China Unicom deploys Huawei's extremely-large antenna arrays around Beijing

China Unicom Beijing is deploying Huawei’s new extremely-large antenna array (ELAA) architecture at over 1,000 sites around the outskirts of Beijing. The giant antenna arrays, which are called “metaverse-ready active antenna units – MetaAAUs”, double the scale of arrays compared with the previous-generation AAU. Huawei says the increased size results in extended coverage because channel beams are narrower and energy is more focused. New algorithms improve network performance while slashing energy consumption. The companies claim the new MetaAAUs have delivered a 40% increase in coverage area, increased uplink and downlink user-perceived rates by 10%, and lowered network energy consumption by…