The first smart 5G street lanterns
The continuing increase in demand for data volumes requires additional densities. In cities, rooftops have so far been considered the ideal mobile phone sites. However, regulatory limits to be complied with, rising rental costs but also high utilisation rates and regulatory requirements on rooftops are increasingly preventing expansion in the city. In order to fulfil the network operators' promise of nationwide mobile phone coverage in cities, new innovative solutions must be found.
Ralf Gerbershagen, managing director of 5G-Synergiewerk (5GSW), presents a possible solution. He wants to expand street lamps into mobile radio stations. "This changes almost nothing in the cityscape," he describes in an interview with WirtschaftsWoche. The masts only have a slightly larger diameter, but can take on their typical city lantern shape towards the top. You can already get an idea of this in Frankfurt: ABEL Mobilfunk, in cooperation with SRM (Straßen Beleuchtung RheinMain) and 5GSW, has put the first smart 5G street lights into operation there as part of a pilot project for Telefónica. Further advantages of the light pole antenna solution are that the supply is brought closer to the demand (e.g.: city squares) and that the radio-controlled street lanterns can be standardised, which enables shortened approval processes. The utilities thus only have to connect the lantern to the fibre network. This is another innovative project in which ABEL is playing a leading role throughout Germany.
Read also: Innovative radio cell: O2 and Mainova turn Frankfurt street light into a 5G HotSpot