Nokia Siemens Networks has launched a Liquid Radio-based ‘6 pipes’ remote radio head that uses the company’s unique pipe approach to offer higher throughput, lower latency  and flexibility in delivering TD-LTE.

According to a company, by covering three sectors with a single radio head, operators can reduce site costs by up to one-third. It is the first remote radio head that can support a 6-sector TD-LTE site to deliver 80% more capacity and 40% more coverage as compared to traditional 3-sector sites. This enables higher data speeds, and reduces total cost of ownership by 40%.

“Our new, high-capacity 6 pipes remote radio head is a great addition to our TD-LTE RAN (Radio Access Network) portfolio and promises to take the TD-LTE experience to the next level,” said Tommi Uitto, head of the LTE radio access business line at Nokia Siemens Networks. 

Nokia Siemens Networks further added that it’ pipe concept offers a cost-effective, future-proof alternative to the current ‘path’-based approaches, allowing more flexible allocation of sectors, carriers and transmit and receive channels by a base station. It can do multiple configurations, starting with a simple, low-cost, 3-sector site configuration and scaling to a high-capacity, 6-sector site configuration, when needed. Further, a simple software upgrade offers a smooth evolution path to LTE-Advanced.

Nokia Siemens Networks’ 6 pipes remote radio head is based on the company’s Liquid Radio architecture, which self-adapts coverage and capacity based on subscriber demand. The offering’s unique 6 pipes beamforming feature mitigates signal loss due to interference. This helps deliver up to 50% higher data speeds and improved coverage, compared to 4 path radio heads, for subscribers in high-density areas, both indoors and outdoors. This feature also eliminates the need for additional sites, and reduces CAPEX, OPEX and site costs.