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19 Power design has often been an afterthought in RF engineering, but 5G has brought it front and center. In general, 5G power designs aim to be an evolution of previous RF power standards, as well as be low cost and efficient. In some ways, 5G improves power efficiency because the 5G NR standard reduces overall power consumption by allowing base stations to "sleep" rather than continue to draw power even when there is no traffic. Additionally, 5G NR requires less always-on signal transmissions, which allows for longer sleep during low- and no-traffic times. That said, the duration between sleep and the next signal transmission is less than 1ms, so only components with superior reactivation times can be switched off during sleep. Base stations are the primary power consumer in 5G networks—in fact, up to twice that of 4G networks. 4G (and previous versions) use macrocells that send and receive signals through large towers and antennas. 5G networks, which work in conjunction with 4G networks and their predecessors, use a dense layer of small cells that serve distances up to about 10m in range. However, the addition of potentially hundreds of thousands or millions of small cells worldwide significantly changes power requirements. Small cell antenna systems must accommodate the full spectrum of frequency ranges and support much higher densities of simultaneously connected devices. Power Design Complicates RF Wireless Design Chapter Four Power Design Complicates RF Wireless Design " Increasing the frequency decreases the needed distance between transmitter and receiver. In some cases, the amount of data to be transferred is relatively small and lower frequencies could potentially overcome obstacles like walls and trees while requiring less power." Ivan Fumagalli RAMS Engineer, Eldor Corporation