Four future directions to address 5G power management

2023-12-21

With the construction of 5G networks, there is a significant difference in the overall price of 5G networks compared to the market, which brings great challenges to 5G power supply, such as the need for more efficient power and larger capacity in data centers.

Due to the massive presence of microsites, achieving rapid deployment and construction is a major challenge. To this end, ZTE is committed to communication power supply and has proposed a panoramic, all station 5G overall solution. It can provide power support for data centers, macro stations, micro stations, and neighborhoods, as well as comprehensive solutions from the technical level of reporting and edge cloud full single system implementation.

The 5G power supply solution for all scenarios is the mainstream of modern communication power supply systems. So how does ZTE achieve the characteristics of "simplicity, efficiency, full modularity, intelligence, and networking"?

According to Xiong Yong, in terms of simplicity and efficiency, 5G operators actually face great pressure. They not only need to build quickly, but also need to reduce electricity costs, including operational expenses. To achieve extremely simplified and rapid deployment and construction of cable equipment, efficient power supply is needed to help save energy, reduce maintenance and operational costs.

Modularization refers to the use of all components of the power supply, such as AC power distribution, diagnosis and treatment equipment, treatment fees, batteries, monitoring units, etc., which are modularized and then freely combined to achieve parallel expansion.

In terms of intelligence, networking is a foundation of intelligence, allowing power sources to be networked. Because millions or even tens of millions of 5G base station sites cannot be maintained solely by manual labor, they must be connected to the internet and maintained remotely by unmanned personnel. To achieve networking, there are many ways to access this process, including the use and intervention of NBLT IoT by operators.

If connected to the main device, a transparent channel of the main device can be borrowed or connected, saving some costs for the head office and achieving a complete network linkage from device clusters to site testing to the cloud. In addition to providing device side monitoring, it can also provide sites, centralized control, or strategic management units.

Automation actually needs to solve two core problems. The first is to solve user operation and maintenance problems, making them automated and intelligent. The second is to solve efficiency problems, making power supply more efficient and relatively energy-saving, which can be achieved through intelligence. There are also other ways to address these issues, including cables, intelligent batteries, and artificial intelligence. But currently, the entire industry is still in a stage of exploration, and the level of intelligence in 5G power supply will continue to increase in the future.

So, in order to meet the power requirements of 5G base stations today, how can power module design shorten the development cycle faster?

Xiong Yong stated that shortening the development cycle mainly involves two aspects. From a technical perspective, as the power consumption requirements of 5G base stations become increasingly high, ZTE will gradually introduce its main product with a change efficiency of 96% to meet this demand. When the user's requirements are higher, they will gradually introduce a change efficiency of 97% or 98%, which requires a gradual iterative process. Another aspect is the process of company management, such as the adoption of agile development in German Office, which can also improve its development efficiency and save development cycles.

In addition, with the development of intelligent electronic products, the integration level of internal ICs is also increasing, which requires strengthening circuit safety protection. However, as the power of the entire power supply increases, components need to be miniaturized and mounted, increasing the current of the small system to improve product performance. Therefore, miniaturization is a significant challenge in the design process of circuit protection schemes.

Original title: Four directions for the future, solving 5G power management

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