EasyRET Material PDF

Technical White Paper for the
EasyRET Antenna Solution
Author xingzengwu193651
Issue 01
Date 2012-08-27
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Copyright Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. 2012. All rights reserved.
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Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Address: Huawei Industrial Base
Bantian, Longgang
Shenzhen 518129
People's Republic of China
Website: http://www.huawei.com
Email: support@huawei.com
Issue V1.0 (2012-08-27) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential i

Copyright Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Technical White Paper for the EasyRET Antenna Solution
Contents
1 Abstract of the EasyRET Antenna Solution ............................................................................. 3

2 Introduction to Traditional RET Antenna Solutions ............................................................. 4
3 Problems Confronted by Traditional RET Antenna Solutions............................................ 7
3.1 Complex Installation ........................................................................................................................................ 7
3.2 Complex Commissioning ................................................................................................................................. 8
3.3 High Fault Rate and Poor Reliability Due to a Large Number of Connections................................................ 8
4 EasyRET Antenna Solution ......................................................................................................... 9

4.1 Overview .......................................................................................................................................................... 9
4.2 Advantages ..................................................................................................................................................... 10
5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 15
6 Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................................... 16
Issue V1.0 (2012-08-27) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential ii

1 Abstract of the EasyRET Antenna

Solution
With the coming of the mobile broadband (MBB) Era, radio networks are optimized more and
more frequently, and the antenna optimization cost is higher and higher. Currently, a
traditional remote electrical tilt (RET) antenna is confronted with problems such as frequent
mistakes in manual operations, high installation and maintenance cost, and poor reliability in
long-term operation. The EasyRET antenna solution can effectively resolve these problems.
This solution facilitates installation, maintenance, and usage of the RET antenna; therefore,
the O&M efficiency is improved. The solution has the following features:
Free of configuration
Free of calibration
Free of RCU installation
Free of manual recording of bar codes
High reliability
Excellent performance
Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 3

2 Introduction to Traditional RET Antenna

Solutions
Based on the category of tilt angles, there are two types of electrical tilt antennas on base
stations.
Mechanical electrical tilt (MET) antenna
The tilt angle of this type of antenna can be adjusted using the following methods:
Manually adjusting the mechanical gauge to pull the internal phase shifter
Installing an external remote control unit (RCU) connected to a portable control unit
(PCU) and adjusting the tilt angle using the PCU
Figure 2-1 Shows the solution for manually adjusting the tilt angle of the MET antenna

Figure 2-2 Shows the solution for adjusting the tilt angle of the MET antenna using the PCU
RET antenna
The network management system (NMS) is adopted to remotely adjust the tilt angle of a
RET antenna. This method allows constant and dynamic adjustment of the tilt angle of
an antenna beam. A site does not need to be powered off during the adjustment, which
enables continuous service provisioning.
A RET antenna is installed vertically. No clearance is required for a tilt angle of the RET
antenna. The installation components are simple and reliable. The monitoring database
stores the current and historical data of antenna beams at each site on the live network to
facilitate remote monitoring and analysis. Currently, RET antennas are preferred, which
improves the operator's operation and maintenance (O&M) efficiency.
Figure 2-3 shows the solution for remotely adjusting the tilt angle of the MET/RET
antenna with an external RCU
Figure 2-3 Solution for remotely adjusting the tilt angle of the MET/RET antenna with an external
RCU


3 Problems Confronted by Traditional RET

Antenna Solutions
3.1 Complex Installation

Installations of traditional RET antenna involves the following steps:
Step 1 Assemble the mounting bracket, and install the jumper and RCU, and provide waterproof
protection to the jumper on the tower.
Step 2 Lift and install the antenna on the tower and set the mechanical tilt angle based on network
planning requirements.
Step 3 Record the RCU serial numbers for each cell.
Step 4 Install the Antenna Interface Standards Group (AISG) cables.
Step 5 Record the site number, sector number, and antenna electrical tilt port mapping each RCU.
Step 6 After the installation, submit the records to network planning and optimization engineers to
prepare for the subsequent remote commissioning.
The installation procedure includes operations on and under the tower, which increases the
duration of base station deployment.

3.2 Complex Commissioning

Figure 3-1 Process for remote commissioning of a RET antenna
The commissioning is conducted manually. Test engineers must confirm the execution status
and participate in the entire configuration process. The configuration of a single site takes
more than 12 minutes.
3.3 High Fault Rate and Poor Reliability Due to a Large

Number of Connections
In a traditional RET antenna solution, multiple connection points exist on the RCUs, smart
Bias-Tee (SBT), AISG cables, and antennas. These connection points are vulnerable to faults.
Statistics of a European operator shows that, inappropriate connections and water ingress
problems occur at 54% surveyed sites and RET connection problems (incorrect installation or
configuration) occur at 27% surveyed sites.
External RCUs must be connected to electrical ports and mechanical ports during installation.
More frequency bands require more complex installation. Network operation records indicate
that most problems related to the electrical tilt are caused by a large number of connections of
external RCUs. The following problems occur frequently:
Improper cable contact caused by incorrect connection
Short circuit resulted from water ingress caused by incorrect cable connection
Damage of mechanical ports caused by collision during connection
Operation failures of mechanical ports due to incorrect installation
If a traditional RET antenna is cascaded, RCU bar codes must be manually and locally
recorded. There is a high probability that incorrect mapping relationship is recorded. As a
result, the tilt angle is incorrectly adjusted, which affects network key performance indicators
(KPIs) and increases maintenance cost.
In addition, the RCU of a traditional RET antenna is exposed for a long time and affected
severely by the environment and climate. Consequently, the antenna has a low reliability.

4 EasyRET Antenna Solution
4.1 Overview
The EasyRET antenna solution effectively resolves problems confronted by traditional RET
antenna solutions. With comparison to the existing RET solution, the EasyRET solution has
the following characteristics:
The antenna integrates with electrical tilt devices such as the RCU and SBT. The One
Box provides all components of an electrical tilt antenna, reducing the connector
quantity and site installation requirements to the minimum.
An electrical tilt device can be identified remotely, requires no configuration or
calibration on site, and provides accurate phase control. Meanwhile, an electrical tilt
device allows a piece of AISG main equipment to manage multiple electrical tilt units or
allows two pieces of AISG main equipment to manage one or multiple electrical tilt units
respectively.
Figure 4-1 shows the EasyRET solution for remotely adjusting the tilt angle of an electrical
tilt antenna.
Figure 4-1 EasyRET solution for remotely adjusting the tilt angle of an electrical tilt antenna

4.2 Advantages
The EasyRET antenna solution has the following advantages:
The EasyRET antenna solution reduces jumpers and mechanical connections, improves
the installation efficiency, and reduces the error probability.
Figure 4-2 shows the schematic drawing of the traditional antenna solution with an
external RCU. Figure 4-3 shows the schematic drawing of the EasyRET antenna
solution.
Figure 4-2 Schematic drawing of the traditional antenna solution with an external RCU
Figure 4-3 Schematic drawing of the EasyRET antenna solution

Component Number of Components in the Number of Components in the

s Traditional RET Antenna EasyRET Antenna Solution
Solution
AISG cable 4 1
STMA 1 1
RCU 4 0
connector
AISG 8 2
connector
The EasyRET antenna solution reduces the number of components from 17 in a RET
solution to 4, which facilitates component installation and greatly reduces the number of
connections. A multi-frequency antenna connects to only one ASIG cable with no
mechanical interface exposed. This reduces problems caused by interfaces. Meanwhile,
water ingress problems are greatly reduced owing to the protection provided by the
radome. Onsite operations are reduced and problems or risks caused by mistakes are also
reduced. Figure 4-4 shows the comparison of a traditional RET antenna and an EasyRET
antenna.
Figure 4-4 Comparison of a traditional RET antenna and an EasyRET antenna
The electrical tilt device can be identified remotely without configuration or calibration,
which improves site deployment efficiency.
Before an EasyRET antenna solution is delivered, the electrical tilt components and the
antenna are strictly matched. Meanwhile, related configuration data is loaded and
calibrated. This omits the data configuration and calibration during the installation of a
RET antenna and improves the RET configuration efficiency significantly.
The EasyRET antenna solution adopts the creative Color Coding technology. The RCU
can be identified automatically and remotely and different ports are marked by various
colors and shapes. The EasyRET antenna solution resolves problems caused by multiple
cascaded RCUs in a RET solution, including incorrect configuration, heavy workload
generated from manual bar code recording, and incorrect feeder connections.
The Color Coding technology is defined by the ASIG. Antenna radio frequency (RF)
ports of various frequency bands and types are differentiated by color and shape to

ensure correct connections of antennas and feeders. Figure 4-5 shows the schematic
drawing of three antenna port types identified using the Color Coding technology.
Figure 4-5 Schematic drawing of three antenna port types identified using the Color Coding
technology
After an EasyRET antenna is powered on, the antenna automatically reports the RCU bar
code to the network management center (MNC). The MNC saves the RCU bar code and
matches the EasyRET antenna with the port and frequency band automatically. If a
frequency band needs to be adjusted, an RCU bar code can be queried from the NMS
directly, which reduces manual recording of RCU bar codes and prevents adjustment
errors caused by incorrect RCU bar codes.
The EasyRET antenna improves reliability.

The EasyRET antenna resolves reliability problems of a RET antenna. Table 4-1 lists the
comparison between an EasyRET antenna solution and a RET antenna solution from
aspects such as waterproof performance, lightning protection capability, and corrosion
resistance capability.
Table 4-1 Comparison of an EasyRET antenna solution and a RET antenna solution
Traditional RET Antenna EasyRET Antenna Solution

Solution
Waterproof Waterproof protection is Multiple RCUs share the
performance provided to multiple RCUs waterproof protection inside the
separately. same radome.
There are many AISG Only one or two external AISG
interfaces. interfaces are configured.
Lightning protection Cables connected to the RCU Most cables are short and routed
capability are long and the cable inside the radome. The cables are
quantity is large. Lightning shielded. Failure risks caused by
may cause failures. lightning are low.
Corrosion resistance The aluminum alloy enclosure The glass reinforced radome
capability and coating are easily reduces corrosion risks.
corroded in salt fog Few external interfaces are
environments. configured. Therefore, the
The external interfaces are corrosion risks are low.
vulnerable to oxidation and
corrosion.
Self-lock function The electric engine may shift In the non-working state, the
due to external factors, which self-lock torque of the electric
leads to an incorrect tilt angle. engine and gearbox ensures that
As a result, the tilt angle is the antenna tilt angle does not
adjusted repeatedly and the change due to vibration.
workload increases.
Failure caused by The RCU is manually The RCU installation is not
manual operations installed. required.
(configuration and Multiple AISG cables are Only one or two AISG cables are
calibration) manually connected. connected.
The RCU bar code and the Manual recording of the RCU bar
mapping section number are code is not required.
manually recorded. Configuration and calibration are
Configuration data is not required.
manually loaded and the
antenna is manually
calibrated.
The EasyRET antenna adopts high reliability design and assurance measures to ensure
the product quality and long-term reliability, including:
1. Reliability is ensured using electric engines that have been deployed in batches on the
network, with passing environment tests and EMS tests:

MTBF 88,0000 hours (100 years)

Operating temperature: 40C to +75C
Operating humidity: 15% to 98% no condensation
Storage temperature: 55C to +85C
Storage humidity: 15% to 98% no condensation
Ingress protection: IP56 according to IEC 60529
Salt-Fog durability: 168 hours
2. Driving components that have been deployed in batches on the network are adopted to
ensure high reliability during material selection and manufacturing. For example,
The driving screw thread pair that is verified in long-term operation is adopted.
Aluminum alloy components are adopted. Standard fixtures are made of austenitic
stainless steel. Plastic components are produced using long-term verified materials.
The flame spread rating of a plastic enclosure or plastic components of the equipment
must reach V-1 or above.
The solution with the electric engine, gearbox, and driving screw thread pair is
adopted to provide the self-lock function. In the non-working state, the self-lock
torque of the electric engine and gearbox ensures that the antenna tilt angle does not
change due to vibration.
The redundancy design is adopted. Material design and selection must be based on
application scenarios, material hardness (with margin), and reliability.
The interface is widened for protection. The AISG standard interface is used as the
external interface.
The product adopts the environment adaptability design.
3. Highly reliable components are used to provide end-to-end reliability design. Reliability
tests and verification tests are conducted to ensure highly reliable components of the
control panel. For example,
Shielding design: The AISG connector connects to the control panel, which connects
to the electric engine. The AISG shielding cable is grounded at both ends. The control
panel and electric engine are shielded by the enclosure.
Waterproof/lightning protection/corrosion resistance design of a board: The line
board is painted with conformal coating.
Cable design: An external cable adopts AISG cable components that meet the EMC,
waterproof/lightning protection/corrosion resistance, safety, and environment
requirements.
Lightning protection and grounding design: An AISG connector (male or female) is
fixed under the antenna reflector. A shielding cable is grounded at both ends and is
used to connect an AISG connector to a board and a board to an electric engine. The
board enclosure and electric engine driving enclosure connect to the antenna reflector
that is grounded. The lightning protection circuit of the power interface and signal
interface is grounded. The product adopts the environment adaptability design.
4. High-specification PIM design is adopted. The connection part of metal components
must be isolated to prevent direct contact.

5 Conclusion
The EasyRET antenna solution resolves problems confronted by traditional RET antenna
solutions such as complex installation, long duration, high cost, frequent problems occurrence,
and poor reliability. The EasyRET solution improves the installation accuracy, the
construction efficiency, and the reliability of the antenna system. The EasyRET solution can
effectively avoid high maintenance costs due to secondary site deployment and help operators
reduce the network optimization investment and maintenance cost.

6 Acronyms and Abbreviations
A
AISG Antenna Interface Standard Group
M
MET Mechanical electrical tilt
MBB Mobile broadband
P
PCU Portable control unit
R
RET Remote electrical tilt
S
SBT Smart Bias-Tee
STMA Smart tower mounted amplifier


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Technical White Paper for the

EasyRET Antenna Solution

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Trademarks and Permissions

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Issue V1.0 (2012-08-27) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential i

1 Abstract of the EasyRET Antenna Solution ............................................................................. 3

4 EasyRET Antenna Solution ......................................................................................................... 9

Issue V1.0 (2012-08-27) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential ii

1 Abstract of the EasyRET Antenna

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 3

2 Introduction to Traditional RET Antenna

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 4

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 5

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 6

3 Problems Confronted by Traditional RET

3.1 Complex Installation

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 7

3.2 Complex Commissioning

3.3 High Fault Rate and Poor Reliability Due to a Large

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 8

4 EasyRET Antenna Solution

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 9

Figure 4-3 Schematic drawing of the EasyRET antenna solution

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 10

Component Number of Components in the Number of Components in the

Figure 4-4 Comparison of a traditional RET antenna and an EasyRET antenna

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 11

The EasyRET antenna improves reliability.

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 12

Traditional RET Antenna EasyRET Antenna Solution

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 13

MTBF 88,0000 hours (100 years)

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 14

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 15

6 Acronyms and Abbreviations

Issue V1.0 (2012-11-02) Huawei Proprietary and Confidential 16

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