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Because cell towers are in the landscape and sometimes cause controversy, LASN has periodically written about the erection of these towers and the public?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s reaction to them, as in ?EUR??,,????'?????<?????????????????Landscape Architects Argue for and Against Cell Towers?EUR??,,????'?????<????????????????? www.landscapearchitect.com/research/article/10703
According to Alcatel-Lucent, the global wireless industry is spending $210 billion a year to operate their networks, and another $50 billion to upgrade them. Consumers, of course, are paying for big chunks of this spending. Further, mobile data usage is predicated by the industry to grow 30 times in the next five years and 500 times in the next 10 years. Keeping up with such growth with the current cell tower technology seems challenging, to say the least.
Besides the esthetics of cell towers in the landscape, there?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????s the inefficiencies: 1) They transmit power in all directions, but most of those signals are lost, since they don?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????t reach anyone's particular devices. 2) About half of the power from cell tower base stations is lost before it makes its way up to the antennas. 3) Towers have separate antennas for 2G, 3G and 4G networks, which cause interference.
In this computer/electronic age, we?EUR??,,????'?????<???????????????????????(R)?EUR??,,????'????ve gotten used to devices coming in smaller and smaller packages. Now, Alcatel-Lucent has basically shrunk the cell tower into a 2.3-inch cube, the lightRadio!
How could this work? The engineers at Alcatel-Lucent transferred the big, heavy power equipment that controls cell towers and moved them to centralized stations. This allows the lightRadio cubes to be miniaturized and placed on buildings, light poles, etc. The signals from the cube can be controlled (directed) remotely to maximize their potential. The units have multi-antennas to relay 2G, 3G and 4G network signals all from the same cube.
Testing of the lightRadio begins in September 2011, followed by volume production by 2012. Sprint Nextel plans to try out the cubes later this year.
Big antennas still serve a purpose: to provide long distance signals down a long stretch of road in under populated areas, for instance.
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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