- Increased hot spot data rate with Dual Band Carrier Aggregation (CA) indoor Pico base station, CA support on existing Flexi Zone base stations and a new breed of Omni antennas
- Commercial Flexi Zone controller with upgraded platform for 50% lower total cost of ownership
- New indoor macro parity Pico base station supports 3G and Wi-Fi, allows easy future upgrade to LTE
Espoo, Finland – 24 February 2015
A host of additions to Nokia Flexi Zone supports operators as they scale up small cell deployments towards ultra-dense networks (UDNs) and very large indoor deployments. The portfolio extensions substantially improve capacity with LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) carrier aggregation features, new dual band indoor Pico base station and new omni-directional antennas. They also enable larger indoor coverage and densification with Flexi Zone controller, reduce HetNet total cost of ownership (TCO) with improved Self Organizing Network (iSON) algorithms and introduce 3G for indoor deployments.
Evolving to UDNs will entail operators implementing ten times more cells, using ten times more spectrum and achieving ten times greater efficiency to meet the demand for 1,000 times more traffic over the course of this decade.
The latest additions to the Nokia Networks small cells portfolio help to address the swelling need for new cells and more efficient spectrum use.
Flexi Zone ready for LTE on unlicensed spectrum
At Mobile World Congress 2015, Nokia Networks is also showing a Proof of Concept how Flexi Zone can support future 3GPP LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U) / License Assisted Access (LAA) including the Wi-Fi co-existence mechanisms. This additional LTE carrier runs on unlicensed spectrum, especially the 5 GHz band, and co-exists with Wi-Fi to boost the capacity of indoor cells, outdoor hot spots and corporate environments. LTE-U will be used as a supplementary best effort downlink channel aggregated to a primary channel running LTE on licensed spectrum to guarantee quality of service.
Click to Tweet: New Nokia Flexi Zone innovations = faster hotspots, larger hot zones & more indoor coverage http://nokia.ly/1zTlYCZ #MWC15 #NetworksPerform
New Nokia Flexi Zone innovations unwrapped:
- The new LTE and Wi-Fi Flexi Zone G2 Dual Band Indoor Pico base station will support two 20 MHz LTE channels on two different spectrum bands with LTE Advanced CA to double the capacity. Like the rest of the Flexi Zone product range, macro parity and capacity comes as standard for highest HetNet performance and easy integration, in a compact all-in-one unit for easy installation.
- Flexi Zone eMIMO Omni Antenna is a new type of compact small cell antenna that can provide the equivalent performance of a directional antenna while providing the benefit of 360 degree coverage. These omni antennas are the first in the industry to maintain cross-polarization in all directions to improve MIMO performance by up to 60% at the cell edge, compared to standard omni antennas.
- Software upgrades to existing Flexi Zone indoor and outdoor base stations allow two ways to aggregate carriers. The first is intra-site, intra-band TD-LTE carrier aggregation, which uses two 20 MHz bands of contiguous spectrum to achieve data rates up to 220 Mbps. The second is inter-site, inter-band CA to aggregate the carriers of two Flexi Zone base stations located near to each other to achieve data rates up to 300 Mbps. These software upgrades complement the new Flexi Zone G2 base stations that implement intra-site, intra-band (TD-LTE) and inter-band (FDD-LTE) CA in an all-in-one form factor.
- Flexi Zone Controller is going into commercial pilots with operators in advanced markets as they begin to scale up their initial small cell deployments into UDNs. Using a new field proven scaleable high-capacity and high-availability platform, Flexi Zone Controller can support in excess of 100 hot spot access points to create large hot zones that behave as a single LTE eNodeB. This lowers TCO by up to 50% compared to stand-alone small cells.
- Flexi Zone Indoor Pico base station is now available in a 3G plus Wi-Fi variant to help operators to meet demand for 3G indoor voice and data, with the ability to software upgrade to LTE for mid- to long-term refarming. In 3G mode, it offers full macro parity and capacity with up to 4x HSPA+ carriers.
- iSON for HetNets features improved algorithms to handle the higher number of overlapping and neighboring cells typical in a HetNet and UDN. During self-configuration of dense small cell deployments, standard SON implementations quickly hit resources limitations (cell identifiers and uplink channels), leading to additional manual effort and lower KPI. In contrast, iSON for HetNets takes more parameters into account for more aggressive resource re-allocation and prioritization of possible neighbor cells to reduce total cost of ownership. iSON for HetNets thus results in fully automated configuration capable of supporting very dense small cell deployments and network optimization that leads to higher network performance.
- Advances to Nokia’s services portfolio ensure efficient small cell deployments with the help of a new optimized battery backup unit, advanced 3D geolocation and other innovative site solutions.
- The new components will be shown at the Nokia Experience Center, Hall 3, Stand 3B10.
Did you know?
In some markets, the busiest locations are already seeing 400 active users per small cell, a figure way beyond the capabilities of most LTE small cells on the market. Flexi Zone base stations, on the other hand, can support up to 600 simultaneous active devices per small cell. Case in point: Nokia Networks, China Mobile prove the power of small cells at Xiamen International Marathon 2015
Click here to download a Nokia Flexi Zone G2 Dual Band indoor Pico base station picture and here for a small cells infographic.
To follow all our MWC 15 launches, visit www.networks.nokia.com/performance.
Resources:
- Webinar: Grow strong with small cells and HetNets (27 March 2014)
- Brochure: Small cells expanding indoor and outdoor coverage and capacity
- Blog post: Small cell, big scheduler – how Flexi Zone takes the heat out of hot spots
- Web: Small Cells portfolio
- Awards
Connect with Nokia Networks:
- Website
- Blog
- YouTube
TAGS: LTE, LTE Advanced, LTE-A, LTE-U, LAA, small cells, carrier aggregation, SON, ultra-dense networks, small cells, Wi-Fi, 3G
About Nokia
Nokia invests in technologies important in a world where billions of devices are connected. We are focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware and services, which we offer through Nokia Networks; location intelligence, which we provide through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which we pursue through Nokia Technologies. Each of these businesses is a leader in its respective field.
Nokia Networks is the world’s specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, we operate at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Our global experts invent the new capabilities our customers need in their networks. We provide the world’s most efficient mobile networks, the intelligence to maximize the value of those networks, and the services to make it all work seamlessly. http://networks.nokia.com/ / http://company.nokia.com
Media Enquiries
Nokia Networks
Media Relations
Phone: +358 7140 02869
E-mail: mediarelations@nsn.com
– See more at: http://networks.nokia.com/news-events/press-room/press-releases/nokia-flexi-zone-faster-hotspots-larger-hot-zones-more-indoor-coverage-all-support-ultra-d#sthash.k7xSul9G.dpuf
PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date