Economic advantages are derived in a number of areas. Costly, large diameter, coax or wave-guide feeds are replaced by less expensive coax. Power amplifiers mounted in BTS enclosures no longer need to be sized to overcome feed loss which frequently "wastes" more than 50% of the available power. Finally removing the amplifier from the BTS has a dual cost benefit by reducing base station contributed heat and lowering the overall system power consumption This is an all round winning solution!
Application: The Masthead WLL series are designed for wideband CDMA operation. Spectrum regrowth meets the requirements of the ETSI EN301-124 emissions mask.
Configuration: The Masthead WLL products are packaged in a two piece configuration. A BTS mounted 19 inch rack controller supports operation of the "weatherized" masthead low noise receive and transmit power amplifier enclosure. The controller provides status and control information to the host system via an RS485 digital interface. A transmit/receive duplexed single coaxial cable plus a multi-conductor power and digital signal cable connects the controller to the masthead unit.
Masthead Amplifier Enclosure (3.5GHzWLL Product): This unit is designed to withstand the rigors of weather exposed deployment. Operation is over a 45C to +60C environmental range. It provides duplexed receive and transmit amplification. Transmit power output is 8 watts minimum. The receive noise figure measured from the masthead receive antenna input is a maximum of 2.5dB. The masthead unit conditions the DC power supply received from the controller and communicates status information to the BST controller via the RS485 interface.
BTS Mounted Controller: The prime function of the controller is to monitor and control the functions of the masthead and controller subsystem. Features provided by the Controller include output power cell size adjustment by front panel or host system command, manual or automatic cable loss adjustment, power conditioning plus alarm and monitoring functions. Information and control is available to the host system on a poll or interrupt basis. Comprehensive front panel controls and host programmable commands select a wide range of features and functions. The controller accepts a nominal 48VDC which is conditioned, converted and distributed as necessary throughout the masthead and controller units.