Based on power and coverage, 5G small base stations can be divided into:
| Classification | English | alternative name | Single carrier power (20MHz bandwidth) | Simultaneous access users | Coverage | Application scenarios | |
| Small station base | micro base station | Micro Site | Mini-site | 0.5W-10W | 128-512 | 50-200m | High-speed rail stations, airports, large shopping malls, etc. |
| Pico base station | Pico Site | Enterprise-grade small base stations | 0.1W-0.5W | 64-128 | 20-50m | Office buildings, factory parks, etc. | |
| Flying Base Station | Femto Site | Home-grade small base stations | Below 0.1W | 8-16 | 10-20m | Homes, cafes, etc. | |
5G small base station classification
5G small base stations can solve four major problems in application scenarios.
Overall capacity and coverage issues. This addresses the overall capacity and coverage requirements of scenarios such as small bus stations, small supermarkets, and small office buildings no more than 5 stories high, where the building area is moderate.
Localized heat absorption issues. Addressing localized heat absorption problems in areas with high network traffic, such as universities and sports venues, to alleviate network congestion.
Penetration and coverage issues. Small base stations can effectively solve signal coverage problems in certain areas of isolated buildings, areas where the coverage target is relatively independent, and areas with high penetration loss compared to other areas within the building.
Deep coverage issue. For some buildings, the indoor area of each floor is large and there are many internal partitions. When outdoor coverage is used, it will result in high operating costs and is prone to co-channel interference. Using small base stations can provide deep signal coverage in such areas.
Small base stations are expanding into large markets in vertical industries.
Vertical industry market demands: network coverage, intelligent operation and maintenance, location services, deterministic network capabilities, etc.
Traditional DAS suffers from problems such as difficulty in fault detection, location, supervision, and accurate coverage, making it difficult to meet the diverse needs of industry users; while macro stations are costly and have poor flexibility.
Visualized small base stations: With the capabilities of visualized operation and maintenance, precise positioning, and intelligent analysis, they can not only solve network coverage problems, but also meet the needs of vertical industry users for refined network construction, intelligent operation, location services, and refined customer services.
Small base stations + ubiquitous wireless: empowering thousands of industries
Indoor positioning: A typical area of convergence of "small base stations + ubiquitous wireless".
The construction of indoor positioning networks faces four major challenges: high cost, difficult deployment, complex technologies, and lack of standards.
Operators can leverage the scale advantage of 5G networks: reuse existing power and transmission resources, and unify industry technologies and standards.
The innovative solution of small base stations + ubiquitous wireless technology adopts a convergence approach that integrates shared power, transmission, and site resources; it utilizes Bluetooth 4.2 beacons and indoor distributed antennas to achieve device-level integration, while providing 5G communication, meter-level precision navigation, and indoor IoT data collection capabilities. Smart supermarkets and smart factories are application examples of "small base stations + ubiquitous wireless technology".
Small base stations and MEC work together to effectively combine
5G open platform small base stations are the cornerstone of building a 5G network ecosystem for vertical industries. Through capability openness and ubiquitous IoT, they provide deterministic 5G networks. By integrating MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) to provide a computing power platform and an integration platform for third-party applications, they achieve the convergence of IT and CT (Computer-to-Care) and cloud-network convergence, empowering various industries and enabling their digital, networked, and intelligent upgrades.
Because small cells are deployed closer to users and application scenarios, and adopt more open architectures, they possess the inherent attribute of being a natural entry point for MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) compared to other network elements, enabling flexible and rapid deployment. When deploying MEC in a radio access network, especially on small cells, it is highly suitable for service processing and forwarding occurring within an omnidirectional sector within the coverage area of a single site.
The opening of access network capabilities for 5G indoor coverage needs to meet the localized requirements of indoor vertical industry applications and solve the problems of localized intensive communication and local data privacy. For example, in factory parks, MEC platform applications can coexist with BBU and downlink UPF on the same platform, directly obtaining access network data information. This approach can flexibly respond to the needs of new services and vertical industries, providing manageable and controllable network performance, including minimizing communication links, providing ultra-low latency service experience, and enabling wireless network capability customization and optimizing service experience through localized interaction between MEC and RAN.
5G cloud base stations cover manufacturing base parks
5G cloud small cells + edge computing (MEC) enable 5G-enabled smart manufacturing in factories. Industrial manufacturing data is distributed locally on the 5G cloud small cells, and 5G + industrial manufacturing applications are deployed on the MEC. At the same time, it connects to the enterprise industrial cloud platform (MES, APS, SAP, etc.) to realize 5G smart factory management.
