Technical Issues, Design Approach and Typical Solutions When Co-locating Telecommunication Equipment On Electrical Power Installations or Towers

摘要

Until recently, it has been practice to keep third party telecommunication facilities as far away from electricity company equipment as possible. This was mainly to avoid faults on the electricity network causing damage or interference to telecommunications. Now, despite telecommunication equipment becoming more complex, sensitive and expensive, telephone operators are seeking to locate it at electricity company sites, even on electricity transmission towers. They then benefit from a more relaxed planning environment and may achieve an accelerated implementation programme. At co-located sites, earthing is a key issue when integrating the two networks. The main installation arrangements are transmitters and mobile phone base stations (MPBS) located (i) in or adjacent to substations and (ii) on electricity line supports. These are discussed in this paper. We use the terminology 'MPBS' in this paper to describe the antenna support or tower (if needed), antenna, the interconnecting cables and control equipment situated in cubicles at ground level (also collectively referred to as a "cell site").