Fiber Optic Transceivers In Basestation Applications

By Avago Technologies

Introduction
The enormous increase in cellular telephone usage has created demand, additional network capacity and bandwidth. Cellular network capacity growth is driven by new cell phone functions and services such as cameras, personal organizers, web browsing, e-mail and text messaging.

Base station transceivers with greater bandwidth are in demand. Fiber optic links give cost effective, high bandwidth new capacity with more flexibility than copper links. Fiber links make system modifications and future upgrades simpler than would be possible with traditional copper links. In addition, fiber features inherent data security and superior reliability in hostile environments.

What is a Base Transceiver Station?
The Base Transceiver Station (BTS) is part of a cellular system that transmits and receives wireless signals to cell phones or other wireless telecommunications devices, and forwards data to the central network. This component is the part of the cellular system that has the driver receiver (DRX). (The DRX does the sending and receiving of the wireless signals.) The other primary function of the BTS is to transfer these signals to the Base Station Controller (BSC), which can be some distance away and might service multiple BTS units.