Ubicquia Touting Streetlight-powered Small Cells for Densification

We have seen a fair number of small cells on lamp posts and poles on this blog. Here is another one that I became aware of through Fierce Wireless. The following from the article:

The startup Ubicquia is touting its streetlight-powered small cell as a relatively easy way to deploy small cells for LTE densification and for 5G because streetlights are already permitted with municipalities. In addition, streetlights come with electricity, and they’re often in close proximity to fiber for backhaul.

Ian Aaron, CEO of Ubicquia, said there are 360 million streetlights around the world that have a common electric socket. This socket, known as the ANSI C136 (or NEMA) socket, “has been around for 55 years,” said Aaron. “It’s a common socket whether in Australia, Germany, USA, or Brazil. We build products that plug into that socket.”

One of Ubicquia’s products is its Ubimetro small cell, which can be mounted onto existing streetlights. Aaron claims the Ubimetro for streetlights is a better option than deploying small cells onto new cellular poles or onto cable strands.

Municipalities have already been complaining about the new 30-foot-or-higher poles that are sprouting up in their cities for the deployment of wireless small cells. One alternative to erecting new poles is to deploy small cells on existing cable strand. Some cable operators, such as Comcast and Charter, are looking into the possibilities of strand-mounted small cells. And Altice USA has already deployed some strand-mounted small cells in partnership with Sprint.

But Aaron says that not all cable aerial infrastructure is strand-mount. He said that strand-mount refers to a specific type of cable that is reinforced with an internal metal wire in order to support devices that could weigh up to 30 pounds. “Only a small amount of the cable infrastructure is strand,” said Aaron. “They use strand for areas where they have to hang the large splices. It’s not universal.”

Conversely, streetlights are pervasive, and they’re conveniently located near homes, businesses and cars. Aaron said, “The issue around small cell densification is not about the technology; it’s about getting permits and persistent power.”

“If you look at a small cell deployment today you would see a big box that converts the power on the pole from AC to DC; another box that does the metering so utilities can bill you; then you’ve got the radio; and then you’ve got multiple antennas,” said Aaron. “We’ve integrated all that into a device when plugged in you can’t see it from 25-35 feet.” 

The 4G Ubimetro device dimensions are about 8 inches by 15 inches by 3 inches. Ubicquia’s patented small cell device plugs into the streetlight, and clamps on to create a secure mounting. It has omni-directional antennas. Its 5G small cell is roughly the same size.

In terms of the radio antennas for the small cells, Ubicquia designed those itself using in-house talent from a team of C-suite executives that previously worked for Motorola.


Ubicquia doesn’t have any named customers, yet. The company is planning its first commercial product and first live small cell deployments for early 2020. It could potentially work with carriers that are densifying their networks. Aaron said utilities are also interested in participating in the rollout of small cells because it offers them a new revenue opportunity.

Grateful for our innovative partners! Read how Ubicquia and @Qualcomm come together to connect the smart city ecosystem. https://t.co/MvA6kpIifZ #innovationage #Ubicquia

— Ubicquia (@ubicquia) November 16, 2019

At MWC last year, they announced that they are working with Qualcomm. Quoting from their press release:

Ubicell can replace the photocell on more than 360 million streetlights worldwide, and delivers advanced light control, ANSI 12.20 power metering and tilt/vibration sensing. Integrating the Qualcomm® SDM845 processor from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. brings high-performance edge processing and advanced smart city services that take advantage of the processor’s integrated hardware-accelerated neural network inferencing for edge AI, IoT security, media processing for video analytics, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and enhanced WiFi range and performance.

They also recently announced partnership with Altiostar to accelerate Rural Broadband. From their press release:

Ubicquia®, the global leader in simply smart, simply connected network and IoT platforms for smart cities, and Altiostar, the pioneer in open virtualized radio access network (vRAN) technology, today announced an expansion of their partnership that will integrate Ubicquia’s new Ubimetro™ streetlight-powered small cell for CBRS spectrum with Altiostar’s Open vRAN software. The Open vRAN-integrated Ubimetro small cell is compatible with more than 50 million existing streetlights across the US allowing municipalities, utilities, wireless internet service providers (WISPs) and mobile network operators (MNOs) to expedite service deployments with the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership (TCO).

Today’s news follows last week’s announcement by Ubicquia that its Ubimetro suite of small cell products will also offer Citizens Broadband Radio Services (CBRS) capabilities. The Ubimetro portfolio of small cells are designed to support the network of the future, including 4G/5G, millimeter-wave spectrum, CBRS, and now Altiostar’s Open vRAN. Ubimetro provides a network-agnostic architecture with integrated MIMO antennas, a wide range of radio frequency front ends, and Ethernet, fiber and DOCSIS backhaul options.


More info on Ubicquia:

• The story of Ubicquia
• Advanced Lighting Controls
• IoT World Innovator Spotlight: UBICQUIA, Broadband Connectivity for Cities with a Stackable Module System

Related Blog Posts:

• Small Cells on Hong Kong Lamp Posts
• 5G Small Cells on 'Smart Poles' in Denver
• Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers
• Small Cells and Neutral Host Networks
• BSNL bringing 'Smart Telecom Poles' to India with help of Nokia
• Vodafone Portugal's “streetlamp”
• Ericsson's Invisible Sites: Urban Case Studies
• ZTE's 4G / 5G Street Lights
• KDDI to test 5G with base stations built in Street Lights
• Small Cells in the Lamp posts
• Small Cells on the Lamp posts and other street furniture

Africa Mobile Network and MTN connecting Zambia

Africa Mobile Network (AMN) is working with MTN in Zambia to connect the unconnected by providing mobile services infrastructure relaying services for MTN Zambia in the most Rural parts of the country. This allows users in all corners of the country to use MTN Mobile Services. Health Service Providers and Farmers in Remote Areas now have access to good coverage enabling them to communicate more effectively and use a variety of services like Mobile Money.

Here is a nice video showing how connectivity is making difference to end users lives.


AMN builds, owns, operates and maintains mobile network infrastructure, delivering services to the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Africa.  Their ‘mass production’ approach to mobile network base station build is on a volume rollout trajectory with the first 500 sites in place by 2020, increasing to 1,500 by 2021, all in collaboration with tier one Mobile Network Operators (MNO) across Africa.

Recently, IP.Access announced that they have rolled out 4G services in Zambia with AMN.

The rollout covers seven countries: Zambia - being the first to offer 4G/LTE services in addition to 3G, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria plan to commence 4G rollout in the coming months. The network design is built around the ip.access ViperTM solution, comprising nanoVirtTM 3G/4G virtualised gateways and management system together with the 3G and 4G/LTE Small Cells. The small cells are installed on a tower near the centre of a village and deliver mobile coverage to the community.  Each deployment is highly scalable and upgradable, adding capacity to meet demand as needed.

GSMA has forecasted that 3G will dominate Sub-Saharan Africa in 2025. There will still be a lot of users on 2G then. It is important to keep these people connected while the 4G/5G handsets / smartphones become more affordable for these users. There are a lot of vendors who are doing a fantastic job in providing equipment that is enabling operators to connect these low ARPU subscribers.

Related Posts:

• When will 2G & 3G be switched off now that 5G is here?
• AMN's Ultra-low cost sites
• MTN sees future in 3G
• Vodafone UK improving coverage with Phone Boxes, Mini-masts & Manhole Covers

Airspan Small Cells and Macrocells Portfolio, including 5G

Back in April, a presentation from Airspan showed that they have shipped nearly 500k small cells. Sprint has nearly 300k MagicBoxes while Jio has around 120k small cells.

As you can see above, Airspan has a range of outdoor small cells and as shown below, a wide range of indoor small cells.

Airspan recently announced that it has partnered with Rakuten, the newest MNO in Japan, to bring comprehensive 4G and 5G solutions to the world’s first fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network. The announcement said:

Airspan’s Air5G OpenRange28 mmWave platform in 28GHz will deliver ultra-high capacity to Rakuten Mobile with record time-to-market, enabling unprecedented monetization opportunities. Airspan’s open RAN platforms will provide Rakuten Mobile the flexibility to disrupt the economics of traditional network operators and lay the foundation for transformational 5G architectures. With over half a million systems deployed globally, Airspan brings its proven disruptive economics to the fully virtualized Rakuten Mobile network.

Airspan’s mmWave virtualized Air5G OpenRange28 platform utilizes Qualcomm’s FSM100xx 5G chipset and supports open RAN architectures, seamlessly connecting to Rakuten Mobile’s virtualized BBU to deliver the world’s most advanced open interface virtualized RAN solution.  The OpenRange28 mmWave platform supports multiple functional splits for the widest possible set of deployment options, ensuring Rakuten Mobile customers benefit from the highest level of efficiency and the best user experience in Japan.

Airspan's 5G products can be viewed here.

With so many innovators working with Rakuten, it would be interesting to see their 4G & 5G network rollout. Looking forward to some big announcements at MWC next year.

Related Posts:

• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Turkcell's Small Cell Strategy
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Sprint's Trebl: Magic Box + Alexa + HiFi Speakers
• Telecoms Infrastructure Blog: Dense Air: The Neutral Host Small Cell Wholesale Network Operator

Deutsche Telekom, Huber+Suhner are jointly developing 5G small cell antennas

According to Telekom press release:

Deutsche Telekom, Huber+Suhner are jointly developing 5G small cell antennas

Deutsche Telekom is now also preparing its network for the use of 5G small cell antennas. To do so, it is collaborating with Huber+Suhner, the specialist for electrical and optical connectivity. The Swiss company has developed five small cell antennas for Deutsche Telekom that support 4G and 5G frequencies. The Sencity Urban antennas cover the range of frequencies from 1.7 to 4.2 GHz. Small cells are small amplifiers for the mobile network. The data throughput can thus be systematically expanded in areas where many customers are on the move or surfing.

The new small cell antennas first operate in Deutsche Telekom’s 4G network. They can be upgraded to 5G in just a few simple steps. Sencity Urban antennas will be used for the first time in Kiel, Lüneburg, Osnabrück, Munich, Mülheim and other cities.

Small cells will play an increasingly important role in Deutsche Telekom’s network in the future. They are creating a significant increase in data capacity in their coverage area. This is currently up to an additional 150 MBit/s. The new types of Huber+Suhner antenna make it possible to increase quality further with what is referred to as the MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology. Using this technology, several antennas provide higher data throughput – both at the transmitters and in the receiver.

“Small cell antennas are an important component of our expansion strategy. We can systematically cover squares and streets with the new antennas. This helps us create more capacity in the downtown areas and thus further optimize our network,” states Walter Goldenits, Telekom Deutschland’s CTO. “A big added value of our Swiss partner’s antennas is their flexible handling: we can convert the supply to 5G in a few easy steps.”

The small cell antennas made by Huber+Suhner will be installed on public telephone boxes, bus and streetcar shelters, walls, or on LED furniture. There are various types of antennas and housing, adapted to the various requirements. Omnidirectional antennas are used for market squares, for example, and directional antennas for narrow streets.

Small cells will be required in the future to provide urban areas with 4G and 5G. Combined with the conventional locations, the network can thus provide the necessary coverage and capacity to supply more and more wireless devices. The Sencity Urban antennas are very compact and can be easily installed in existing infrastructures. This saves space and enables future networks to perform at their best.

The press release is also available on Huber+Suhner site here.

Back in May, Huber+Suhner had already announced outdoor MIMO antennas for 5G Urban Deployments:

HUBER+SUHNER has developed small omnidirectional and directional antennas to maximise performance. The new SENCITY Urban 100 and 200 outdoor MIMO antennas cover both 4G and 5G high frequency ranges and are as compact as possible for discreet installation in different types of street furniture, such as bus shelters, poles or walls, depending on the location, thanks to various bracket mounting options.

Further details:

• SENCITY® Urban 100
• SENCITY® Urban 200

Related Posts:

• Small Cell Installation Challenges
• AT&T's Small Base Stations on Wooden Poles
• Antennas for Small Cells and C-RAN

Small Cells and Neutral Host Networks

Back in January, techUK hosted a conference titled, 'Neutral Host Networks: Vision and Reality'. There were quite a few interesting presentations and they are available freely on their website. Here are some slides I found interesting. 

The first one was from Huawei where they talked about 'Neutral Host Models in 4G & 5G Architecture' and covered the Lampsite neutral hosting in detail. If you don't know about Lampsite, check out this earlier post on Huawei Lampsite 3.0 here.

Duncan Wall, Business Development Director, Arqiva talked about 'The benefits of neutral host networks in urban and rural environments - Progress toward that vision'. There were quite a few details on what Infrastructure could be shared and benefits of sharing, new tower proposition, street trends, etc.

I like the simple site design picture shown above. The shared cabinet can host 4 small cells (from 4 operators) and that can feed the shared antenna on top of the lamp post.

In addition, there are presentations from Real Wireless, LS Telecom, BAI Communications, LS Telecom, Disruptive Analysis & Opencell. All presentations available here.

Related Posts:

• Mobile Network Infrastructure Sharing in Japan over Electric Power Infrastructure
• Quick tutorial on Mobile Network Sharing Options
• A practical use of MOCN in ESN
• What is meant by Infrastructure in a Telecoms Network?

Dense Air: The Neutral Host Small Cell Wholesale Network Operator

Dense Air was launched at MWC 2018 as a new wholesale network operator, that “enhances and extends” the coverage and capacity of existing Mobile Networks as a “Carrier of Carriers” operator, typically on a neutral host basis.

According to the announcement:

Dense Air uses Airspan’s comprehensive portfolio set of 4G and 5G small cells to offer services to Mobile Operators in licensed spectrum dedicated to small cells for densification/extension deployments.

According to Paul Senior, Acting CEO of Dense Air, “By adding small cells, running in dedicated licensed spectrum to Macro networks at cell edge either outdoors or indoors, we can dramatically improve the service experience to end users, increase speeds and network capacity. Importantly, Dense Air does not and will not offer retail mobile services and does not compete in any way with mobile service providers.”

“The economics of both 4G and 5G small cell deployments can be dramatically improved when deployed using a neutral host solution, i.e. when a single network of small cells can host multiple operators. Our mission is to help MNOs and MVNOs improve their networks by densification without the need to spend CAPEX”.

Interested readers can refer to earlier posts about Airspan's Magic Box and their deployment in Reliance Jio.

According to the website, Dense Air now has spectrum in following countries:

• Dense Air Ireland: Operating in 3.6GHz (Band 42 & 43)
• Dense Air Belgium: Operating in 2.6GHz (Band 38)
• Dense Air Portugal: Operating in 3.6GHz (Band 42 & 43)
• Dense Air New Zealand: Operating in 2.6GHz (Band 7 & 41)
• Dense Air Australia: Operating in 3.6GHz (3GPP Band n77 & n78)

Their most recent win has been the spectrum win in the six largest Australian cities, by participating in the ACMA 5G Spectrum Auction. The acquired spectrum supports 5G operation in 3GPP bands n77/n78.

So what exactly is Dense Air and what do they do? As per their launch press release:

Dense Air is an optimised network densification and network extension service.

• Solution delivered using Indoor and Outdoor Small Cells
• Service operates in licensed, dedicated spectrum
• Dense Air small cells provide services on a “Neutral Host” basis
• We support 4G LTE and LTE Pro networks and later 5G NR
• Dense Air fills coverage holes and capacity weak spots in Macro Networks
• Services are offered on a wholesale “Carrier of Carriers” basis to Mobile Network Operators
• We DO NOT compete with Mobile Operators or other Service Providers
• Our services are delivered in Urban, Suburban or Rural areas
• The focus is on mobile use cases, including eMBB, IoT, Public Safety
• We also enable Private LTE Networks for Large Enterprises and Governments

A presentation by Paul Senior at UK Spectrum Policy Forum meeting last year is embedded below and can be downloaded from techUK website here:

Carrier of Carriers - Small Cell Networks for both 4G LTE and 5G NR - Dense Air from techUK

Turin will be the first European city with a 'drone ready' 5G network

Last year I blogged about how TIM wants Turin to be the first 5G city in Italy. Since then I have also blogged about how TIM has rolled out "commercial" 5G across the whole of San Marino.

Turin (Torino) will be the first European city with a 'drone ready' network, thanks to the use of TIM's 5G technology. Last month measurement activities of the aerial coverage at high altitude was done in Piazza Vittorio Veneto and at the Parco del Valentino and Parco Dora. "The municipality of Turin will use the drones for security and we will experiment with the municipal police remotely piloted aircraft to control some areas most at risk of safety", explains Paola Pisano, councilor for innovation of the municipality of Turin. "Do not call it Big Brother, the goal is to support men in uniform operating on the territory" he continued. via La Repubblica (translated from Italian via Google translate)

The photos above are available on TIM Newsroom Flickr channel here.

According to Mobile World Live:

Telecom Italia and its partners flew remotely piloted aircrafts using 5G to measure mobile coverage in Turin in Italy, which the operator claimed will make the city the first in Europe with a drone-ready network.

The trial was coordinated with the support of the Turin Polytechnic University and enterprise drones solution provider Seikey.

Public safety, critical infrastructure monitoring and land protection are some examples TIM gave of drone applications that will benefit from a high quality connection to send data and videos in real time.

As can be seen in one of the pictures, the equipment used for measurements is PCTEL’s flagship IBflex® scanning receiver for sub-6 GHz bands that was announced at MWC Americas 2018. Here is a tweet from them with embedded video.

PCTEL's IBflex® scanning receiver takes flight! Watch as Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) conducts aerial measurements of their #LTE network in Torino. https://t.co/9MJQEl8foW #mobile

— PCTEL (@PCTEL_inc) November 28, 2018

If for some reason you can't see the video, the direct link to YouTube video is here.

Defining HetNets (Heterogeneous Networks)

Recently added a video/presentation looking at 2 different definitions of Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets). Presentation with video embedded below. If you like to jump to video directly, here is the link.

The 2 definitions of Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) from 3G4G

Related post:

• Tutorial: An Introduction to Macrocells & Small Cells

Covering Australian Mobile Not-spots

Picture source

Came across this Quora question recently, "Is Australia much bigger than it appears on the map?". The answer surprised me because Australia is as big as USA or China and is 3.5 times bigger that Greenland but in the map that certainly does not show up. With a population of just 23.2 million, it's definitely bound to have loads of not-spots.

Picture Source

Telstra's 4G small cells are connect Queensland's mobile blackspots, but lack of coverage is still common. The problem with low power small cells sometimes is that the coverage area can be very small. In this particular case its less than 300 metres.

Optus is another operator committed to spend AU$1 billion to in regional and rural Australia to eradicate mobile blackspots, improve overall mobile coverage outside the big cities and help future proof the networks for data-hungry applications like video streaming.

It's the biggest network investment in the company's 25-year history and will fund:

• 500 new mobile sites across regional and remote Australia (including 114 sites built through the government's Mobile Blackspots Program)
• Upgrades for more than 1,800 sites to go from 3G to 4G
• The addition of 4G to more than 200 sites (to increase capacity for peak periods)
• The continued rollout of satellite small-cell technology (bringing voice and data to the remote outback)

I talked earlier about their 3G Small Cells using Parallel Wireless CWS here. The solution also won Small Cell Forum award in 'Excellence in Commercial Deployment of Rural/Remote Small Cells' category along with Gilat for satellite backhaul.

Here is a video showing how users reacted to one of the sites having just been turned on.


*Full Disclosure: I work for Parallel Wireless as a Senior Director, Strategic Marketing. This blog is maintained in my personal capacity and expresses my own views, not the views of my employer or anyone else. Anyone who knows me well would know this.

ZTE's 4G / 5G Street Lights

While we are on the subject of street lights and lamp posts, I thought it may be worth mentioning about ZTE's BluePillar Streetlamp solution that it announced back in 2016:

An integrated streetlamp, charging pillar, base transceiver station (BTS) and smart city information solution, BluePillar enables a traditional streetlamp pillar to double as a 4G/5G BTS, or a charging point for electric vehicles. The solution can also collect local data on weather, environment, transportation and security while its large outdoor LED screen can be used to display information and advertising.

The BluePillar solution consists of ZTE’s BlueBox charging pillar, 4G iMacro base station, intelligent controller and intelligent streetlamp, all fully integrated into one product. It makes full use of a streetlamp pillar and integrates seamlessly into the surrounding environment, which could not only solve the difficulty in siting 4G networks, but also assure Wi-Fi construction, environment monitoring, security management and data collection in hotspots. It also offers direct outdoor advertising opportunities, as well as the display of municipal information and other value-added services at the same time. This solution could reduce the unit cost and promote the business density of each site, which could help operators acquire sites whilst saving land, electricity and other resources. Local governments, operators, everyday citizens and electric car owners all stand to benefit from this solution. For example operators could expand their business scope, and make the transition from traditional telecoms operation to the comprehensive operation of data services in cities.

The innovative integration of the solution, including the BTS, streetlamp and charging pillar, coupled with its ability to charge electric vehicles makes this a convenient solution for telecoms tower companies. ZTE's BluePillar solution could solve the challenges of Internet access on roads and in communities, as well as making streetlamps intelligently connected via information exchanged through its BTS.

Additionally:

Besides street lighting ZTE BluePillar is an integrated part of smart city. The system supports security surveillance, real-time information collection on the environment, real-time monitoring of the assets/special crowd with RFID .Through the LCD, important information and advertisement can be displayed which will bring benefit to the citizens as well as operators. RRU and WIFI equipment can be installed with BluePillar, citizen will be facilitated with WIFI services. Nowadays people have concern about air pollution and prefer clean transportation, such as Electrical Vehicles .However, due to limited space, lack of charging piles becomes an vital factor hinders the popularity of EV. Integrated with AC charging piles, BulePillar solution can save space and be an ideal method for municipal department to spread EV.


According to the ZTE magazine:

ZTE has deployed its IoT solutions in over 140 cities in 40 countries globally. She stated that a wide variety of solutions using smart meters have helped optimise city infrastructure with smart street lighting, parking as well as water and air monitoring Some examples include the deployment of 20 thousand smart street lamps in Paris’ smart city project: the City of Light. These smart street lamps are outfitted with sensors that help manage its energy consumption and maintenance optimisation.

To help alleviate traffic jams in congested cities, ZTE has smart parking solutions that notify users where they can park their vehicle without having to search for hours on end for parking spots. With its smart building and environmental monitoring, building managers would be able to better manage power distribution within the building.

I could not find any information about the 4G / 5G solution being trialed anywhere but I am sure it probably is.

Also, it seems that this Streetlight is developed by another Chinese company called Shanghai Sansi Technology Co.,Ltd. See here. More info also on their Youtube channel here.

Related Posts:

• KDDI to test 5G with base stations built in Street Lights
• Small Cells at Mobile World Congress 2017 (#MWC17)
• Small Cells in the Lamp posts
• Small Cells on the Lamp posts and other street furniture

Look back and forecast of Small Cells

Going through 'End of Year Report' by ThinkSmallCell. A good summary of what happened in 2016 and what we can see in 2017. This picture above from the same report is interesting. As you can see that the average speeds of 3G have decreased while that of 4G has increased significantly. I suspect what has happened is that the newer devices with more advanced 3G capabilities now have access to 4G while the older devices with basic HSDPA support have stayed on 3G, decreasing the average speeds.

You can also read the top 5 posts from this blog here.

Coming back to forecasts, another ThinkSmallCell Analyst Spotlight webinar where Caroline Gabriel from Rethink research and Kyung Mun from Mobile experts provide their insight into where small cells are headed in 2017 and beyond.

Personally, I think with VoWiFi becoming common in our devices, the market for residential and enterprise eventually will decrease. I hear you say what about QoS, well see my 3G4G blog post here.

Here are the slides and video from ThinkSmallCell webinar:

Drone cells are becoming a reality

Back in early 2015, the then EE CEO Olaf Swantee said, "We will begin exploring 'Air Masts', essentially aerial small cells positioned in the sky above a hard-to-reach area, using either tethered balloons or unmanned craft, bridging the UK's transmission gap."

The vision has not changed a lot. I recently blogged about 'EE's vision of Ultra-Reliable Emergency Network'. If you look at the slide above you will notice temporary solutions include Air masts, UAV's and Network in a box (NIB).

Nokia recently did a trial with EE where they used a drone to carry a tiny base station to remote areas around Inverness. Weighing in at only 2 kg, the Nokia Flexi Zone Pico cell has all the punch of LTE in a very compact package, allowing 4G services to be provided wherever a drone can reach. High quality LTE voice calls between responders, video streaming and up to 150 Mbps data throughput were all achieved, with no need for a connection to an external core network.

While it doesn't exactly say the area that was covered, I would expect it to be able to do at least 1 km diameter to be effective in an emergency scenario.

According to a recent International Business Times article, US operator AT&T is trying something similar to deal with the struggle to provide enough wireless data are large venue events to please customers. The mobile operator says that drones known as "Flying Cell on Wings (COWs)" could make all the difference. The idea would be that the drone would be tethered to the ground so they would hover in one place, sort of like a portable hovering small cell. 

Finally, Ericsson and China Mobile conduct world’s first 5G drone prototype field trial. In their recent press release it says:

In the trial, held in Wuxi in China’s Jiangsu province, a drone was flown using operator’s cellular network with 5G-enabled technologies and with handovers across multiple sites. In order to demonstrate the concept’s validity in a real-world setting, the handovers were performed between sites that were simultaneously in use by commercial mobile phone users.

The potential use cases for this technology include mission-critical applications such as support for emergency services. However, end-to-end low latency needs to be guaranteed by the operator’s network to ensure the safety and reliability of such services.

I am sure we will be hearing more on this topic soon.

3G / 4G Small Cells Mobility Scenarios - 3GPP Technical Report

3GPP has an excellent Technical Report (TR) 37.803 that covers different mobility scenarios and enhancements for 3G HNB and 4G HeNB. Its an interesting read if you are involved in this activity. Embedded below for reference.

Mobility enhancements for Home Node B (HNB) and Home enhanced Node B (HeNB) from Zahid Ghadialy