back to article We don't need no steenkin' cabinet: Ericsson hangs base stations off masts

A new design of mobile base station by Ericsson aims to do away with the traditional cabinet on the ground connected by a thick wire to an antenna on a pole. The Ericsson Radio System puts the gubbins behind the antenna into modules, which can be swapped in and out. The aim is to save operators the cost of having to buy or …

  1. Gartal

    WTF?

    "featuring one-bolt installation which fits in the tight spaces thanks to airflow innovations"

    How does improved airflow make it possible to fit into tighter spaces? The two are not connected.

    Whilst it may be that by improving the design of the case for improved airflow, improved airflow does not of itself make something fit into tighter spaces.

    As a "good" Muslim, wearing looser underpants does not meant that I automatically now fit into more virgins than before.

    1. Shades

      Re: WTF?

      I guess they mean the airflow improvements help keep the base station hardware cool in the small modules its now housed in behind the antennas.

      1. Down not across

        Re: WTF?

        I guess they mean the airflow improvements help keep the base station hardware cool in the small modules its now housed in behind the antennas.

        That might work in the nordics. I wonder how well that has been tested in bit warmer climates. Will the kit cook itself if exposed to extensive baking in the sunlight?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: WTF?

          " wonder how well that has been tested in bit warmer climates. "

          Almost certainly a leading global kit manufacturer will not have thought of that. I'm 100% certain that they only test things in the car park of their offices in Sweden for an hour or two before releasing them onto the global market.

  2. JaitcH
    Happy

    This is news? This is new? We've had cell base stations making out like lamp posts for ages

    There are many Vietnamese cell systems and most are distinguishable by their base equipment.

    VNPT and Mobiphone are owned by the P.T. & T and engineered like telephone companies, often buying flat-roofed houses on which to mount antennae.

    The youngest operators, VietTel (owned by the VN military) and BEE (part owned by the Interior [security] police) buy only pole mounted equipment.

    VNPT only uses InterNet DSLAMS in the rural areas that mount on poles. Pole mounts beat flooding, too.

  3. roger stillick
    Black Helicopters

    Base Station on Mast ?? Cool, Q= where does the power come from ??

    Last time i checked... power needs batteries, AC power converters and backup Solar or Gen Sets... all of this stuff on top of poles is just too funny for words... or are we all going to play "Wind Generator Repair Person" from here on out ?? Perhaps those AI robots can climb poles or maybe we get to sit on a 'copter skid while we change out corroded batteries... personally, i'm voting for robots , i did my 3 'copter crashes and i'm done w/ that nonsense... RS.

  4. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    Weight?

    You should see these multiband 700/850/1900/AWS antennas. They're pretty big. (AWS uses a subset of the Band 1 2100mhz for the downlink, and 1700mhz band for uplink (the 1900mhz band used by Band 1 is already used for PCS 1900mhz service here.) I think you could stick those racks behind it.

    I wonder about the total weight being loaded onto these if all the carriers start getting these huge antennas and racks of hardware on the tower though.

    As for cooling... well, the traditional setups do burn lots of power. But, if you keep the actual RF hardware cool enough (hopefully it has a hefty heatsink), the elements that toss data around and do the processing? You've got these CPUs now pushing past 50gflops per watt, the power use (and heat production) of the rest of the system can be fairly insignificant. If worst comes to worst, and you've got to run the stuff in a cabinet... well, it should at least fit in more snugly with the generator and battery backup I guess and need less cooling.

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