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 Macro Macro & Wide Area LTE - FDD, LTE - TDD
Applications GSM CDMA2000, WCDMA-FDD/TDD, TD-SCDMA 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 Rakon Europe Limited Rakon Taiwan Rakon Limited Shenzhen Rakon America LLC
(Corporate Head Ofce) (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Representative Ofce (Asia) Representative Ofce (China) (Americas)
Phone: +64 (9) 573 5554 Phone: +44 (1522) 883500 Phone: +886 (2) 2759 0259 Phone: +86 (755) 8283 5991 Phone: +1 (847) 930 5100
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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
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.

Network Interface Modem

(16ppb accuracy) (Time & Synchronization,
Rakon XO, Crystal G.812, G.8262, IEEE1588
Timing)
GPS Module Radio Interface
(1pps, 1s accuracy) Rakon OCXO (50ppb, 1s accuracy)
Rakon TCXO Rakon VCXO

Rakon OCXO for Times Key Specications

Frequency Stability Holdover Stability Frequency Ageing

ROX-T1/T2
<0.2 ppb (-20 to 70C) < 5s/day < 0.05ppb/day
Statum 2

ROX-T3/S4/T5 (SC-cut)
<5 ppb (-20 to 70C) < 15s/day < 0.5ppb /day
Stratum 3E

ROX-T3/S4/T5 (AT-cut)
<10 ppb (-20 to 70C) < 50s/day < 1ppb /day
Stratum 3

RMO Mercury <25 ppb (-20 to 70C)

< 100s/day < 2 ppb /day
Stratum 3 <50 ppb (-40 to 85C)

Rakon oscillator and timing products for complete Base Station design
Product Product Key
Family Series 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.
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
VCXO RVX-M
package.
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
XO RXO-M
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
Crystals
RTF 32 kHz for real time clocks.

www.rakon.com
Rakon Limited Rakon Europe Limited Rakon Taiwan Rakon Limited Shenzhen Rakon America LLC
(Corporate Head Ofce) (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Representative Ofce (Asia) Representative Ofce (China) (Americas)
Phone: +64 (9) 573 5554 Phone: +44 (1522) 883500 Phone: +886 (2) 2759 0259 Phone: +86 (755) 8283 5991 Phone: +1 (847) 930 5100
Fax: +64 (9) 573 5559 Fax: +44 (1522) 883524 Fax: +886 (2) 2759 2668 Fax: +86 (755) 8283 5990 Fax: +1 (847) 844 3236
Email: sales@rakon.com Email: info@rakon.com Email: sales@rakon.com Email: sales@rakon.com Email: sales@rakon.com