EJL Wireless Research Analyzes Ericsson 5G 39GHz mmWave AIR 5331

Half Moon Bay, CA December 2, 2021:  EJL Wireless Research is excited to announce a new report to its DesigN Analysis-Infrastructure (DNA-I) research series. The DNA-I series focuses on radio access network (RAN) equipment teardown reports. These reports provide invaluable insight into the design philosophies and architectures for the major radio equipment OEMs as well as a full bill of materials (BOM) for major semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) and passive component products and suppliers.

The new report is on an Ericsson 5G NR mmWave active antenna unit (AAU) small cell, the AIR 5331, which supports the n260 (37-40 GHz) frequency band. The unit is targeted for the United States 5G NR small cell market, supporting up to 800MHz total bandwidth and up to 200MHz of channel bandwidth. Additionally, the AIR 5331 supports up to 100W per beam and 800W per system, targeting deployments on the top of the street light and signal light poles in urban and suburban markets.

Unlike the previous Ericsson mmWave Streetmacro 6701 system we analyzed, the AIR 5331 is not a complete small cell and requires a baseband unit (BBU) and optical fronthaul link and would typically be deployed to provide coverage for a single sector. Three AIR 5331 units would be a typical 3-sector small cell site configuration for a mobile operator.

“The AIR 5331 is meant for applications such as fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband as well as for mobility hot spot applications in supporting mobile handsets with 5G mmWave capabilities. EJL Wireless Research remains cautious on the uptake and penetration rate of mmWave 5G handsets due to the drain on battery life and limited coverage areas, offsetting the capability of multi-Gbps data rates,” says Lum.