Antenna

Digitalization
White Paper
Antenna Digitalization White Paper

CONTENTS

01 INTRODUCTION

02 Antenna Digitalization
A New Trend for Intelligent Wireless
2.1 Antenna Manageable

2.2 Antenna Adjustable

03 Key Innovations for

Antenna Digitalization
3.1 Innovations on Antenna Manageable

3.2 Innovations on Antenna Adjustable

04 Towards 2030
Vision of Antenna Digitalization
Antenna Digitalization White Paper

01 INTRODUCTON

“ Antenna serves as the sole connection between networks and

the physical world, playing a crucial role in wireless
communications.

The beams emitted from antennas determine network

performance in terms of coverage and user experience. The
performance depends on how well the beams match their
propagation channels and how strong they are at the points of
reception. This highlights the significance of optimized antenna
beams.

Creating optimal antenna beams has therefore become one of the

top priorities in antenna development and an important topic of
research in the field.
Fig. 1 Antenna, connecting the network and users

Since their first appearance, wireless networks have been

developing following Shannon’s capacity theorem.

As networks evolve, frequency bands and channels are gradually

added to enable them to provide more capacity.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

Over the past few decades, antennas have evolved in a similar way, with
increasing band support and array arrangements integrated into one box.

Fig. 2 Continuous evolution of antennas on bands and ports

Wireless networks are at the point where the capacity over a single channel is
nearing the theoretical limit set by Shannon's Law.

To further increase network capacity, it is necessary to break the capacity limit of

incumbent theories and algorithms, and this is where artificial intelligence (AI)
can come into play.

AI is breathing new life into wireless Fig. 3 AI, the awakening force to network
networks and improving the air
interface performance, network
maintenance efficiency, and
business operations.

AI is emerging as a new driving

force that will enable wireless
networks to sense their
surroundings and become highly
autonomous.

To make intelligent wireless networks a reality, both intelligent software and

base station hardware digitalization are essential new capabilities required, as
they are the foundation of network and site models for all network systems.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

Antennas are the only way for base stations to communicate with users, and
therefore digitalizing antennas is critical to the development of intelligent
wireless networks..

Antenna digitalization means that, rather than continuing to exist as 'black boxes',
antennas will support data driven management, providing deterministic physical
information for intelligent networks. Also, they will need to be remotely
adjustable to enable the full potential of intelligent wireless networks..

In the era of intelligent networks, these are new directions in antenna evolution.

The new AI era has already started, bringing with it new opportunities for the
mobile industry to align antenna development with the requirements of
intelligent wireless networks. This white paper will investigate the evolution path
of passive antennas towards intelligence and focus on how this will help develop
high performance, highly automated wireless networks.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

02 Antenna Digitalization
A New Trend for
Intelligent Wireless
All the way from GSM, 3G, LTE and 5G to today’s 5.5G era,
increasing spectral efficiency has always been one of the main
priorities of the communications industry as it continuously strives
to achieve better user experiences.

5G networks are seeing widespread adoption and emerging

technologies such as generative AI are gaining momentum.

The communications industry is ushering in a profound

transformation, with wireless networks becoming increasingly
intelligent and providing more automation capabilities that will
further improve user experiences, as well as enable higher
efficiencies for mobile network operators.

Globally, leading network

operators have proposed
Full autonomous
their own vision of digital
networks and working
Highly autonomous
with standards
organizations to define
Conditional autonomous
autonomous networks
and their objectives for
automation levels L0 to Partial autonomous network
L5. Automation and
intelligence are Assisted operation and maintenance
emphasized as essential
characteristics of future
Fig. 4 Mobile networks taking steps
network infrastructure towards full autonomy
and operations systems.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

A recent survey by TM Forum, a global industry association for service providers

and their suppliers in the telecom industry, found that more than 91% of
international operators are aiming to have L4 autonomous network (AN) support
for their business processes by 2025 to 2027. Network autonomy is regarded as a
key strategy by those operators.

To make autonomous networks a reality, the physical world has to be

represented virtually through multidimensional modeling, digitalizing the physical
world as a digital twin.

With digital twin models, performance parameters such as coverage, capacity and
experience can be efficiently optimized. This requires using network information
such as base stations, user distribution, and antenna beams as inputs for grid-
based digital processing. Intelligent algorithms generate policies for synergetic
optimization of network coverage, direction and power, to align quick
adjustments of complex multi-layered networks with flexibly changing service
requirements.

Typically in base station infrastructure equipment, most radio frequency units

have initially achieved intelligence through software upgrades. Antennas are
passive network components that are still considered 'dumb’, in a sense that they
can not provide any information about their actual location, orientation or
environment. As the only media channel that facilitates information exchanges
between networks and the physical world, they are now the biggest challenge for
intelligent networks.

Network intelligence requires antennas to be remotely managed and adjusted in

real time, and this has become one of the top research topics in the antenna
industry.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

2.1 Antenna Manageable

Network development goes hand in hand with site reconstruction, capacity

expansion and migration to new technologies. During this process, it is common
that site engineering parameters become inconsistent on different networks.

Engineering parameters (EP) are Fig. 5 EP gap between actual and

the basis of network planning manual

and optimization. Incorrect and

outdated engineering parameters Manual EP
will likely cause network planning Actual EP
and optimization to be
misaligned with actual service
needs and lead to subpar network
performance. Ensuring
engineering parameter accuracy
in real time is a major industry
challenge.

According to statistical data from real networks, completeness of site engineering

parameters is below 60% in certain areas, and the real-time accuracy of these
parameters cannot be ensured. In particular, up to 40% of horizontal antenna
orientation angles (azimuth) have a deviation of greater than ten degrees. Such
information is neither reliable nor useful for building intelligent networks.

Fig. 6 Statistics and analysis of regional engineering parameters

6%

40% 18% 24%

60% 12%

40%

Contain engineering parameters Site height less than 5 m

Lack of longitude or latitude
Lack of engineering parameters
Azimuth error more than 10°

Antennas are the part of wireless networks that interact most closely with mobile
service users, making them an ideal provider of network engineering parameters.

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天线数字化白皮书

Key antenna-sourced engineering parameters include site longitude, latitude and

elevation, as well as beam directions and shapes in 3D spaces. These parameters
help building digital data model bases, and provide real-time, complete and
accurate inputs for intelligent networks.

Digital antenna-sourced engineering parameters are the prerequisite for network

intelligence and automation.

Antennas are located at the top of base stations.

This positional advantage allows them to provide more information

about network environments, channels, and more, with additional
capabilities evolving in the future. They will help completely
virtualize the physical world and support full network autonomy.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

2.2 Antenna Adjustable

Complete network data modeling enables intelligent systems to provide optimal

network solutions.

However, if antennas lack the flexibility that is needed to implement optimization

solutions, network autonomy cannot be realized.

Site Network Planning & Analysis Best User Experience

Optimization Decision-making
Horizontal
Dynamic Service Multi-site adjustment
Scenarios Coordination
Info input Optimization
Antenna EP 3D beam
obtaining adjustment
Network 3D Pattern
environment reconfiguration
obtaining Horizontal Vertical
adjustment adjustment

Flexible adjustment across many dimensions is necessary for antennas in

intelligent networks. Only with such adjustment capabilities can optimization
solutions in intelligent systems be fully implemented.

In addition, adjustments need to be made remotely in real time without manual

intervention to truly implement automatic and intelligent network optimization.

Fig. 7 Inter-cell overlap analysis For example, more than 40% of an

100% operators users receive services from
overlapping areas in about 20% of
80%
its 300 cells.
60%
CDF%

40% Due to strong interference in these

20%
areas, the users get an inferior
experience, with network
0%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
performance overall deteriorated .

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

This example underscores the importance of being able to automatically adjust

antenna azimuth orientation, beamwidths and downtilt angles to minimize the
size of overlapping areas and ensure that most users stay within the zones which
offer better coverage and better experiences.

Fig. 8 Horizontal Beamwidth (HBW) adjustment optimizes overlapping areas in cells

50° HBW 65° HBW 80° HBW

Overlapping cells ratio: Overlapping cells ratio: Overlapping cells ratio:
14.5% 24.5% 41.8%

With coordinated multi-form site arrangements becoming mainstream, it is

becoming increasingly difficult to simultaneously ensure continuous coverage and
minimized interference.

This highlights the importance of being able to remotely adjust all aspects of an
antenna, including downtilt, azimuth direction and beam shapes, to quickly
respond to intelligent optimization decisions. This capability will be essential for
autonomous networks.

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03 Key Innovations for
Antenna Digitalization
For antennas, network intelligence and automation require
building capabilities for remote management and
multidimensional adjustment.

Antenna manageability provides deterministic inputs for networks to build a

complete network digital model of the real network – a digital twin.
Manageability refers to capabilities of an antenna to provide the needed
information support for remote control and optimization, such as real-time data
about location, orientation and configuration. The data scope could additionally
extend beyond the antenna itself, to include also environmental data that would
be relevant and useful for achieving precise network optimization.

Multidimensional adjustment provides a higher degree of freedom and more

possibilities for intelligent network optimization. Adjustment of antenna
parameters such as the direction of radiation, as well as the shape of the pattern,
enables precise tailoring of the radiation projection for network optimization.

The two capabilities are complementary to each other and form the backbone of
intelligent networks.

3.1 Innovations on Antenna Manageable

Cell-level network information and accurate electronic maps are important for
creating digital models of networks.

Real-time kinematic (RTK) Fig. 9 RTK positioning technology

technology enables high-precision
positioning based on real-time
dynamic carrier phase difference
division. Antennas are located
atop base station sites, providing
a natural advantage for GNSS
positioning.

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 Using RTK technology, two receivers Dual-antenna EP management
Fig. 10
on the top of antennas receive
satellite signals. These signals are
subject to further positioning ANT ANT
processing and algorithm based 1 2
optimization. This produces higher- GNSS GNSS
precision site engineering parameters, Receiver Receiver
including longitudes, latitudes,
elevations, and azimuths. With them, Processor
accurate site model maps are
constructed and updated in real time
Result Output
to feed intelligent networks with
deterministic basic inputs.

Field tests performed at a site show how critical accurate engineering parameters
are to intelligent networks.

With manually connected longitudes and latitudes (the yellow points), the
analysis detected a strong backward reference signal received power (RSRP) at an
antenna, which indicated sub-optimal coverage. However, based on the
longitudes and latitudes (the red points) obtained by automatic antenna sensing,
the analysis found that the opposite was true: The backward signal was actually
weak, indicating normal coverage.

Fig. 11 Joint analysis of network coverage and site engineering parameters

Site location
– Antenna obtaining
Site location
– Manually

This example shows that accurate engineering parameters are vital for intelligent
networks. Otherwise, false alarms may be generated, which may lead to
optimizations that actually worsen network performance.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

Complete calculation and information processing and transmission make

expanding network capabilities more feasible. For example, with vibration,
rotation, temperature, and humidity sensors in networks, the structural
health, surroundings, and operating status of site infrastructure can be
monitored.

This helps detect for structural site damage and avoid performance
deterioration or faults caused by extreme weather. As such, it significantly
improves site safety and operational efficiency. With more stable and
reliable networks, it is easier to adopt and deploy new technologies.

3.2 Innovations on Antenna Adjustable

The evolution of antennas is centered on beam direction adjustment. From early

mechanical downtilt adjustment to current remote electrical tilt (RET) adjustment,
the most progress has been made in the vertical direction. Little progress has
been made in the flexible adjustment of horizontal beam shapes.

The antenna industry now recognizes the importance of being able to flexibly
adjust horizontal beam shapes, as it works towards developing solutions for
intelligent networks.

1 1

？
2 2

3 3

4 4

Fixed Mechanical Remote Electrical Tilt How to achieve

downtilt more freedom

Fig. 12 The evolution of beam adjustment

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

Horizontal Adjustable

The horizontal direction of antenna beams are determined by the horizontal

angle of the radiating antenna array. This means that adding a motor to an
antenna to rotate an antenna array would make the beams horizontal
adjustable..

With remote electrical downtilt adjustment already being possible, it would be

reasonable to add such a motor to an antenna to make horizontal beams
remotely adjustable.

3D Pattern Reconfigurable

The antenna array pattern synthesis principle shows that arrays and array
elements are factored into antenna beam shapes.

Given that arrays and array elements are fixed after an antenna is designed, it is
impossible to reshape beams that have already been emitted by these antennas.
This is the biggest technical challenge in implementing spatial beam
reconstruction.

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

Recent research has found that metamaterials enable achieving special

electromagnetic characteristics that natural materials do not have and that these
materials can be used to control, focus, and redirect electromagnetic beams on
their propagation paths.

Inspired by the finding, a 2D Meta surface has been constructed in front of an

antenna array to reconstruct radiated waveforms and change the beam shapes,
and variable devices and microcircuits have been added to control the physical
characteristics of the meta surface. This shows that antenna beams can be
dynamically reconfigured to meet service requirements.

Fig. 13 Pattern reconfigurable through the metasurface

Positive Negative

Nonuniform distribution
of refractive index

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Antenna Digitalization White Paper

04 Towards 2030
Vision of Antenna
Digitalization
AI is driving a new wave of technological transformations in many sectors,
including wireless networks. For networks to become intelligent, further
innovation in wireless network infrastructure is needed . Antennas are a crucial
element in wireless networks, and their digitalization will play an important role
in the future.
Successful network evolution with digital antennas requires deep collaboration
among global operators and equipment providers.
Guided by practices and driven by innovation, working together promotes a
sustainable development of the digital antenna industry.

Here, we propose the vision of antenna digitalization for the future, which
includes the key milestone roadmap illustrated below.

2030 Antenna digitalization

Beam redefined by software 2028

2026 Vertical + Horizontal

Site information 2024

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