basistation

A base station, sometimes written basestation or basistation, is a terrestrial node in a wireless communications system that provides radio access between user equipment and the core network. It serves as a local radio transmission and reception point, covering a specific geographic area known as a cell.

A base station typically comprises radio transceivers, an antenna system, a radio-frequency front end, and a baseband/control unit. It handles the wireless link to mobile devices within its coverage, performing modulation and coding, power control, timing, scheduling, and radio resource management. It also supports mobility functions such as handovers between cells and paging for idle devices. The base station connects to the core network via a backhaul link, which may be fiber, microwave, or other transmission media.

In older cellular architectures, the base station is referred to as a base transceiver station (BTS) and is managed by a base station controller (BSC). Modern architectures integrate radio and control functions into a single unit called an eNodeB in LTE networks or a gNodeB in 5G networks. Backhaul interfaces and signaling protocols have evolved accordingly, with LTE using S1 and X2 (between base stations) and 5G using NG-C/NG-RAN interfaces to the core network.

Base stations come in various sizes and configurations. Macro cells provide outdoor, wide-area coverage; micro, pico, and femto cells offer smaller, indoor or dense-urban coverage. Deployment decisions consider capacity, coverage, interference management, and regulatory constraints on licensed spectrum.