Friday Morning Lineup
At yesterday’s Lineup we talked (HERE) about the femtocell, the new device that allows you to use your cellphone almost anywhere in the civilised world without incurring any roaming fees or having any frequency clashes. Today I want to let you know about another new gadget that just may eliminate the need for those huge cellphone towers that have sprouted up all over the earth’s surface.
Another product from the great Bell Labs, it is called a “LightRadio Cube” and is about 4 inches across in size. This device, which is already in limited production and being field tested, needs only to be connected to an electric power source and a fiber-optic network. It can easily be placed on utility poles and building ledges, etc., and will split the usage demand on a large tower into dozens of cubes placed strategically around the service area. Instead of having all phones within a couple of miles from the cell tower competing for bandwidth, they would be divided into many smaller cells thus dividing the demand into smaller segments.
BetaNews
The LightRadio cube’s small size will eventually replace the big towers as explained in a recent article on ZNet:
Wim Sweldens, the president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Wireless Division, said at the launch in London that the LightRadio cube can be used for 2G, 3G or 4G transmission as needed.
“At the click of a button, it can address any frequency used by any operator in the world,” Sweldens said, adding that the device was capable of dynamically adapting the radio signal and radio power to address demand in real time. “This cube is a fully functional unit — you just need to connect it and you have replaced all these technologies.”
Javier Garcia Gomez, who headed up the Bell Labs team that came up with LightRadio, said at the launch that around 20 LightRadio cubes — the devices can be stacked — would be needed to replace the average 3G base station, although this number can vary dramatically according to the use case.
Sweldens claimed that, over three years, LightRadio would be able to cut the total cost of owning and operating a mobile network by more than 50 percent.
So the customer will see two tangible benefits, a lowering of cellphone fees (competition will force it) and almost immediately an extension of broadband service into rural areas that are not now served. And Firegeezer readers out there will be able to watch our videos.
We had better look at our equipment check sheets now, though, and get ready for the day. I’m going to get some more coffee started. See you back in the day room.
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