Mobile Phone Technology

The traditional approach to mobile phone transmission involves erecting large (macro) cells to cover significant areas of up to 100 square kilometres, which we use with our phones. Each of these macro cells has a capacity, and if this limits the consumer experience, one solution is to build another macro cell in the area. However, building macro cells is difficult from planning and cost perspectives. Often, more localised network capacity is required in areas such as high streets, shopping malls, sports stadiums and music festivals.

One solution is to install small cells. These small cells are approximately the size of a shoebox and can be mounted on street furniture, such as lamp posts — hence the term 'smart lamp posts'. They will provide both 4G and 5G coverage over small areas using mid-range frequencies (3.4 GHz to 3.8 GHz for 5G) and will be tuned to cover small target areas. More call handovers will be invoked by these small cells, but this will not be a problem if the customer is walking or stationary. These cells require a backhaul connection to the core network. They can connect to the nearest macro tower or another small cell, which will then be used to connect to the macro tower. While mobile phone technology could be used to create the backhaul, other forms of radio frequency could also be used, such as microwaves or Ultra-Wide communications, or a passing fibre cable could be captured.

Small cells will become even more important when the UK releases the 26 GHz waves for mobile phone technology, mmWave. These will have a much greater capacity than the 3.4–3.8 GHz waves and can be used in areas that require additional capacity.

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