User's Manual

Mini base station installation
guide
Ref.: MAN/DPL/000
Rev.: 0.2
Date:03/05/2016
© Copyright SIGFOX. All rights reserved Page 4 of 16
1 INSTALLATION SITE RECOMMENDATIONS
SIGFOX SMBS-T series are multiband, low profile, small factor base stations intended for extension of the
SIGFOX base station family. These series are dedicated for quiet radio environments with limited performance
for capacity and blocking resistance. This gives a complementary solution for the SIGFOX network based on
macro cell SBS-T base stations. These series are intended for outdoor and indoor installation with aluminum
chassis, suitable for antenna mast mounting, shelter cabinet mounting, rack mounting or desktop installation.
Regarding capacity performances, the SMBS-T is able to receive about 100 000 SIGFOX messages per day.
The installation site, and in particular the antenna elevation, shall be chosen so that the number of
SIGFOX devices covered by the SMBS-T antenna is compliant with this capacity.
The choice of the installation site is of the highest importance for proper operation of the station. Hereafter are
the minimum distances from other radio transmitters in order to ensure proper operation. If the most severe
constraints cannot be met, it is still possible to install a filter cavity in front of the mini station to avoid noise
injection in the operating band. This will lead to a loss of sensitivity from 1 to 2 dB, depending on the filter.
If a cellular, or broadcast antenna is installed too closed to the SMBS-T antenna after the installation of the
SMBS-T, the consequence will be a significant increase of the noise floor and a significant decrease of the
number of messages received by the base station. A first corrective action should be to set the internal LNA of
the SMBS-T in bypass mode. The consequence is a loss of sensitivity of 10dB (more in band edges). If there
are still too many lost messages, the installation of a cavity filter will be necessary.
The following recommendations are available whatever the operating band of the mini station: from 865 to
870MHz and from 902 to 928MHz.
Whatever the type of installation (indoor or outdoor), the mini base station must be installed so that its RF
connector must not receive more than -20dBm signals from 0 to 821MHz and from 925MHz to 2.5GHz.
In terms of distance from potential aggressors it means:
For indoor installation: The mini base station must be installed at a minimum distance of 10 meters from
any fixed radio device (such as WiFi access points for example).
For outdoor installation without cavity filter:
Co-hosting with cellular or broadcast antennas is forbidden.
Regarding site location versus other emitter sites, the minimum distances to respect in a horizontal plane line
of sight are:
Distance from a broadcaster of 100KW (FM or
digital TV DBV-T)
4000m
Distance from the front of a distant cellular
antenna of 2KW (typically in wide area)
500m
Distance from the front of a distant cellular
antenna of 150W (typically in urban area)
150 m
Outdoor installation with a cavity filter from those allowed by SIGFOX (Elythe or Matech):
Co-hosting with cellular antennas is allowed provided that the SIGFOX antenna is located in the vertical axis
of the cellular antenna at a minimum distance of 2 meters.
Regarding site location versus other emitter sites, the minimum distances to respect in an horizontal plane
line of sight are:
Distance from a broadcaster of 100KW (FM or
digital TV DBV-T)
500m
Distance from the front of a distant cellular
antenna of 2KW (typically in wide area)
50m
Distance from the front of a distant cellular
antenna of 150W (typically in urban area)
30 m