CommScope and Nokia have announced a collaboration to develop passive-active antenna solutions. These will enable operators around the world to optimize tower space usage, increase cell site capacity and lay the groundwork for a 5G ready future.
As operators seek ways to keep up with intense subscriber demand for mobile broadband, they must add capacity to existing radio technology layers. In many cases, as 5G roll-out momentum builds, 5G massive MIMO antennas capable of 3.5 GHz frequency bands may also need to be deployed at the same cell site.
To address this requirement, CommScope and Nokia will be developing new passive-active antenna solutions to significantly boost site capacity, while easing deployment considerations. The streamlined design of the passive-active antenna combines the capacity and beamforming benefits of massive MIMO adaptive antenna technology for 5G, as well as high performance antennas for existing radio technologies all within the available, often limited, cell site space.
The passive-active antenna solutions, according to the Senior VP of RF Solutions, CommScope, Farid Firouzbakht, give operators a strong business case for 5G ready networks, while also increasing the capacity and performance of existing technologies. CommScope will thus continue to build on the momentum with Nokia, developing innovative solutions for operators.
The passive-active antenna solutions will be released for commercial deployment in 2019. CommScope will also be exhibiting the solutions at its Booth 2J30 in Hall 2, at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona.
