US 9,698,477 B1Granted

Cell tower and method of use

AssigneeMobilitie, LLC

InventorsGary B. Jabara, Christos Karmis, Jason Caliento, Justin deHart, Michael Thomas Trampetti, Russell J. Lofquist, Jonathan Levine

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Abstract

A cell tower is manufactured from a steel plate that is pressed into a polygon form, such as a 12-sided polygon or a 16-sided polygon. The tower is designed for direct embedding into the ground or attachment to a buried portion. The base portion contains apertures sized to permit the installation of an equipment rack directly into the interior of the tower. Other apertures in the tower provide handholes for installation of the equipment, backup batteries, and cabling. The top section of the cell tower includes mounting members for one or more sets of cellular radio antennas and/or microwave antennas. The antennas, and associated remote radio units, are mounted to the top of the cell tower and are hidden from view by one or more shrouds. The shrouds provide a visible barrier, but have minimal impact on the radio frequency characteristics.

Claims31

Dependent claims

A cell tower mounted at a tower location site, comprising:

a monopole having a base portion, one or more mid-pole portions, and a top tower portion with each of the plurality of portions having a bottom end and a top end and a sidewall extending from the bottom end to the top end to define an interior;
the base portion comprising a buried portion and an equipment mounting portion and having:
the bottom end of the buried portion being configured for direct embedding into ground at the tower location site with the buried portion being buried below grade and having a top end extending above grade;
a first access aperture positioned in the sidewall of the equipment mounting portion of the base portion to permit access to the interior portion;
and
an aperture cover positionable to cover the first access aperture;
the mid-pole portion positioned between the base portion and the top tower portion with the mid-pole portion bottom end coupled to the top end of the base portion and the mid-pole portion top end coupled to the bottom end of the top tower portion;
and
a first mounting member positioned at the top end of the mid-pole portion;
the top tower portion having:
a second mounting member positioned at the bottom end of the top tower portion and sized to mate with the first mounting member to thereby connect the top tower portion with the mid-pole portion;
a plurality of radio mounting members adjustably coupled to the top tower portion and configured to receive and retain radio frequency (RF) components of a cellular radio, wherein the top section comprises RF equipment for microwave communication and for cellular communication;
and
a shroud attached to and extending around the top tower portion, the shroud being made from a material selected to provide a visibly opaque barrier and to have radio frequency characteristics that does not impede the transmission of radio frequency signals;
the top end of the buried portion having a third mounting member and a bottom end of the equipment mounting portion having a fourth mounting member sized to mate with the third mounting member to thereby connect the equipment mounting portion with the buried portion.

12 more elements

A method of using a cell tower mounted at a tower location site, comprising:

assembling a monopole having a base portion, comprising a buried portion and an equipment mounting portion, a mid-pole portion, and a top tower portion with each of the plurality of portions having a bottom end and a top end and a sidewall extending from the bottom end to the top end to define an interior;
installing the cell tower at the tower location site by directly embedding the buried portion of the base portion into the ground below grade at the tower location site with a top end of the buried portion extending above grade;
attaching the equipment mounting portion to the buried portion top end, the mid-pole portion positioned between the base portion and the top tower portion with the mid-pole portion bottom end coupled to the top end of the equipment mounting portion and the mid-pole portion top end coupled to the bottom end of the top pole portion;
attaching the top tower portion to the mid-pole portion using a first mounting member positioned at the top end of the mid-pole portion and a second mounting member positioned at the bottom end of the top tower portion and sized to mate with the first mounting member to thereby connect the top tower portion with the mid-pole portion;
installing electronic equipment in a first access aperture in the base portion;
mounting cellular radio antenna components to the top tower portion;
mounting radio frequency (RF) components of a cellular radio to the top tower portion;
mounting RF components of a microwave radio to the top tower portion;
and
attaching a shroud to the top tower portion to extend around the cellular radio antenna components, the shroud being made from a material selected to provide a visibly opaque barrier and to have radio frequency characteristics that does not impede the transmission of radio frequency signals.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.