How does a small cell base station affect a smartphone's battery life?

When a mobile device is close to a small-cell base station, the power needed to transmit the signal is much lower compared to the power needed to transmit a signal from a cell tower far away, thus extending smartphone battery life.

What is a small cell in 5G?

Small cells are a new part of the 5G platform that increase network capacity and speed, while also having a lower deployment cost than macrocells. The compact size of a small cell requires that all components – especially power converters – provide high eficiency, better thermals and eventually the best power density possible.

Where does power come from in a small cell?

In a small cell, the power requirements come from the analog front end (AFE), field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that needs power. While every designer does it a little bit differently,

What is a small cell radio?

Telecommunications equipment manufacturers have taken traditional macro radio designs and shrunk them down into what’s called a small cell. Small cells are smaller and cheaper than a cell tower and can be installed in a variety of areas, bringing more base stations closer to users.

What are small cells & how do they work?

That’s where small cells come in. Small cells increase the amount of trafic that can be handled in an area while also increasing speed. In this white paper, I will discuss what small cells are, how they fit into the 5G ecosystem and the key power requirements in a small-cell design.

What is a small cell vs a macrocell?

Working as a base station itself to send and receive signals, a small cell not only ofloads some of the data capacity of a macrocell, it also adds its own data capacity, making the network more robust. Small cells do not cover the same area or number of users as a macrocell. Figure 1 shows coverage for each type of small cell.