Huber+Suhner has just announced its new SENCITY Urban 100 and 200 outdoor MIMO antennas, which support 5G and 4G and which - according to the company - are the most compact 5G and 4G antennas on the market.
That’s a key point, as urban areas could be a challenge for 5G networks, as there’s a high demand for capacity and coverage, given the large number of people, but there’s not much space to install infrastructure.
That’s even more of a problem for 5G than 4G, as the nature of 5G signals means that lots of small infrastructure (known as ‘small cells’) is required, rather than networks being able to rely on a smaller number of large masts.
So the tiny sizes of these new antennas will ensure they can be widely installed in cities, despite the limited space. Huber+Suhner claims these antennas can be discreetly installed on bus shelters, poles and walls, as needed, with various bracket mounting options available so they aren’t limited in what they can be attached to.
Claudia Bartholdi, Product Manager at Huber+Suhner, said: “Operators are under pressure to provide widespread, fast 4G and 5G coverage in urban areas where space is limited and existing infrastructure is condensed and our unique range of outdoor MIMO antennas can play a major role in overcoming these challenges in small cell deployment.”
“At the moment there are no other antennas on the market that are as compact as the SENCITY Urban 100 and 200 that cover 4G and 5G bands, so we are incredibly excited to be releasing the SENCITY Urban series to the wider industry.”
Maximum performance coming soon
As well as being compact, the SENCITY Urban 100 and 200 are omnidirectional and directional, allowing for maximised performance, and they’re available from this month (May).
But these aren’t the first or only attempt to solve the problems of bringing 5G to cities. Vodafone for example has begun thinking outside of the box in terms of infrastructure placement, using manhole covers alongside more obvious things like lampposts and phone boxes.
Presumably it’s a problem that the networks are managing to overcome, since EE and Vodafone are both about to launch their 5G services in a number of cities, with EE’s set to land first on May 30th.
