This latest RU is intended to bring 5G capacity to private, campus and industrial networks, as well as rural networks and public hotspots. A 4T4R antenna arrangement is featured with up to 5W of output power being delivered per antenna port (equating to 20W in total).
The 7.2x functional split employed will help the minimise the costs associated with radio access network implementations, according to Benetel, while support for 100MHz of instantaneous bandwidth will allow maximum coverage to be attained.
The RAN650 RU can be deployed in either a Cat A or Cat B based configuration (using selected distributed units), providing flexibility to address radio access network architectures. Each RU incorporates an Intel Arria 10 FPGA alongside an Analog Devices’ ADRV9029 4T4R transceiver with integrated digital pre-distortion (DPD). The initial version of the RAN650 covers the n77u (3.7GHz to 4.2GHz) frequency range. An n78 variant (3.3GHz to 3.8GHz) will be made available in the second quarter of 2022.
Commenting Benetel CEO, Adrian O’Connor said, “We are now expanding our OpenRAN portfolio with the RAN650, which can address a broad array of different 5G use cases. Our partners have been welcoming this platform already at early trials, making the RAN650 Benetel’s most important product launch to date.”
The RAN650 RU runs off a 48V supply and has a typical power consumption of 100W. An operational temperature range spanning from -33°C to +45°C is also supported.
The RAN650 complements Benetel’s existing OpenRAN portfolio, including the RAN550 indoor 5G RU that the company announced back in late 2020.
Active network trials are already being conducted on the Benetel RAN650 by several pilot customers.
