Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/19885-mimotech-launches-ultra-high-capacity-radio-for-last-mile-lte-backhaul

MIMOtech launches ultra high capacity radio for last mile LTE backhaul

May 20, 2013

MIMOtech has launched Starburst Janus, an ultra high capacity packet radio for last mile backhaul, which utilizes an innovative multi-antenna technology yielding a spectral efficiency of 25b/s per Hz.

Backhaul capacity is one of the major challenges facing LTE/LTE-A operators today as they roll out networks and respond to increasing data traffic and growing subscriber numbers. Starburst Janus’ ultra high capacity enables data rates of several Gb/s to be achieved on a single frequency channel. Starburst Janus employs line-of-sight (LoS) 4x4 MIMO and parallel radio processing, allowing a 100 percent improvement in spectral usage and significantly improving operators’ total cost of ownership (TCO).

“Starburst Janus offers double the performance of traditional non-line of sight MIMO  measured in either capacity or distance  coupled with a significantly lower cost per bit transported,” said Geoff Carey, Director at MIMOtech. “Starburst Janus also needs significantly smaller antenna spacing than other LoS MIMO products on the market, which is a massive advantage for tower or rooftop applications where mounting space comes at a premium.”

 Janus employs a novel, patented configuration of LoS MIMO that has a small form factor. It uses two cross-polarised antennas spaced 1.5 m apart, resulting in a mechanical configuration occupying a space that is comparable to that of a LTE sector antenna. Furthermore it uses a range of advanced microwave technologies that help operators to satisfy the growing demand for capacity  co-channel dual polarization (CCDP) with XPIC technology (utilizing the different polarizations of a frequency channel); higher order modulation schemes up to 1024 QAM; high efficiency radio medium access control (MAC); asymmetrical bandwidth delivery; and Layer 1 link aggregation (Multi-Carrier Adaptive Bandwidth Control). All of these techniques have been used to improve spectral efficiency and thus boost microwave capacity; however LoS MIMO offers a further 100 percent improvement in spectral efficiency over and above these techniques alone.