Axis Network Technology notches up 5000 deliveries of WiMAX Remote Radio Heads during 2008

Volume shipments of high power RRH to OEMs worldwide reach milestone figure in less than 6 months

AYLESBURY, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Axis Network Technology (AxisNT) has announced that the number of WiMAX Remote Radio Heads (RRH) that it has delivered to OEMs worldwide had exceeded 5000 units by the end of 2008. As recently as September last year AxisNT announced that the RRH was in volume production at two locations – in Europe and in Asia – and had begun volume shipments to customers worldwide.

“The integrity of our logistics and the strength of our supply and manufacturing partnerships have been key factors in allowing us to ramp up our shipments so quickly”

“The integrity of our logistics and the strength of our supply and manufacturing partnerships have been key factors in allowing us to ramp up our shipments so quickly,” explained Simon Mellor, CEO and co-founder of AxisNT. “Establishing two parallel RRH manufacturing lines in CEM facilities in different continents was critical to meeting the volume of production demanded by our OEM customers and in managing the logistics for meeting their delivery schedules, We expect to receive further orders in the next few weeks, and we have the capacity to reach even higher delivery rates during 2009 as market demand for RRHs increases.”

The AxisNT portfolio includes WiMAX RRH models for both 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz networks as well as UMTS/HSPA RRHs, and the company has also announced a platform to meet LTE network requirements. The units can also be customised to meet the specific interface and packaging requirements of the OEM. Designing WiMAX basestations using a distributed RRH approach with highly efficient digital-to-RF conversion and amplification considerably reduces both CAPEX and OPEX of the overall system as well as maintenance costs.

The use of RRHs is a key factor in minimising the environmental impact of wireless communication systems, both in terms of enabling a low carbon footprint radio system and in reducing the physical footprint of the radio mast. Because remote radio configurations both minimise RF losses and maximise multi-antenna efficiency, power consumption is fundamentally reduced. Overall power consumption is also driven down by the use of high efficiency signal processing and power amplification within the RRH itself. The Axis range of RRHs deliver high RF power and high capacity while minimising unwanted spectral emissions.

Axis RRHs reuse around 80% of components and materials between the different models. This common platform strategy and modular design format reduces resources during manufacture as well as those required for equipment support in the field.

Note for Editors

The use of an RRH allows the radio to be located alongside the antennas and physically separate from the basestation (BTS), removing the losses associated with long cable runs by replacing them with an optical fibre data interface. The AxisNT RRH presents flexible multi-gigabit BTS connections, communicating via OBSAI, CPRI or custom OEM fibre interfaces.

Axis WiMAX RRH models are available for use in the 2.3 – 2.7GHz and 3.3 – 3.8GHz spectrum bands, and Axis radios are configurable for frequencies between 400MHz and 4GHz. Each of the models offers dual channel operation for MIMO, to comply with WiMAX and IEEE 802.16 d/e standards. They are also capable of 4-channel MIMO operation using 2-channel units driven separately from OBSAI/CPRI or daisy chained. Channel bandwidth is variable between 3.5MHz and 20MHz for TDD or FDD air interfaces.

Employing high efficiency advanced power amplifier technologies, the RRH units are available in several options with downlink output power levels of up to 28W . The advanced power amplifier design features include PowerDPD™ Digital Pre-Distortion, digitally controlled Doherty amplifiers and flexible wideband crest factor reduction (CFR).

The RRH also feature automatic calibration of transmit, receive and PA bias control loops, and are fitted with OBSAI RP3-01 or CPRI V2 digital baseband interfaces with either 1 or 2 optical connectors as required. They integrate an AxisIPR™ configurable IP radio processor, along with an AxisOS™ remote management and local craft interfaces. Support for Adaptive Antenna Systems (AAS) and AISG v2.0 antenna control is provided.

Superior receiver performance of better than -98dBm can be achieved with single channel operation, and better than -100dBm using MIMO. A distributed BTS using 2-channel RRH with 28W downlink power is the equivalent of transmitting 56W downlink power from a traditional ground based BTS (assuming 3dB cable losses). Power consumption is reduced to a fraction of a traditional base station, thus reducing OPEX.

A standard RRH implementation involves a close cooperation between the customer and the AxisNT engineering team, to perform interoperability on the OBSAI and/or CPRI digital interface implementation. Products are available with a variety of interface connector options, with a single or dual fibre optic interface for up to 10km of FO cables, a choice of compact and lightweight packaging, and they can also be fitted with an optional customised solar shield. The RRH are optimised for low power consumption and feature a wide input voltage range to provide flexibility in site installation. A built in handle and a variety of mounting brackets allow ease of installation. Additionally AxisNT will customise its RRH for the specific requirements of OEM customers, in respect of connectors, packaging and labels.