On the Adoption of 5G Cellular Network Using Small Cells in Transportation Infrastructure

Small cells are low-powered antennas that provide cellular and data coverage to supplement and stretch the cellular providers’ microcell networks. In 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated to extend the cellular networks using small cells and stepped forward to adopt 5G bandwidth. To date, thirty-six states have acted and passed legislation to deploy small cells. The purpose of the research is to explore the state-of-the-practices of installing small cells in transportation infrastructure. However, there are numerous challenges encountered by State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) regarding the small cell deployment in their existing transportation infrastructure. The challenges exist in planning, construction, contract execution, implementation, operation, and maintenance activities. For example, an existing streetlight pole may not have adequate space inside the pole to run service lines to power the small cells; the existing pole may not have the structural capacity, or the anchor bolts may not have adequate diameter and depth to hold the extra load coming from small cell accessories; the right of way (ROW) may have access limitations, and many other uncertainties that are currently being taken into account by the DOTs. Despite such limitations, small cells are expected to provide robust support to transfer high definition video data due to its high demand in today’s infrastructure in major cities and offer many more benefits that will come along with it.