Know the base station
As one of the most widely used mobile communication devices, base stations are almost everywhere.
However, they come in many different types and configurations.
The antenna of a base station is also divided into various types.
It’s not always easy to tell them apart.
But don’t worry — there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Imagine this scene:
You're walking hand-in-hand with your partner on the street (assuming you have one).
Suddenly, a base station appears in the distance.
You point it out and say, “Look! That’s a China X-motion 4G TD-LTE Directional Polarized Smart Antenna for a Three-Sector Base Station.â€
What the heck? How cool is that?
You’re practically a tech genius now.
Your partner is in awe, while passersby look both impressed and confused.
You’ve just become a god-like figure in their eyes.
If you don't want to miss out, start learning now!
So, what exactly is a "base station"?
A base station, or "Base Station," is generally referred to as a "public mobile communication base station."
Everyone knows it provides signals to your mobile phone.
Let's take "Dongdong" as an example.
But in reality, the structure is much more complex than just a tower and an antenna.
These are just parts of the base station. There are also many invisible components behind the scenes.
In the 2G and 3G era, base stations were typically split into two layers.
By the time we reached the 4G LTE era, these layers were simplified into a single unit called eNodeB.
For example, eNodeB usually includes the following components:
The names are easy to remember: BBU = Baseband Unit, RRU = Remote Radio Unit, and Antenna Feed = Antenna + Feeder.
The BBU is typically placed indoors, in a machine room.
Machine rooms can be located in inconspicuous corners of buildings or even outdoors.
Some are small houses built under the tower, like the one below.
Field base station room (pheasant) â–¼
You might see such small houses near the base station towers.
I found a wild one and took a real photo:
(It looks a bit like a tomb from the Millennium.)
Back in the day, base stations were built by operators, which wasn’t too complicated.
Now, things have changed. We have integrated stations instead.
That means you bring your own base station and find a place to put it.
(Some even have wheels so you can move them easily.)
What do you ask me about the machine room?
No key, no entry.
I can only show you an online image.
Probably like this:
(Most machine rooms aren't as clean or bright as this.)
Back to the topic:
The BBU is usually placed inside a cabinet in the machine room.
Inside the cabinet, you may also find power supplies and transmission equipment.
They are easy to identify because they have lots of red, black, and blue cables (power cords), switches, and fiber ports.
These are typically power supply and transmission devices.
After all that, what does the BBU actually do?
BBU stands for Baseband Unit, which handles baseband signal processing, modulation, demodulation, and protocol handling.
Don’t worry if you don’t understand — just skip it for now.
Next, let’s talk about RRU.
This is the RRU:
Doesn’t it look a bit like a radiator and a suitcase?
Don’t underestimate it — it's quite heavy.
I tried moving it once, and it gave my back a serious workout.
But I heard that newer models are lighter now.
RRU stands for Remote Radio Unit, and it's responsible for RF signal processing, amplification, and sending the signal to the antenna.
It's usually mounted on poles or walls.
Installation on a pole:
Wall mounting:
Sometimes, the BBU is also mounted on the wall to save space.
Unlike the BBU, the RRU is installed outdoors.
Antenna systems include both the antenna and the feeder.
You often hear people refer to "antennas," but the base station antenna might be different from what you think.
The most commonly used antenna today looks like this:
It's a flat panel, so it's also known as a "plate antenna."
It's easy to install on a pole and saves space and cost.
Each panel covers a sector, making it a directional antenna.
It's usually installed high up, facing the direction of coverage and slightly tilted downward.
Here’s a standard three-sector base station:
(Is that RRU mounted on the pole below the antenna?)
There are many types of antennas:
- By wavelength: medium wave, short wave, ultra-short wave, microwave...
- By performance: high gain, medium gain...
- By direction: omnidirectional, directional, sector...
- By purpose: base station antenna, TV antenna, radar antenna, radio antenna...
- By structure: line antenna, plane antenna...
- By system type: unit antenna, antenna array...
Mobile communication base stations mainly use plate-shaped directional antennas.
Omnidirectional antenna:
Everyone pays attention to the red box below:
You often see it on the tower, but it's not the base station antenna.
It's a microwave antenna.
Parabolic antenna, dish antenna:
Sometimes, a base station is remote, and the signal is sent via microwave to other equipment.
Emergency communication vehicles also use microwaves because they lack fixed lines.
(Look at the top of the antenna)
Other antennas exist for different purposes:
- Yagi antenna
- Whip antenna
Connecting the antenna to the RRU requires a feeder.
It's usually black and thick, with multiple cables and large connectors.
You might also see a small white "mushroom" on the side of the antenna.
That's the GPS mushroom head, used for positioning and clock synchronization.
Tower:
The antenna is mounted on the tower.
Towers also come in many types:
Base stations can be large or small.
Large ones are called macro base stations, and small ones are micro base stations.
To solve coverage issues at a lower cost, there's also a common device: the repeater.
Repeater:
This is a repeater:
It looks similar to RRU.
There's even one like this:
The repeater is essentially a signal amplifier (Repeater), boosting uplink and downlink RF signals.
It's used to solve weak signal areas and blind spots.
Repeaters are cheaper than base stations and cost significantly less.
Indoor distribution system:
Indoor signal coverage has always been a challenge.
Base stations are usually built on top of buildings.
Once inside, your phone may lose signal.
Especially in basements or parking lots.
Even elevators can block signals due to their shielding effect.
and so on.
For indoor environments, an indoor distribution system is set up to enhance signal coverage.
This is often referred to as "room division" in the industry.
"Room" refers to secondary relay and enhanced coverage.
It receives feeders from sources like microcell base stations or repeaters and sends the signal to each room or corridor using antennas.
It’s similar to how you use WiFi every day.
You often see something like this on the top of office buildings.
It looks like a pacifier.
That’s the ceiling of the "room."
There are many types of models:
Miniaturized base stations:
Today, base stations are becoming smaller and more compact.
One reason is that they don’t take up much space, saving rent and money.
Another is that they are energy-efficient and eco-friendly, saving power and costs.
Finally, it makes deployment easier and more convenient, saving labor and money.
If it's miniaturized, will the BBU and RRU fit together?
Or will the RRU and Tianqi fit together?
In short, BBU, RRU, and Tianqi work together.
Nokia’s "Backpack Base Station":
I used to carry a radio station on my back, and now I carry a base station.
Hey~
In the end, how small can it get? How tiny?
Does it look like a home WiFi router?
Yes, it's called a Femto.
Femto means "one-billionth of a billion" in English.
It's a low-power, small-range home base station.
Base station identification:
Okay, the introduction is over!
As the saying goes, “The insider sees the door, and the layman sees the excitement.â€
For various base stations, it's hard for ordinary people to tell which carrier they belong to.
But true experts in communications can tell by some details.
Long ago, each operator had its own base stations.
The styles and characteristics of each base station were relatively easy to distinguish.
For example:
China Mobile typically uses GSM900 and DSC1800 networks.
So if you see a base station tower with two layers, it's likely China Mobile.
If it only has one layer, it might be China Mobile too (if it only supports G900 without D1800).
Also, the DSC1800 antenna is shorter than the GSM900 one.
Do you know why?
China Unicom added another CDMA network, so there's another layer.
If you see a base station with three layers, it's likely China Unicom.
Additionally,
China Mobile is the local kingpin.
Their base stations are well-decorated and tiled.
Unicom's base stations are often less maintained.
You ask me about China Telecom's base stations?
Hold on.
China Telecom didn’t have a mobile business before.
They used PHS, which was a semi-mobile service.
(Do you remember?)
PHS antennas were very distinct.
That's it.
Eight channels corresponded to PHS.
But now PHS has been retired.
Some of these base stations have been converted into LTE base stations by China Telecom.
Because:
If major operators built their own base stations, it would lead to high costs and resource waste.
Therefore, China established “China Tower,†a company specializing in base station site infrastructure.
The three major operators lease sites from it.
This helps avoid duplicate construction and malicious competition.
It saves a lot of money and resources.
Base station co-location (where multiple base stations are stacked together) is now more common.
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