Electrical Substation
Bring reliable and secure wireless connectivity to substations, homes and businesses
With our comprehensive portfolio of base station antennas, you can connect electrical substations, homes and businesses to support smart grid applications, such as smart metering. Every one of our antenna solutions is engineered to optimize performance and reliability over the full antenna lifetime to minimize total cost of ownership (TCO). You can bring connectivity to substations of all sizes, with any technology, spectrum and coverage requirements, and allow electricity meters at homes and businesses to connect to the network and transmit consumption data in real time.
Learn moreChallenges
Electrical Substation Challenges
Reliable performance
Seamless, uninterrupted coverage is essential to maintain wireless connectivity for smart grid applications. To provide continuous coverage, the antennas used to bring wireless connectivity to electrical substations, homes and businesses must deliver the ultimate in reliability today, and over the long term.
Industry Trends
Private LTE
Private LTE networks that operate in low frequency bands, such as 700 MHz, are ideal to transport data from electricity meters, IoT sensors and grid controls. Private LTE:
- Provides reliable, low-latency performance to ensure continuous, predictable data delivery
- Includes robust, 3GPP standards-based security mechanisms and supports redundancy to protect against cyberattacks
- Easily scales to support new requirements and evolution to 5G in the future
Futureproof infrastructure
While some electrical utilities will choose private LTE networks, others will rely on specific systems, such as telemetry systems that operate in the 380 to 470 MHz band. No matter which choices electrical utilities make, they need the ability to easily evolve their approach to connectivity. Futureproof wireless infrastructure:
- Supports all network technologies, from 2G to 5G
- Supports multiple frequency bands in a single antenna
- Operates in any network deployment model, commercial or private
Robust simplicity
No electrical utility can afford to support complex wireless infrastructure deployments or maintain and repair unreliable equipment at electrical substations. To minimize TCO, wireless antennas must:
- Meet or exceed stated performance and environmental specifications throughout their lifespan
- Support high windloading to reliably withstand increasing occurrences of severe weather
- Be lightweight and compact to simplify deployments and reduce the burden on substation infrastructure
Optimizing coverage
To reduce TCO for data collection systems, antennas that connect electrical substations, homes and businesses must provide broad, interference-free coverage that can be easily tailored for specific locations. For example, antennas must:
- Provide broad and consistent radio signal coverage to ensure continuous and reliable connectivity to electricity meters
- Avoid signal interference with existing commercial mobile network infrastructure
- Include remote electrical tilt (RET) functionality to simplify precise antenna positioning
RFS Solutions
Application-Specific Base Station Antennas
RFS application-specific base station antennas are designed and optimized to support key frequency bands. For example, we offer single- and dual-band base station antennas for systems operating in the 400 MHz band, and for mission-critical LTE communications in the 700 MHz band. We also offer antennas for UHF and VHF bands as well as tri-sector antennas that combine multiple antennas within a single cylindrical shroud.
Small-Size Base Station Antennas
RFS small-size base station antennas support small cell deployments that bring critical capacity and coverage to dense environments. These compact, lightweight and versatile antennas support network technologies from 2G to 5G, and are available in single-band and multi-band models in sizes from 30 to 90 cm (1 to 3 feet). They’re ideal for neutral-host and shared-infrastructure deployments that keep costs down and comply with zoning and aesthetics requirements.
Base Station Antennas
RFS base station antennas minimize site complexity and ensure reliable, stable performance that won’t fade, even in adverse conditions. Our broad portfolio includes options ranging from single-band and standalone TDD antennas to multiband passive antennas and hybrid FDD/TDD antennas. We also offer tailored beamwidth antennas, small-size antennas, and application-specific antennas. Every one of our base station antennas is carefully designed and thoroughly tested to minimize passive intermodulation (PIM) interference.
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