Ubicquia, Inc., a company dedicated to making intelligent infrastructure platforms that are simple to deploy and monitor, announced a strategic partnership with Movandi Corporation, a leader in 5G mmWave RF semiconductor technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Ubicquia will leverage Movandi’s technology to create a mmWave smart repeater that plugs into a streetlight’s photocell socket in minutes. 

mmWave frequencies provide the gigabit per second throughputs promised by 5G and needed to keep pace with evolving capacity demands. In the U.S., for example, network operators have spent $4.5 billion to acquire it. While mmWave technology enables up to 100x more capacity than current 5G mid-band spectrum, its propagation distance is typically less than 250 m, and it does not turn corners or penetrate buildings. As a result, 5G mmWave networks will require many more sites than mid-band networks.  This creates challenging deployment economics, especially in less populated areas. With its mmWave Streetlight Repeater, Ubicquia changes that.  

The Ubicquia mmWave Streetlight Repeater with Movandi 5G RF technologies:

• Uses existing streetlights and their persistent power, 50 m spacing and 8 to 10 m heights to make millions of site-ready locations available at a fraction of the time and money than building new poles for 5G radio base stations (gNBs) and pulling fiber to them
• Installs in minutes, is barely visible at street level, and is configured and managed in the cloud to make deployments fast, simple and requiring just one trip to the pole
• Meets utility power, protection, metering, weight, and wind loading requirements 
• Ensures optimal outdoor coverage and user experiences by extending the range of 5G mmWave gNBs and redirecting its signals around obstacles
• Locks onto host RAN signals automatically to ensure repeater-to-repeater connectivity without the need for fiber connectivity to the core network 
• Integrates with all major RAN/Open RAN technologies, including Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia and Samsung and supports all global mmWave spectrum bands
• Features Movandi’s proven mmWave 5G RF technology and reference design platforms including RF semiconductors, custom phase array antenna modules, algorithms and software including cloud APIs for management, control, and AI/ML data analytics.

Joe Madden, principal analyst at Mobile Experts, summarized his analysis in a recent white paper "Streetlight Mounted mmWave Radios Transform Coverage Economics," “Streetlight mounted repeaters present an incredible opportunity to dramatically speed up deployment schedules, streamline many regulatory and installation approval steps, and save money. In our assessment of a small city requiring 950 new 5G mmWave radio base stations (gNBs) for full coverage, we found that using 100 streetlight mounted gNBs and 850 repeaters reduces 10-year TCO by over $13 million or 35 percent and by $89 million or 80 percent compared to a gNB only utility pole configuration. Our conclusion is that streetlight deployment is absolutely the way to go.”

Ian Aaron, CEO of Ubicquia said, “The only way mobile operators can deliver on the promise of mmWave 5G in any reasonable period is to leverage existing streetlight infrastructure.  Our goal in collaborating with Movandi and integrating our IP and work developing streetlight solutions for public Wi-Fi, Public Safety and carrier small cells, is to help mobile operators not just deliver 5G mmWave services to dense urban areas but make 5G mmWave services a reality for cities of all sizes.”

Maryam Rofougaran, CEO and co-founder of Movandi said, “In our meetings with the world’s largest service providers, they consistently ask for solutions to quickly and affordably put to work the billions of dollars they have invested in 5G mmWave spectrum. Our collaboration with Ubicquia leverages Movandi RF semiconductor and software technologies to deliver an innovative streetlight-based 5G mmWave repeater that transforms operator economics, accelerates broad global 5G mmWave coverage, and unlocks an expanded portfolio of high speed and low latency services and user experiences."