Base Station Antenna Industry Analysis

5ghz omni antenna

1.1 Definition of Base Station Antenna

The base station antenna is a transceiver that converts the guided waves propagating on the line and the space radiated electromagnetic waves. It is built on the base station.

Its function is to transmit electromagnetic wave signals or receive signals.

1.2 Classification of Base Station Antennas

Base station antennas are divided into omnidirectional antennas and directional antennas according to the direction,
and can be divided into single-polarized antennas and dual-polarized antennas according to the polarization characteristics (the polarization of the antenna refers to the direction of the electric field strength formed when the antenna radiates. 
When the electric field strength When the direction is perpendicular to the ground, the radio wave is called vertical polarized wave; when the electric field strength direction is parallel to the ground, the radio wave is called horizontal polarization. 
Dual-polarized antennas are polarized in both horizontal and vertical directions. And single-polarized antennas are only horizontal or vertical).

2.1 Status and Scale of Base Station Antenna Market

    At present, the number of 4G base stations in China is about 3.7 million. According to actual commercial needs and technical characteristics, 
the number of 5G base stations will be about 1.5-2 times that of 4G base stations. The number of 5G base stations in China is expected to reach 5-7 million, and it is expected that 20-40 million base station antennas will be needed in the 5G era.

According to the report of the Academia Sinica, the market size of base station antennas in my country will reach 43 billion yuan in 2021 and 55.4 billion yuan in 2026, 
with a CAGR of 5.2% from 2021 to 2026. Due to the fluctuation of base station antenna cycles and the short overall cycle of the 4G era, the antenna market size in the early 4G era in 2014 rose slightly. 
Benefiting from the vigorous development of 5G, it is expected that the growth rate of the market size is expected to increase. It is expected that the market size will reach 78.74 billion yuan in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 54.4%

3.1 The arrival of the 5G era

   The rapid advancement of 5G commercialization is one of the important factors promoting the development of the base station antenna industry. The quality of the base station antenna directly affects the user experience, 
and the commercial promotion of 5G will directly contribute to the upgrade and development of the base station antenna industry. By the end of 2021, a total of 1.425 million 5G base stations have been built and opened in my country, 
and the total number of 5G base stations in my country accounts for more than 60% of the world's total.

   Requirement for the number of base station antennas: The attenuation of antenna power is positively related to the frequency of the signal. 
5G antenna power attenuation is significantly higher than that of 4G. Under the same conditions, the coverage of 5G signals is only a quarter of that of 4G. To achieve the same coverage area of ​​4G signals,
 extensive base station layout is required to meet the The signal strength within the coverage area, so the need for base station antennas will increase significantly.

4.1 Massive MIMO Technology

MIMO technology is the core technology of 4G communication. By installing multiple multiple transmitting and receiving antennas in hardware devices, 
multiple signals can be sent and received between multiple antennas. Under the condition of limited spectrum resources and transmit power, Improve signal transmission quality and expand communication channels.
 Massive MIMO's massive MIMO technology, based on MIMO's original support of only 8 antenna ports, improves network coverage and stability by adding multiple antennas to form spatial dimension resources and increase system capacity. 
Massive MIMO technology places higher requirements on base station antennas. Massive MIMO technology requires the installation of a large number of well-isolated antennas in a limited equipment space to ensure the gain and accuracy required for beamforming.
 This technology requires that the antenna must be miniaturized, with high isolation and other characteristics. At present, the Massive MIMO antenna technology mostly adopts a 64-channel solution.

4.2 mmWave technology

Due to the characteristics of short propagation distance and severe attenuation of 5G millimeter waves,
 dense base station layout and large-scale antenna array technology can ensure the transmission quality, 
and the number of antennas of a single base station will reach tens or hundreds. The traditional passive antenna is not applicable because the signal transmission loss is too large and the signal cannot be transmitted smoothly.