Pushing the Limits of Wind Loading on Macro Sites

As the appetite for data continues to grow,wireless providers need to deploy more and more base station antennas to keep pace and deliver the required capacity. With 5G roll outs gathering momentum, we are seeing existing cell sites pushed to their load-bearing limit, but more is still needed.Due to the cost and logistical challenges, acquiring new sites is often not a practical option, meaning equipment designers need to push to extend the wind loading limits to ease the problem.The advancements needed from a design perspective must tackle the problem from several angles. First in the design itself, to ensure service providers can use existing sites as efficiently as possible. Secondly, in the testing and measurement of wind loading capabilities to minimize incidental redundancy and move as close as is safely possible to physical wind loading limits.RFS is committed to both aspects, however, this paper explores the latter, looking at calculation and testing methods with the aim of addressing elements of the macro site headache facing service providers.