GSM, as a mobile network holds the most universal coverage so far, is serving over 2 billion people by now. In addition, the developing trend of mobile network shows that voice and low-rate data services will still be the major role in mobile communication market in next five to ten years. One further billion subscribers are forecasted to join GSM network soon. Because of GSM's maturity, excellent experience, satisfactory service quality, and low entry threshold, GSM network will admittedly be a main profitable network, which is able to create huge revenue for operators.

With full consideration on specified revenue, business, and TCO model, Huawei dedicates its effort in EnerG GSM solution to meet operators' requirements of balancing the network capacity and coverage, network deployment and evolution. Huawei cost-effecive EnerG GSM solution can promote subscribers' ARPU and attract more subscribers. Meanwhile, it can help operators to decrease TCO and finally achieve maximum gains.

Huawei new generation BTS is involved in EnerG GSM solution. EnerG BTS family contains a series of BTSs which are suitable for various kinds of application scenarios. Huawei BTS3012 is an important member of EnerG BTS family, using as macro BTS. It adopts dual-density technology and supports full frequency band, such as 850M, 900M, 1800M, and 1900M. EnerG BTS3012 has following strong points: high density with small footprint, various intelligent RF technologies, powerful service bearing capability, 2G/3G co-cabinet, low OPEX, high reliability, and so on. One cabinet supports up to 12 TRXs or 6 sectors, as well as supporting dual band configuration.

20% footprint saving with small dimension

Footprint is a key factor for site acquisition and expansion of capacity. Huawei BTS3012 adopts dual density technology, which means two transceivers are integrated in one board. It is the main reason that EnerG BTS can save 20% footprint comparing with traditional BTS. BTS3012 can be installed against wall, which also decreases the footprint requirement for operators.

Furthermore, BTS3012 can be co-site with old generation BTS and supports flexible expansion. The new dual density module can work properly in existing BTS cabinet. In other word, it is not necessary to replace current BTS cabinet, which can save investment.

High performance with smart RF technologies

Due to reduction of baseband demodulation limitation, decrease of noise figure and improvement of baseband demodulation algorithm, static receiving sensitivity of BTS3012 is up to -112.5dBm, achieving almost the highest level in the industry.

BTS3012 also adopts ICC (Interference Counteract Combining) technology to improve frequency efficiency. ICC uses Optimized Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) algorithm. It assesses the interference correlation among different receiving diversity path and rejects the coherent and adjacent channel interference. Based on the test result, ICC can earn 1.5dB gain in Um interface. Within same frequency spectrum resource, these technologies can provide tighter frequency multiplexing mode in dense urban area.

Enhanced capacity with eMLPP + HR

HR (Half Rate) is a well-known technology to double the system capacity, but it can also decrease voice quality. eMLPP (enhanced Multi-Level Precedence and Preemption) can guarantee high priority users to acquire radio resources preferentially. eMLPP + HR is a preferred assignment strategy that allows operators to categorize subscribers by different priorities.

With this algorithm, FR channel will be preferentially assigned for high priority users while HR for low priority users. If there is no radio resource available at a moment, high priority users can seize resource from low priority users. Therefore, experience of high priority users will not be affected during peak traffic time. It equals to enlarge system capacity.

BTS3012 also shows powerful service bearing capability. It can support EDGE, HR, AMR, eMLPP + HR, extended cell. In full configuration, it enables full service channels in EDGE MCS9 coding scheme and 220Kbps user data speed with 4 timeslots. This characteristic provides a good foundation for evolving to GERAN.

Enhanced coverage with ultra coverage technologies

Transmitting diversity and PBT (Power Booster Technology) are important technologies to enhance downlink coverage. With the usage of these technologies, BTS3012 can provide high output power up to 80W. It means extra 3~5dB downlink gain can be achieved.

4-way diversity can be used to enhance uplink coverage. With this technology, operators can obtain extra 3~5dB uplink gain, thus receiver sensitivity can reach up to -117dBm.

AMR and concentric cell are other technologies which can help operators to balance coverage and capacity. Concentric Cell technology can be also applied to improve the utilization of frequency spectrum resource.

BTS3012 can use all above technologies to enhance downlink and uplink coverage. In some scenarios, they can increase the coverage radius about 20%, which is equal to 40% coverage area. Moreover, operators can balance capacity and coverage dynamicly based on the network requirement, which allows smooth conversion from coverage model at the initial phase to capacity model at the mature phase.

Low OPEX with convenient O&M

BTS3012 provides many convenient O&M functions, such as online board detection, environment monitoring interfaces, electronic-adjustable antenna, VSWR detection and feedback interface, VSWR volume reporting, real-time detection of output power. These functions can decrease installation and debugging time, accelerate fault addressing and recovery process, accordingly improve system usability and reliability.

Flexible 2G&3G co-cabinet solution

BTS3012 can be co-cabinet with WCDMA Node B. There are two ways to realize 2G/3G co-cabinet: distributed mode and embedded mode.

For distributed mode, BTS3012 reserves 2U space for BBU (Base Band Unit of WCDMA Node B). Power supply and transmission can be shared by BBU and BTS3012. BBU is connected to RRU (Remote Radio Unit of WCDMA Node B) by optical fiber. This mode supports S444 of GSM and up to 12 cells of WCDMA.

For embedded mode, MTRU and MAFU of WCDMA Node B can be installed in the DTRU and DAFU slots of the BTS3012. This mode supports S222 of GSM and 6 cells of WCDMA.

EnerG BTS has been widely applied in many commercial networks. For example, VIVO, the largest mobile operator in Brazil, has deployed thousands of BTS3012 to cover some important cities, like Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Curitiba. China Mobile, the largest mobile operator in China, has purchased Huawei EnerG BTS to cover primary provinces, including Guangdong, Yunnan, Hunan, Hebei, Chongqing.

To sum up, EnerG BTS is Huawei new generation solution for GSM network deployment. Its obvious characteristic is dual density design. It can take many benefits for operators, such as footprint saving, high performance, wide coverage, large capacity and low TCO. The most important, it's an important step to migrate to 3G.