Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/34622-cci-enhances-sectorisation-with-4x4-mimo-support-for-6-sector-sites
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CCI Enhances Sectorisation with 4x4 MIMO Support for 6-Sector Sites

September 21, 2020

Global solutions provider Communication Components Inc. (CCI) brings 4x4 MIMO capability to its patented Bi-Sector Array™ Antennas to create a step change in capacity and speeds for mobile networks, through higher order sectorisation (HOS) with 4x4 MIMO.

CCI Bi-Sector Antennas allow operators to reduce antenna count and replace existing 65 degree networks, while increasing cell site capacity and LTE data throughput by minimizing overlap between CCI’s patented asymmetric 33 degree split-sector shaped beams. This design approach lowers interference between sectors. All of this is achieved through a single panel array, producing significant CAPEX and OPEX cost savings for the operator.

Using Sectorisation with  4x4 MIMO has proved to be complementary—providing an additive effect, enhancing even further the move to creating faster and increased data throughput. CCI’s range of Bi-Sector Antennas with 4x4 MIMO enables capacity gains in excess of 2.5 times that of a legacy LTE 3-sector site. This dramatically improves network quality and user throughput by improving spectral efficiency, link quality, and reducing coverage constraints, offering mobile network operators (MNOs) improved capacity and coverage on their latest generation networks.

Deploying HOS with 4x4 MIMO is a crucial step change to enable MNOs to provide a high performance layer for the 4G (LTE) which maintains similar performance expectations to the new 5G networks and is a real boost for both FDD and TDD networks. Sectorisation and MIMO is an excellent way of improving efficiency when working with limited spectrum bandwidth, and is much more cost effective than purchasing spectrum or building new sites.

5G performance expectations are becoming the norm for many high-end users, and when 5G is not available the remaining network (fall-back) needs to have the capability to carry similar performance levels for the user. Hence the Bi-Sector Antenna with 4x4 MIMO capability is an excellent solution for maintaining a minimum 50 MB/s performance for mobile users, bringing major capacity and speed improvements up to 5G levels. HOS plus 4x4 MIMO is even proving to be a highly cost-effective alternative to Massive-MIMO solutions for urban/suburban areas where lower height buildings limit the capacity improvement of such systems.

Released as first in a family of related products, the HBSA33R-KE6B is a 10-port Hybrid Bi-Sector Antenna, providing two-ports of 65-degree at lLow-Band (698 to 960 MHz) and a pair of CCI’s patented asymmetrical 33 degree split-sector beams in the High-Band (1,695 to 2,690 MHz) to support a full 4x4 MIMO split-sector.