Relevant ITU-T Recommendations for the Protection of Base Stations

1. ITU Workshop on “Tackling climate change and Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) Measurement” (Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012) Relevant ITU-T Recommendations for the Protection of Base Stations Ahmed ZEDDAM, ITU-T SG5 Chair France Telecom Orange

2. Outline • INTRODUCTION • LIGHTNING PROTECTION • RECOMMENDATION ITU-T K.56 • Need of Protection • Earthing and Bonding procedures • Use of SPDs • DECOUPLING WITH POWER NETWORK • CONCLUSION

3. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 Introduction Protection of an installation may require a combination of: • Lightning protection for the building • Protection on incoming lines • Resistibility of equipment • Earthing and bonding of installation • This presentation is about the protection of equipment within a base station

4. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 SG 5 role in equipment protection • SG 5 is unique SDO in overvoltage protection • Ensures coordination of the equipment and external protection • Considers installation practices and their effect on resistibility requirements

5. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 Resistibility and protection • Preventing equipment damage may require a combination of resistibility and protection • Resistibility is • The ability of the equipment to withstand an overvoltage or overcurrent • Protection is • The addition of primary protection to prevent damage from larger surges • Need to check that the protector operates and protects the equipment

6. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 Lightning Protection Lightning discharges can reach a telecommunication system by the following mechanisms:

7. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 Lightning Protection Direct strikes

8. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 Lightning Protection Coupling through the earth

9. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 Lightning Protection Coupling through electromagnetic fields

10. Cotonou, Benin, 19 July 2012 Lightning Protection • If adequate protection is missing, the lightning • surges can be very dangerous to telecommunications • systems, threatening : • Terminal equipment • Station equipment • And even human beings •  In order to protect the telecommunications systems • against the effects of lightning discharges, the ITU-T • SG-5 produced Handbooks and a set of Series K • Recommendations:

11. Recommendation ITU-T K.56 : Protection of radio base stations against lightning discharges • Presents the techniques applied to a telecom. radio base stationin order to protect it against lightning discharges • The need of protection is obtained from the methodology contained in IEC 62305-2, which is used to determine the relevant lightning protection level (LPL) for the installation • The protection techniques for the external area cover the lightning protection system (LPS), bondingprocedures, earthingand the installation of surge protective devices (SPDs) at the power meter station • The protection techniques for the equipment building cover the feeder and lighting cables, the electric power conductors, the telecommunication cabling and the earthing/bonding procedures applied to cable trays and equipment frames

12. Need of protection Table 1 – Lightning flash parameters from [IEC 62305-1] • The risk assessment of the RBS shall be performed according to [IEC 62305-2] in order to determine a Lightning Protection Level (LPL) for the design of the protection procedures. • Table 1 shows some lightning flash parameters associated with each LPL.

13. Earthing and bonding procedures applied to the external area Figure 1 – General view of earthing and bonding procedures in the external area

14. Earthing configuration Figure 5 – Earthing system of the RBS

15. Earthing configuration • A bare conductor forms a ring electrode around the building and another ring around the tower. Multiple earthing conductors are used to interconnect the two rings (three, in the figure). • The distance of the buried conductor from the associated structure shall be approximately 1.0 m, and the depth of the conductor shall be at least 0.5 m. • Vertical rods should be installed along the ring electrode, as shown in Figures 1 and 5. These rods should be made of steel covered with copper or made of galvanized steel, and they shall be attached to the earth electrode by appropriate connectors. • The legs of a metallic tower (or the down conductors of a non-metallic tower) shall be bonded through short connections to the tower's earthing ring. The steel reinforcement of the tower's basement, if any, shall also be connected to the earthing ring (see Figures 1 and 5). • The steel reinforcement of the building's structure shall be bonded to the earthing ring at least at its four corners. If the building is metallic, its feet shall be bonded to the earthing ring. • The earthing ring of the building shall be connected to the main earthing bar (MEB) located inside the building, preferably on the wall that faces the tower. The earthing conductor shall be as short as possible and have 50 mm2 as the minimum cross-section area. • All conductors in contact with the earth should be made of copper or steel covered with copper and have 50 mm2 as the minimum cross-section area. Galvanized steel conductors could also be used, with 90 mm2 as the minimum cross-section area. • A fence usually surrounds the terrain where the RBS is located. If the fence is metallic, some precautions have to be taken in order to minimize the hazard due to the voltages transferred by the fence.

16. Bonding at the feed-through window The cable manufacturers usually provide appropriate earthing kits for these connections Figure 6 – Example of earthing the feeder cable at the feed-through window

17. Use of SPDs Figure 7 – Diagram of the electric board

18. Installation of SPD in the electric board Figure 8 – Scheme for SPD installation on TT power systems The SPDs shall comply with [IEC 61643-11] The SPD installed in the electric board shall coordinate with the SPD installed in the power meter station [see IEC 61643-12 for coordination] Annex A of [ITU-T K.66] gives information on SPD installation for different power systems.

19. Protection of telecommunication lines Figure 11 – Installation of SPD in the distribution frame The procedures for the protection of telecommunication lines against direct and indirect lightning discharges can be found in [ITU-T K.47] and [ITU-T K.46], respectively, taking into account [ITU-T K.72].

20. Example of earthing and bonding configuration inside an RBS More information on the implementation of earthing and bonding configurations can be found in [ITU-T K.27] and [ITU‑T K.35

21. Decoupling with power network  D1 : Distance entre la prise de terre des masses du poste de transformation HTA/BT et la prise de terre du Neutre BT,  D2 : La distance entre a prise de terre des masses du poste de transformation HTA/BT et la prise de terre du Site de Radiocommunication,  D3 : Distance entre a prise de terre du Neutre BT et la prise de terre du Site Radiocommunication

22. Decoupling with power network

23. CONCLUSION Protection of Base Stations is based on the combination of : • Lightning protection for the building • Protection on incoming lines (SPDs) • Resistibility of equipment • Earthing and bonding of installation • Decoupling with power network Recommendation ITU-T K.56 provides useful information for the protection of RBS and refers to other relevant Recommendations

24. Thank you