Greenfield Project - Cellular Networks

Cellular Networks

In wireless engineering jargon, a greenfield is a project which lacks any constraints imposed by prior networks. The first cellular telephone networks were built primarily on tall existing tower structures or on high ground in an effort to cover as much territory as possible, quickly, and with a minimum number of base stations. They were developed with no regard for future capacity considerations or frequency reuse. These early wireless telephone network designs were later augmented with additional base stations and antennas to handle the growing demand for additional voice traffic and higher network capacity. As wireless networks quickly evolved it was evident that the earlier designs forced inefficient constraints on the growth of the network. As governments made more radio spectrum available for licensed wireless telephone operators in the late 1980s whole new networks popped up that surpassed the performance of legacy networks having the benefit of starting their designs fresh and without the constraints of existing systems. They were termed "greenfield networks" or "greenfield projects". Today any new network designed from scratch to enable new Radio Access Network technologies (i.e. 3G, 4G, Wi-MAX, etc..) are also referred to as greenfield projects.