How to Spot Ericsson 64T64R Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit

[lilotimz]

Ericsson AIR6488 B41 Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit

This 64T64R Massive MIMO units will be likely found in Ericsson vendor territory from network vision days. It will be easily identified by it's lack of an external remote radio like Sprints typical LTE equipment and its size being significantly smaller than Sprints existing 800,1.9, and 2.5  equipment. 

Source: Sprint

Additional Photos from FCC Filing

[Terrell352]

Ruus will be at the base station correct?

[lilotimz]

4 minutes ago, Terrell352 said:

Ruus will be at the base station correct?

 

Quote

 

Antenna Integrated Radio - AIR

"... The radio solution, based on a unique design compactly integrating the antenna into the radio unit, will cut energy consumption and installation time drastically."

 

 

[Terrell352]

 

Is Sprint actively deploying these now or will it start soon?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[lilotimz]

2 minutes ago, Terrell352 said:

Is Sprint actively deploying these now or will it start soon?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

 

Quote

 

https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/sprint-to-turn-massive-mimo-6-cities-april

"Sprint said it plans to turn on 64T64R (64 transmit, 64 receive) Massive MIMO technology in three cities—Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles—in April. And later this year Sprint will expand that to Atlanta, Houston and Washington, D.C. The company said vendors Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia are supplying the equipment."

 

Chicago = Samsung
Dallas = Ericsson
Los Angeles = Nokia

[RAvirani]

Do you have the dimensions of this antenna by any chance? Or maybe a picture of it next to NV/next-gen equipment?

[lilotimz]

10 hours ago, RAvirani said:

Do you have the dimensions of this antenna by any chance? Or maybe a picture of it next to NV/next-gen equipment?

There are no clear photographs of these equipment next to existing gear... unfortunately.

Could not find dimensions but if we look at the publicly available photos we can get a good estimate since they're all about the same size.

 

In comparison, standard 8T8R is ~5' tall and standard 10 port / triband / deca hex etc are around 6-7' tall while MMRs are significantly smaller compared to adult males. so I take it 3' or so?

 

[nexgencpu]

This video has a couple of good shots in comparison to 8t8r.

Quite amazing how small the footprint is for Massive MIMO in comparison to 8t8r.

 

 

[RAvirani]

33 minutes ago, nexgencpu said:

 

 

That’s actually a perfect comparison — thanks!

[RedSpark]

Here’s how it would compare in size to people’s heads!...

https://twitter.com/SprintCTO/status/987431065642991621

And to other gear...

https://twitter.com/SprintNetwk/status/987109435788152833

[nexgencpu]

Another good shot of Massive MIMO antenna(center) compared to what looks like 8t8r(right)

[mdob07]

Massive MIMO popping up all over Louisville, KY. This is Ericsson territory but these look slightly different than the one on the first post. Possibly newer hardware revision. 

[cyclone]

Air 6468 model is being replaced by 6488 to prepare for 5G

[mdob07]

11 minutes ago, cyclone said:

Air 6468 model is being replaced by 6488 to prepare for 5G

At the rate they're throwing these up around here I wouldn't be surprised if they try to launch 5G here first half of next year. Three weeks ago I found 4 site conversions in one week. The new GCI makes it easy to notice the change even if I don't directly drive by that site. 

[lilotimz]

5 minutes ago, mdob07 said:

At the rate they're throwing these up around here I wouldn't be surprised if they try to launch 5G here first half of next year. Three weeks ago I found 4 site conversions in one week. The new GCI makes it easy to notice the change even if I don't directly drive by that site. 

There is actually multiple Air6468/6488 revisions floating around with different supported frequency bandwidths and the like....