MAIN TOPIC Green BTS gives fresh breath
Green BTS
fresh breath
G
lobal telecom equipment
suppliers are rolling out their
own green BTSs. However,
each might have a different
understanding on the definition of a green
BTS since currently there is no defined
standard in the industry.
If we analyze the one-time capital
expenditure (CAPEX) before launch time
and the operational expenditure (OPEX)
afterwards, it is apparent that a real green
BTS should incorporate environmental
protection into product design and produce
to significantly lower the total cost of
ownership (TCO) while saving energy.
The green BTS benefits mobile
operators mainly in these three important
areas: auxiliary equipment, network
deployment, and environmental protection
and resources utilization.
Reducing sites and
saving auxiliary cost
As the cost of BTS often occupies only
around 30% of one site CAPEX, while
in Europe and other developed countries,
t h e p ro p o r t i o n i n C A PE X i s a b o u t
15%. Reducing the site related auxiliary
equipment will directly decrease CAPEX.
Higher integration is thus demanded.
Suppose a GSM site with S12/12/12
typical configuration in dense urban, the
footprint of site with traditional BTS will
be over 1.5m 2 . If the footprint can be
decreased to 0.5m2, acquisition of 10,000
23 FEB 2008 . ISSUE 38
gives
sites will save operators over USD120
million in Europe. Due to small dimensions
and light weight, more than 70% civil
works can be reduced at the same time.
With increasing price of fuel, more cost on
OPEX could be further saved.
In the industry, promoting integration,
adding external combiner, or shortening the
backup time by reducing battery facilities is
commonly used to make the site acquisition
easier. Due to low BTS integration and site
limitation brought by tower, space, cost etc.,
the number of feeders and antennas will
be consequently restricted. To realize that
multiple carriers share the same feeder and
antenna, an expensive external combiner
has to be added.
The green BTS will be able to provide
4 to 6 carriers by one common port. For a
S12/12/12 site, only 1 to 2 battery cabinets
are required, about 0.5m2 occupied, which
makes site acquisition more convenient
and flexible, saves CAPEX, and shortens
the network planning and rollout period.
Power consumption cut
by 50%
Environmentally friendly products
generally feature lower power consumption,
less noise, less electromagnetic radiation,
and lower environmental impact. That
is precisely what the green BTS aims to
achieve.
For example, a typical GSM S4/4/4 site
with a traditional macro BTS consumed
By Wu Wujun
1,600W in 2007, and the total power
consumption of the site was around
3,000W. If power consumption of both
BTS and auxiliary equipment can be
optimized, a site with less than 450W
power consumption will lead to 85%
decrease in total power consumption,
which is about 22,000 kilowatt hours per
site every year. That means 70 million
liters of fuel, accounting for USD400
million, and would be saved for an African
GSM operator with 10,000 outdoor sites
in 5 years.
To achieve this target, Huawei green
BTS adopts enhanced Doherty technology,
the latest power amplifier chipset, and
brand new hardware design to realize
energy conservation and environmental
protection by a three-tier approach.
First, the latest power amplifier chipset
and high efficiency scheduling algorithm
can effectively reduce more than 60% of
the static power, substantially avoiding the
unnecessary waste of energy.
Second, industry-wide power amplifier
efficiency was less than 33% in 2006,
but with the latest chipset and enhanced
D P D & Do h e r t y t e c h n o l o g i e s , t h e
amplifier efficiency is improved from
33% to 45%. It is safe to forecast that
the power amplifier efficiency will be
improved to 50% by the year 2008. As a
consequence, power consumption will be
further decreased, and fuel consumption
and emission of carbon dioxide will be
significantly reduced. By using high-
efficiency power amplifier technologies
 Huawei Technologies

and the latest amplifier chipset, the internal heat the industry’s average. These enable the distributed
generated by the BTS components is greatly BTS to support up to 12 transceivers per sector. The
decreased. The traditional heat dissipation methods capacity bottleneck has been eventually broken.
such as air-conditioning and heat-exchange can The modular design is an innovative new type
be replaced by convection cooling or natural heat of BTS, which simplifies wiring between different
dissipation, eliminating noise and saving energy. modules and enables the BTS to be stacked or
Third, according to a number of industr y assembled in various ways like a building block. This
consulting firms, 750W power supply is a dividing makes site construction simpler, expansion smoother,
line between green energy and fuel engine. If a less- and civil works costs related to site lower. Operators
than 750W BTS uses green energy, investment will benefit from convenient installation and easier
balance can be reached within three years compared site acquisition, reducing the investment on site and
with that uses a fuel engine. For small BTSs or shortening network deployment time.
distributed BTSs in low traffic areas, such as the The green BTS is an effective means of ensuring
BTSs of one sector and less than 2 transceivers, profitability and assisting operators to rapidly lower
their power consumption is far less than 750W. TCO in an increasingly competitive environment.
Therefore, the green energy such as solar, and wind As a leading telecom equipment provider, Huawei
can be used to power the BTSs. This not only saves is making persistent efforts to innovate based on
the investment, but also takes full advantage of using customer demands. Its series of green BTSs will
natural energy to eliminate environmental pollution. bridge the standards gap to realize multi-system
integration, and help operators to lower TCO
through a green way.
Easier installation Editor: Chen Yuhong chyhong@huawei.com
It is well known that a traditional BTS is
composed of many modules including baseband, RF,
combiner, transmission, operation and management.
These cause very complicated wiring and rigid
installation mode, making site construction and
expansion difficult.
In 2005, distributed BTS with open common
port radio interface (CPRI) was developed as the first
modular BTS. As the distributed BTS is physically
divided into baseband module and RF module
interconnected through optical fiber, the flexibility of
site acquisition and installation is greatly enhanced.
With regard to the dimensions, a baseband module
that is 3U to 4U in height can enable the installation
on the existing equipment such as an automatic
power management (APM) cabinet, transmission
equipment cabinet or remote equipment room.
Thanks to its light weight, the RF module supports
various installation modes including installation
on tower, pole, or against wall. Because of its
small capacity (one or two carriers), a traditional
distributed BTS is only applicable to indoor coverage
or small capacity application scenarios.
In 2008, Huawei’s full range of the fourth
generation BTSs will be highly modularized. All
BTSs will be unified to baseband and RF modules.
Due to introduction of multi-carrier and broadband
radio technology, the capacity of baseband unit will
be improved by five times, and meanwhile the height
will be further reduced to 1U to 2U. In terms of RF
module, the dimensions remain unchanged but one
single module can support 4 to 6 carriers, accounting
for 2 to 3 times capacity increase compared with

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