RF components that deliver low insertion loss, low return loss, low PIM, and high isolation, network designers are assured of enhanced system performance.
“With higher modulation and mid-band spectrum utilization, the impact of component specification on overall system coverage and capacity has amplified the need for high-performance components,” adds Shah.
As the industry transitions to the next generation of wireless communications, network capacity is improved by utilizing wider carriers in the mid-band spectrum (2.1 to 6 GHz). “These spectrum bands provide an ideal trade-off between capacity and coverage,” says Shah.
Microlab is staying ahead of the demand curve with its wideband signal distribution products. “As new frequency bands get allocated, network owners look to gain capacity. By future-proofing the signal distribution, our customers only need to replace the combiners for injecting new bands, reducing the total cost of ownership,” says Shah.
Microlab releases new signal combining solutions like multi-band combiners and hybrid combiners to help network designers overcome site-specific and band-specific combining challenges.
Shah says Microlab’s newest triplexer for C-band spectrum offers network designers a way to efficiently combine low-band (under 2.1 GHz) and mid-band (above 2.1 to 6 GHz) services. These new products support licensed, partially licensed, and unlicensed bands in various wireless networks.
Founded in 1949, Microlab credits its continuing success to long-term customer relationships. The company is already working with designers on solutions ahead of the spectrum auctions.
“Our customers can utilize those solutions to future-proof their networks and realize a lower total network lifecycle cost,” says Shah. “Quality performance is critical, and the guaranteed specifications are a key differentiator on Microlab products,” adds Shah. “We work with a multitude of stakeholders – operators, designers, technical working groups – while these bands are under rule-making, so we understand the requirements.”
In 2021, Microlab will continue to partner with these wireless infrastructure stakeholders “to assist in meeting the goals of the next generation of wireless networks,” says Shah. “Mid-band and ultra-wideband spectrum deployments will be our focus and primary driving factors of our product roadmap.”
For more information, contact Microlab at microlabtech.com.
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