New development direction of 5G base station power supply

How does a 5G base station reduce OPEX?

This technique reduces opex by putting a base station into a “sleep mode,” with only the essentials remaining powered on. Pulse power leverages 5G base stations’ ability to analyze traffic loads. In 4G, radios are always on, even when traffic levels don’t warrant it, such as transmitting reference signals to detect users in the middle of the night.

How will mmWave based 5G affect PA & PSU designs?

Site-selection considerations also are driving changes to the PA and PSU designs. The higher the frequency, the shorter the signals travel, which means mmWave-based 5G will require a much higher density of small cells compared to 4G. Many 5G sites will also need to be close to street level, where people are.

Should a 5G power amplifier be combined with a power amplifier?

For 5G, infrastructure OEMs are considering combining the radio, power amplifier and associated signal processing circuits with the passive antenna array in active antenna units (AAU). While AAUs improve performance and simplify installation, they also require the power supply to share a heatsink with the power amplifier for cooling.

Why does 5G cost more than 4G?

This percentage will increase significantly with 5G because a gNodeB uses at least twice as much electricity as a 4G base station. The more operators spend on electricity, the more difficult it is to price their 5G services competitively and profitably.

How is 5G different from 4G?

The 5G transmission is moving toward millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum spanning up to 71 GHz to achieve the speeds that differentiates it from 4G. At the same time, 5G networks are competing with copper for fixed wireless applications.