Some time ago, news appeared on the Internet and attracted my attention. Fortress base station? What is this thing? I have never heard of it before! Out of curiosity, I read the news carefully, searched for relevant information, and finally figured out the origin of this new term. Next, I will explain basic knowledge about a “fortress base station.”
Background of The Birth of “Fortress Base Station”
The name “fortress base station” is a bit scary, making people think it is used in war, but it is not. Its name should be “new type of disaster-resistant fortress base station.”That’s right, this thing is specially used for disaster prevention. Recently, extreme rainfall has occurred in many parts of the country, triggering geological disasters such as floods and landslides, causing huge losses. When natural disasters occur, many base stations are not immune. Some base stations are flooded, some have power outages, and some have transmission interruptions. The final result is decommissioning (withdrawal from service). The suspension of service will result in a lack of mobile phone signals in the surrounding areas, which will seriously affect the victims’ ability to call for help and report safety, as well as the dispatch and coordination of rescue workers. In July last year, parts of Beijing suffered from severe rainstorms and floods. Some rivers, bridges, and village houses were severely damaged.Don’t Miss:What Are Network Communication Modules, and Why are they so Popular?There was a period of water, electricity, and signal outages, which attracted national attention. After learning from the painful experience after the floods receded, Beijing specifically pointed out in its disaster reconstruction work that it was necessary to enhance the disaster prevention and mitigation level of mobile communication base stations and improve the ability to respond to major natural disasters. Therefore, deploying a certain number of new disaster-resistant fortress base stations was put on the agenda. On March 7, 2024, the Beijing Communications Administration held a special meeting to promote the construction of the “23.7” post-disaster reconstruction fortress base station, organized and coordinated the relevant work of various units, and made every effort to promote the construction progress of the fortress base station. With the joint efforts of the Communications Administration, operators, tower companies, and other parties, the first “fortress base station” located in Beijing was successfully built in June this year. According to the plan, Beijing will build 18 fortress base stations this year. Screenshot
“Fortress Base Station,” what’s so Special About It?
Next, look at the difference between a fortress base station and an ordinary base station.
Why is it called a “fortress”?
The fortress base station is designed for extreme disaster scenarios such as earthquakes, floods, typhoons, ice, and snow. It has improved the construction standards of base station communication equipment, power supply, transmission, civil engineering, installation technology, etc., so it has extremely high damage resistance and emergency communication guarantee capabilities.Base stations’ power supply and transmission resources are most vulnerable during a disaster. Regarding power, the Fortress base station has a dedicated battery (lead crystal battery backup) and a diesel generator (50Kw). It is required to support 4G equipment backup for 144 hours (including 24 hours of battery and 120 hours of diesel generator) in emergencies.The “optical cable + satellite” method is adopted for transmission. Optical cables are mainly buried directly. To ensure the security of the incoming and outgoing routes, two optical cables with different physical routes are equipped to ensure their independence.The satellite has a high-throughput satellite transmission system and a modem, which can automatically switch through equipment within the base station. The station building structure is made of concrete frame and high-strength hot-rolled steel bars, with an earthquake fortification intensity of 9°.In terms of resistance to snow disasters, the snow load resistance is not less than 0.60KN/㎡, which can withstand blizzard disasters that occur once in a hundred years. In terms of wind disaster resistance, it can withstand wind pressure of no less than 0.65KN/㎡ and can withstand a force 12 gale.The base station must also be equipped with complete emergency equipment and facilities, such as fire-fighting equipment, emergency broadcasting equipment, hand-cranked/foot-operated generator equipment, Beidou short message equipment, security surveillance camera equipment, etc., to handle various emergencies.
Conclusion
In short, the fortress base station is a response measure taken by the Beijing Municipal Government to natural disasters and an innovation in building a “resilient city.” In emergencies, these special base stations can effectively ensure the smooth flow of the “communication lifeline” and reduce the loss of life and property caused by disasters. Beijing’s approach is worth learning from other regions in the country.
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