7 Feb 2011

No mobile gridlock, universal coverage, lightRadio saves the mobile industry billions

Wim Sweldens presents the small cube at the core of the lightRadio breakthrough

Wim Sweldens presents the small cube at the core of the lightRadio breakthrough

[UPDATE: Watch the replay of the lightRadio news conference (London, Feb. 7th)]

By Wim Sweldens, President Alcatel-Lucent Wireless Division

The mobile industry has done a phenomenal job changing the lives of billions of people in the world, bringing them wireless all-around, with education, information and entertainment. By placing smart devices in their hands and providing services, information and capabilities in the cloud, societies, economies and businesses have flourished.

But, with this growth comes some problems. More than half of the world’s population does not have access to mobile broadband data. The industry does not have a feasible path to close this broadband digital divide. Our networks are power hungry and emit 18,000,000 metric tons of C02 per year. Plus, antennas and towers are not very attractive, they obstruct our landscapes and cityscapes. And, who among you has not experienced the network congestion challenge?  Time will not fix these challenges, they will grow and grow.

Now what is the root cause of these problems? The base station. It is a fundamental element of the wireless architecture that is large and power hungry. These visual monstrosities are tethered to equally unattractive antennas that block more of the landscape with each new technology. This is the one element of the mobile architecture that is keeping the network from being flexible, responsive and green.

We know what to do.  We have discovered an exciting breakthrough innovation that has the capability to make base stations and antennas virtually invisible. Our innovative breakthrough is called lightRadio.

lightRadio has at its core an innovation that is a small cube—a cube invented by Bell Labs which combines a wideband active array antenna with fully software defined radio capability. This, less than 300 g cube, enables an active antenna as small as 2 watts to an array of typical cellular capacity (30-60 watts). It can be deployed in big and small antenna configurations, all-around the city. With this new antenna, base stations and large antenna towers, virtually disappear. Big or small cells, it is one continuum, for these cubes can be stacked to build a macro cell or used singularly in a beam formation for targeted coverage.

lightRadio makes networks significantly lighter, much simpler to deploy and cuts the cost of site rental  by 66%.  For our planet, we can reduce power by 51%. With this small element, connected to microwave, it is now feasible for people currently not served by mobile data, to have access.

We’re not alone on this journey. We’re working closely with HP on cloud-like technologies and co-creating with Freescale on system-on-chip capabilities. And most importantly, we are co-creating this technology, together with our customers all around the world.

 
 

34 Responses to No mobile gridlock, universal coverage, lightRadio saves the mobile industry billions

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  1. Bilal Javed says:
    February 7, 2011 at 12:09 PM

    Great news. If is consumes so less energy is it possible to pack it with batteries as well? To counter the load shedding voes of developing world? Just imagine how much money it will save not to have to refuel diesel generators in BTS sites.

  2. Tony Tillyer says:
    February 7, 2011 at 5:16 PM

    Who wouldn’t be all for advances which reduce BTS and footrprints and extends the range for data transfer on handheld devices?

    Very excited about this and will watch avidly as it develops!

  3. Sur esh Kumar says:
    February 8, 2011 at 6:34 AM

    Looks very interesting, with reduction of Power and size of the BTS.
    As number of cells increases, might lead to jamming like situations with beam forming.

  4. Otto Wyss says:
    February 8, 2011 at 11:38 AM

    Nice, but why isn’t there a link to more background information? Seems to me nothing else than a Pico GSM station as other manufactures produce.

    With internet connection is probably a DSL connection ment so the questiton remains who provides them and who connects them to the normal phone network. Questions over questions.

  5. Orhan Sumer says:
    February 8, 2011 at 2:32 PM

    Is in market similar product? What is ROI on field BTS?

  6. Dejan says:
    February 9, 2011 at 4:38 PM

    This sounds like:”Wheter cars can go on water?” :)

  7. Alex says:
    February 11, 2011 at 7:27 PM

    Add solar panel and rechargeble battery and this would be nice solution for rural/remote sites.

  8. M Juaid says:
    February 12, 2011 at 12:10 PM

    It sounds interesting.
    I appreciate if I could have answers for the following questions:
    What are the differences between this LightRadio and Picocells/Femtocells? (A similar question was asked by Otto.)
    What is the coverage of a single Radio Cube running at 2Wat?
    How many Radio Cubes will be needed to provide same coverage and data throughput of an existing Cellular base station (e.g., a GSM base station with three sector antennas)?
    Is it applicable for non-Cellular systems, e.g., systems running in the 400MHz?
    Thanks,

    • @Stephane says:
      February 15, 2011 at 3:03 PM

      The underlying technology for our LTE small cell is lightRadio.
      The cubes are flexible and scaleable so you can add what you need from 700MHz to 2.6GHz.

  9. Nagabhushan says:
    February 16, 2011 at 6:30 AM

    Amazing stuff !!

    Looks very interesting, with reduction of Power and size of the BTS.

  10. manuel oujo says:
    February 16, 2011 at 4:26 PM

    me parece interesante pero funciona en las bandas 850ghz o las bandas 1900ghz y donde podria comprar para realizar las pruebas donde no hay señal de telefonia …. me interesa mucho realizar estudios y si me sirve en lugares como en Peru….

  11. Marco Malfavon says:
    February 16, 2011 at 4:48 PM

    Manuel – lightRadio es una solucion multi-banda y multi-tecnologia que estara disponible en el tercer trimestre del 2011. En un email separado le estaremos enviando mas informacion. Saludos.

  12. andrea casini says:
    February 17, 2011 at 10:22 AM

    What it is…just a nice(r) way to market active antenna arrays. Look also at http://www.ubidyne.com.
    ALU light radio is a promising platform, the real questions are about
    - time to commercial availability
    - acceptance by MNOs of tower-top radios
    - possibility to operate multi-standard/multi-service

  13. Nilesh Thite says:
    February 17, 2011 at 5:52 PM

    This new Technology so called ‘LightRadio’ by AL is awesome in terms of Cost effectiveness, Adaptability, low power consumption, easy installation, High control ability, dynamic, Green Technology….
    But one thing I would like to know is its effect on Biological human body and mind.. whether it has any side effect?.. if so then to what extent.?

  14. N Shapiro says:
    February 17, 2011 at 10:39 PM

    I would also like to highlight the point brought up by Nilesh Thite. We know that any form of cellular antenna transmits some form of non-ionizing radiation and radiation, whether ionizing or non-ionizing does have biological effects on the body especially over a period of extended exposure. Are these safer than a cellular tower? If so, how much? What are the levels and have they been tested for prolonged exposure to the human body?

    • @Stephane says:
      February 23, 2011 at 6:04 PM

      We are not the appropriate experts to comment on biological issues. However you may want to review the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Fact Sheet 304 of May 2006 that said “considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects.”

  15. dan schellenberg says:
    February 23, 2011 at 2:42 PM

    hi there,
    who could i speak to to offer my rural area for testing the cube?
    best,
    dan

    pls contact me at email. tx!

    • @Stephane says:
      February 23, 2011 at 4:47 PM

      The first deployments of lightRadio are planned for urban environments where congestion from mobile data is a tremendous issue. Alcatel-Lucent has several customer trials already planned for 2011 and beyond.

  16. Orlando Fernandes says:
    March 3, 2011 at 1:47 PM

    Fantastic development. hen will these units be deplowed in India?

  17. Energy-XS says:
    March 3, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    It will now be feasible for VAWT’s on the tower to power BTS sites

  18. Picocell says:
    March 15, 2011 at 8:25 AM

    Hi,
    I don’t understand what is exactly the difference between this LightRadio and a Picocell ??
    Picocell are also provided to increase mobile coverage in public area, isn’t it ?
    Thank you

    • @Stephane says:
      March 17, 2011 at 9:37 AM

      Picocell refers to a small radio access point that is used to pinpoint service within an urban environment. The application may be used to pinpoint mobile service inside a plaza, shopping mall, train terminal, or bus stations. Picocells can come in different technology types. At MWC, Alcatel-Lucent announced the 9363 and 9364 metro cells, which can be used in as a picocell.

      The lightRadio cube can be used as a picocell. The cube can also be stacked for macro cell applications. The cubes are also multi-technology, having the ability to be remotely configured and managed.

  19. Toby says:
    March 21, 2011 at 2:39 PM

    What will be the backhaul design? I believe there was mention of microwave but that seems impractical in many settings.

  20. raouf says:
    August 17, 2011 at 4:23 PM

    Can any one help with more information on the product and how it will be implemented and also some more discription on the internal devices that run the show.

  21. Andrew G Kellerman says:
    February 6, 2012 at 7:12 PM

    Been waiting for more news on the lightRadio. Couple questions: does this cube operate the entire spectrum of cell frequencies? 2. I can imagine that this technology would help fill ‘holes’ in coverage, but will they carry enough to increase bandwidth?

    • Leonard Pesheck says:
      February 7, 2012 at 12:47 PM

      There have been multiple news points since the launch with co-creation customers, first calls, stadium cube efforts etc. The lightRadio cube will eventually operate in every commercially spectrum service provider operate. The cube could be used to fill hole but primarily that role will fall to the small cells part of the portfolio and the cube will part of the macro network.

  22. TECNOCOM-ARGENTINA says:
    February 20, 2012 at 5:23 PM

    Parece bastante economica, nosotros queremos implementar nuevas tecnologias como el uso de 802.16m en zonas alejadas e incomunicadas de los cascos urbanos, la pregunta seria si podriamos ayudar en el desarrollo de light radio y su tecnologia.?. Nos interesa mucho al respecto ya que aun nadie nos a apoyado para investigaciones y tenemos muchas udeas para aportar sobre todo el uso de energias verdes en Estaciones de base. Nos gustaria que alguien nos apoche en investigaciones para inNovacion Tecnologica en REDES.
    IN INGLISH:
    It seems quite economical, we want to implement new technologies and the use of 802.16m in remote and isolated from urban centers, the question is if we could help in the development of light and radio technology.?. We care much about it because no one has supported even for research and we have many udeas to provide especially the use of green energies in base stations. We would like to have someone apoche research for technological innovation in networks

  23. ToddRCDD says:
    May 4, 2012 at 6:24 PM

    I would like to be contacted as well, I’m am interested in finding out how I can install these. If I’m reading this right, would this allow an install in the interior of the buildings to provide signal in areas that have little or none? It would be a little easier than designing and installing a DAS. Or is it only designed to be installed for the exterior of buildings? Since it is modular and at 5 watts each, it should be more than powerful enough to cover these areas. The only thing that I can’t find info on is the “backplane” that it is attached to.

  24. Ted says:
    August 22, 2012 at 12:46 AM

    How can I become a reseller for projects we are working on?

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