How does the Cambium Sector Antenna support 90 degree and 120 degree deployments?

Sector Antenna

Cambium Networks has designed an antenna solution that enables network operators to increase the spectral efficiency and scale of their ePMP™ point-to-multipoint(PMP) distribution access networks.

Wireless Service Providers deploying networks in 5 GHz spectrum will find this sector antenna for 90 degrees and 120 degrees applications especially well-suited for high-density networks requiring frequency re-use and wide-band spectrum coverage.

The Half power Beamwidth (HPBW) measurement is important to understand how the antenna will support link budgets in your network:

  • The Half power Beamwidth is the angle at which the gain of the antenna drops by 3dB (90° for the Cambium Sector Antenna).
  • For +/- 45° in 90° sectors (the edges of the sector), the gain at the edge of the sector is 3 dB lower than boresight (directly in front of the antenna).
  • At +/- 60° in 120° sectors (the edges of the sector), the gain at the edge of the sector is 6 dB lower than boresight.

As a result, from +45° to +60° and from -45°to -60° (effectively the horizontal plane beamwidths between the 90° and 120° sectors), while there is additional attenuation (3 dB-6 dB), it is still a usable space for deployment!

Horizontal Plane Antenna PatternGeneral deployment tips for using the antenna as a 90° or 120° sector

1.Isolated deployments (one sector) or if not using frequency reuse, the 120° sector provides the most coverage.  In this case, deploy subscribers within 120° - generally speaking, the wider the beamwidth, the better since there are no additional sectors / deployments to consider.

2.When re-using frequencies at the same tower or on other towers, considerations must be made for the neighboring sites.  In this case, deploying subscribers only into a 90° beamwidth is beneficial to avoid interference between sites.  Even though the antenna supports 120° beamwidth, there is no detrimental effect in frequency reuse deployments.

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