Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/9228-andrew-evolves-base-station-antennas-with-smartbeam

Andrew Evolves Base Station Antennas with SmartBeam

March 18, 2010

Andrew Solutions, the CommScope Inc. division that is a leader in wireless communication systems and products, is helping operators evolve their wireless networks with its SmartBeam base station antenna system, an agile network solution that makes adding capacity and optimizing coverage cost effective and responsive to customer demand.

For the first time ever, wireless operators have an inexpensive and highly effective tool in SmartBeam® to achieve load balancing across a cell site or even a whole network cluster of cell sites.

“SmartBeam’s network capacity and performance improvement capabilities will enable operators to get the most out of their 3G, LTE and WiMAX networks,” said Philip Sorrells, Vice President of Product Line Management, Base Station Antenna Systems, Andrew. “SmartBeam’s breakthrough beam fanning technology frees network planners from the relatively limited choices they have in sectorization. With SmartBeam, planners can truly build a network right the first time.”

SmartBeam offers three levels of base station antenna pattern adjustments—beam tilting, panning and fanning—which can be conducted from a central office via Andrew’s ANMS™ (Antenna Network Management System). When used in combination, the three pattern adjustments enable wireless operators to easily re-distribute capacity across a network cluster of sites based on changing traffic patterns. The result is significant improvement in capacity efficiency while delaying or preventing the expensive addition of new cell sites or radios. An agile system with SmartBeam antennas can also enhance network quality by providing the capability to deliver stronger signal strength, minimized interference, reduced number of dropped calls, and higher data rates.