Deploying "decompression" for 5G mobile base stations - concentration of baseband processing units (BBU)

Many people have been looking forward to the advent of the 5G era, and may hope that a dream-like information technology revolution will bring a new way of life. An important feature of 5G mobile networks is that the signal transmission speed is fast; but in fact, 5G mobile networks have two important features: large capacity and ultra-low latency (the "super" here is actually relative, referring to Relative to the original 4G mobile network).

As we know, one of the key components supporting 5G mobile networks is the base station. The base station, as a combination of the set of transmission, switching and access functions closest to the user, will undoubtedly play a crucial role.

For the overall development trend of 5G mobile base stations, many people in the industry have formed a consensus that the baseband and radio frequency separation on the frequency, the optoelectronic equipment on the hardware are getting smaller and smaller, and the transmission distance is extended by the radio remote unit (RRU), and the signal processing is performed. The baseband processing unit (BBU) needs to be deployed in a centralized manner, and MIMO and beamforming technologies are used on the antenna.

Today, we are discussing an effective way to deploy "decompression" for 5G mobile base stations: the centralized baseband processing unit (BBU) forms the BBU "pond", also known as the BBU pool.

Some experts have predicted that in order to effectively send and receive 5G signals, it is necessary to deploy a mobile base station every 40 to 50 meters; is there a better way? The method is the above, build a BBU pool. The advantages of building a BBU pool are:

First, reduce the construction cost; in addition to reducing the number of baseband hardware devices, the BBU pool can also make full use of the existing power supply and air conditioning facilities in the module office room, thereby reducing the investment and construction costs of mainstream equipment and supporting facilities.

Second, the high-speed networking is completed; the BBU pool supports the introduction of an integrated power supply unit to realize the coordinated operation of the optoelectronic devices or devices involved in the transmission, switching, and access processes, which will greatly shorten the high-speed networking period between the base stations.

Third, improve signal quality; BBU pool can achieve resource sharing among multiple base stations, can effectively cope with the "tidal" effect of communication traffic, and conveniently and flexibly configure optical resources, and greatly improve equipment utilization while eliminating interference from RRU It is convenient to improve the handover communication performance of densely populated areas and improve the quality of signal transmission and reception.

The cost advantage brought about by the formation of the BBU “pond” is the most intuitive.