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{{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Node B is the telecommunications node in particular
mobile communication Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the li ...
networks, namely those that adhere to the
UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
standard. The Node B provides the connection between mobile phones ( UEs) and the wider telephone network. UMTS is the dominating 3G standard. Node B corresponds to BTS (
base transceiver station A base transceiver station (BTS) is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment (UE) and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones (handsets), WLL phones, computers with wireless Internet connectivity, o ...
) in
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
.


Functionality

This is the hardware that is connected to the mobile phone network that communicates directly with mobile handsets. In contrast with GSM base stations, Node B uses
WCDMA The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G, third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the I ...
/
TD-SCDMA The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
as the air interface technology. As in all cellular systems, such as
UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
and
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
, the Node B contains
radio frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the upp ...
transmitter(s) and the receiver(s) used to communicate directly with mobile devices, which move freely around it. In this type of cellular network, the mobile devices cannot communicate directly with each other but have to communicate with the NodeB. Traditionally, the Node Bs have minimum functionality, and are controlled by an RNC (
Radio Network Controller The Radio Network Controller (RNC) is a governing element in the UMTS radio access network (UTRAN) and is responsible for controlling the Node Bs that are connected to it. The RNC carries out radio resource management, some of the mobility managem ...
). However, this is changing with the emergence of High Speed Downlink Packet Access (
HSDPA High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunicat ...
), where some logic (e.g., retransmission) is handled on the Node B for lower response times.


Differences between a Node B and a GSM base station


Frequency use

The utilization of WCDMA technology allows cells belonging to the same or different Node Bs and even controlled by different RNC to overlap and still use the same frequency (in fact, the whole network can be implemented with just one frequency pair). The effect is utilized in
soft handover Soft handover or soft handoff refers to a feature used by the CDMA and W-CDMA standards, where a cell phone is simultaneously connected to two or more cells (or cell sectors) during a call. If the sectors are from the same physical cell site (a sec ...
s.


Power requirements

Since WCDMA often operates at higher frequencies than GSM (2,100 MHz as opposed to 900 MHz for GSM), the cell radius can be considerably smaller for WCDMA than for GSM cells as the path loss is frequency dependent. WCDMA now has networks operating in the 850–900 MHz band. In these networks, at these frequencies, the coverage of WCDMA is considered better than that of the equivalent GSM network. Unlike in GSM, the cells' size is not constant (a phenomenon known as " cell breathing"). This requires a larger number of Node Bs and careful planning in 3G (
UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
) networks. Power requirements on Node Bs and user equipment (UE) are much lower. It is connected to RNC of UMTS network through IUB interface.


Node B setup

A full cell site has a cabinet, an antenna mast and actual antenna. An equipment cabinet contains e.g.
RF power amplifier A radio-frequency power amplifier (RF power amplifier) is a type of electronic amplifier that converts a low-power radio-frequency signal (electrical engineering), signal into a higher-power signal. Typically, RF power amplifiers drive the anten ...
s,
digital signal processor A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on MOS integrated circuit chips. They are widely used in audio si ...
s and backup batteries. What you can see by the side of a road or in a city center is just an antenna. However, the tendency nowadays is to camouflage the antenna (paint it the color of the building or put it into an RF-transparent enclosure). Smaller indoor nodes may have an antenna built into the cabinet door. A Node B can serve several cells, also called sectors, depending on the configuration and type of antenna. Common configuration include omni cell (360°), 3 sectors (3×120°) or 6 sectors (60 degree each, not a very popular deployment).


See also

*
ENode B E-UTRAN Node B, also known as Evolved Node B (abbreviated as eNodeB or eNB), is the element in E-UTRA of LTE that is the evolution of the element Node B in UTRA of UMTS. It is the hardware that is connected to the mobile phone network that comm ...
*
NBAP The Radio Network Controller (RNC) is a governing element in the UMTS radio access network ( UTRAN) and is responsible for controlling the Node Bs that are connected to it. The RNC carries out radio resource management, some of the mobility mana ...
*
HSDPA High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunicat ...
Mobile telecommunications standards 3GPP standards UMTS