BASE STATION SOLUTIONS

Introduction
The evolution mobile phones as Personal Communication Devices and the explosion of devices such as tablets have created a
challenge for the mobile networks, starting from the Base Station and the Mobile Backhaul. New initiatives such as Small Cells
reduce the pressure of capacity crunch and coverage limitations, but the importance of Macro Base Stations remains very high.
With the transition to the packet based backhaul mechanisms, the synchronization implementations have become extremely
challenging.

Base Station Synchronization Challenges

The challenges in Macro Base Station Synchronization are multi
fold. GPS or other GNSS methods are no longer preferred as a
primary source of network timing because of the fear of signal
loss or jamming in various situations. Secondly, the circuit switch
network is transitioning to packet switched network forcing the
Base Stations to use Synchronous Ethernet and Precision Time
Protocol based synchronization techniques. ITU-T has nalized
the standards for frequency only Packet Equipment Slave
Clocks and are working to nalize the network and equipment
requirements for phase and frequency. Many implementations
are relying on a combination of GNSS and packet clock methods
to achieve the synchronization requirements.

Traditionally Base Stations were connected to the core network

through circuit switched network connections delivering data
and the frequency synchronization. When Phase information
was required because of the air interface requirements, a
GPS based system was used and a combination of GPS and
line extracted frequency were used for synchronizing base
stations. We can generalize the requirements to network
side requirements and radio side requirements. The network
recovered clock had to meet the limit of 16ppb to the network
and the air interface had a frequency accuracy requirement of
50ppb and phase accuracy requirement of few S whenever
required. The 16ppb requirement is derived from the Stratum
2 frequency accuracy levels of and in a scenario where the
network or GPS synchronization were lost, the base station be
able to maintain its accuracy within the air interface limits.

Base Station Synchronization Requirements

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BTS Type
Applications

Macro
GSM

Macro & Wide Area

CDMA2000, WCDMA-FDD/TDD, TD-SCDMA

LTE - FDD, LTE - TDD

Wide Area and Home

Frequency

16 to 50 ppb

16 to 50 ppb

16 to 50 ppb

Time / Phase

None

1.5 to 10 s

None or up to 32 s

OCXO

Mercury ROX2522S4

ROX

None or up to 32 s

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Rakon Limited
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Rakon Europe Limited

(Europe, Middle East, Africa)

Rakon Taiwan
Representative Ofce (Asia)

Rakon Limited Shenzhen

Representative Ofce (China)

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(Americas)

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BASE STATION SOLUTIONS

Rakon Oscillators for Base Station Timing applications
Two main aspects of the oscillators are considered for Base
Station synchronization designs. The holdover requirement
is one of the primary objectives. The service impact on the
service provider is the turnaround time to attend to and
repair the systems, if anything were to disturb synchronization
mechanisms. Holdover time is required by the operator so
that they system remains operations within the time limit in
which it can be attended to. Depending on the air interface
requirements, constraints may be placed on frequency only or
frequency and phase to achieve certain holdover time periods.
In a synchronizer design, the holdover time depends on the

Network Interface
(16ppb accuracy)
Rakon XO, Crystal

oscillator, specically on the frequency versus temperature

characteristics and the slope performances of frequency
with temperature. Secondly, Packet based networks impose
extremely low bandwidths on clock recovery PLLs, due to the
varying nature of PDVs. Depending on the loop bandwidth,
very stable oscillators (MTIE and TDEV on such bandwidths) are
required for implementation of such PLLs. Oscillator selection
is carefully done identifying the holdover and loop bandwidth
requirements, along with other considerations such as phase
noise.

Modem
(Time & Synchronization,
G.812, G.8262, IEEE1588
Timing)

GPS Module
(1pps, 1s accuracy)
Rakon TCXO

Radio Interface
(50ppb, 1s accuracy)
Rakon VCXO

Rakon OCXO

Rakon OCXO for Times Key Specications

Frequency Stability

Holdover Stability

Frequency Ageing

ROX-T1/T2
Statum 2

<0.2 ppb (-20 to 70C)

< 5s/day

< 0.05ppb/day

ROX-T3/S4/T5 (SC-cut)
Stratum 3E

<5 ppb (-20 to 70C)

< 15s/day

< 0.5ppb /day

ROX-T3/S4/T5 (AT-cut)
Stratum 3

<10 ppb (-20 to 70C)

< 50s/day

< 1ppb /day

RMO Mercury
Stratum 3

<25 ppb (-20 to 70C)

<50 ppb (-40 to 85C)

< 100s/day

< 2 ppb /day

Rakon oscillator and timing products for complete Base Station design
Product
Family

Product
Series

Key
Capabilities

TCXO

IT

10 to 50 MHz, 0.5ppm frequency stability over -40 to 85C in 3.2x2.5, 2.5x2.0 or 2.0 x 1.6mm packages.

VCXO

RVX-M

10 to 460 MHz, high frequency with low phase noise and CMOS/LVPECL/LVDS in 7.0 x 5.0, 5.0 x 3.2 mm
package.

XO

RXO-M

10 to 460 MHz, high frequency with low jitter and CMOS/LVPECL/LVDS in 7.0 x 5.0 or 5.0 x 3.2 mm
package.

RSX

10 to 50 MHz, 10ppm frequency stability over -40 to 85C in 3.2x2.5, 2.5x2.0 or 2.0 x 1.6mm packages

RTF

32 kHz for real time clocks.

Crystals

www.rakon.com
Rakon Limited
(Corporate Head Ofce)

Rakon Europe Limited

(Europe, Middle East, Africa)

Rakon Taiwan
Representative Ofce (Asia)

Rakon Limited Shenzhen

Representative Ofce (China)

Rakon America LLC

(Americas)

Phone: +64 (9) 573 5554

Fax: +64 (9) 573 5559
Email: sales@rakon.com

Phone: +44 (1522) 883500

Fax: +44 (1522) 883524
Email: info@rakon.com

Phone: +886 (2) 2759 0259

Fax: +886 (2) 2759 2668
Email: sales@rakon.com

Phone: +86 (755) 8283 5991

Fax: +86 (755) 8283 5990
Email: sales@rakon.com

Phone: +1 (847) 930 5100

Fax: +1 (847) 844 3236
Email: sales@rakon.com