Metro Areas Turn
to C-DAS to Meet Cellular
Coverage and Capacity Needs
More than ever before metropolitan areas are transforming the
communities surrounding sports complexes into complete entertainment
meccas with restaurants, shops, hotels, lounges, and theatres. However,
these new entertainment hubs bring along with them the need for
increased cellular coverage and capacity. The wireless industry uses the
term, “densification”, to describe these dense areas of mobile users with a
high demand for wireless connectivity.
A common approach to address increased cellular coverage and capacity
needs includes building a “BTS (Base Transceiver Station) Hotel” within a
facility. The BTS provides dedicated equipment just for one location, does
not offer any “economies of scale”, and often demands space on premise
that has a high value per square foot. Planners find it highly desirable to
forgo specialized DAS room build-outs, or reduce them, and utilize lower
cost real estate off premise. As a result, there is a great deal of interest
in solutions that centralize or locate these processing resources “in the
cloud” versus on premise. However, these solutions must still be able to
leverage the power of delivering multi-operator and multiple band services
at a quality and performance level only DAS systems have been able to
achieve.
C-DAS: THE RIGHT ARCHITECTURE AT THE RIGHT TIME
With the Teko DAS (Distributed Antenna System) platform from JMA
Wireless it is possible to centralize these resources, and in deployments
they have proven to reclaim up to 85% of valuable on premise real
estate. The C-DAS or Centralized DAS architecture also minimizes fiber
infrastructure requirements, resulting in significantly reduced fiber lease
costs. In addition, it can be programmed to easily move capacity into
different areas – adapting to the changing usage in a metro area and
providing better utilization of spectrum.
Many facilities need to support multiple mobile carriers. The Teko DAS
allows multiple operators to be converged at the venue, allowing several
operator specific, centralized metro serving sites, to deliver service to the
metro area and its venues. Since the mobile carriers can operate their
equipment independent of one another new operators can be added into a
venue more easily.
The Teko C-DAS solution has modular scalability, so carriers can easily
add new technologies and can scale metro areas from the central site
as needed. Some vendors have referred to 3rd party solutions such as
PON (Passive Optical Network) or Fiber Multiplexers. However, the Teko
platform’s integrated fiber optic multiplexer is designed with intelligent
communications across the fiber link, enabling centralized DAS head
ends to control complete venue or metro area sites over a minimum set
of fiber strands – all as a single system. Additionally, the Teko platform
offers extended DWDM expansion shelves to further scale deployments.
The Teko C-DAS approach is an innovative capability that is empowering
demand in metro areas for mobile operators and neutral host providers.
BTS HOTEL:
C-DAS & BTS
BTS HOTEL: Metro Center
C-DAS & BTS
C-DAS Premise Systems across Metro Area
A C-RAN driven small cell or RRHs (Remote Radio Heads) are often
touted as centralized solutions for this scenario. However, they demand
significantly more fiber strands that can render them cost prohibitive. They
are often limited in the number of bands they provide, and each small cell
only supports a single carrier; therefore, they are unappealing to venues
that have a broad mixture of end users. Furthermore, small cell antennas,
and fiber and power connections can only be mounted within a facility.
AN AESTHETICALLY APPEALING SOLUTION
In metro areas both indoor and outdoor environments require robust
cellular capacity and coverage for high densities of subscribers. However,
one of the key concerns among city planners is the look of cellular towers
and antennas that are needed to adequately serve these mobile users
within these metro-scapes. This is a justified concern because these
entertainment hubs are designed as visually attractive centers for visitors.
To overcome this issue, JMA Wireless offers solutions that essentially
disappear into the metro-scape, while still providing optimum service. The
antenna and radios are designed to mount within standard enclosures that
may be vaults located underground. Another option includes placing this
equipment within street light poles that blend in with the look and feel of the
surrounding area.
The photo below illustrates a high power MIMO (multiple input multiple
output) solution with an integrated multi-sector antenna that is designed to
fit naturally into the community design. It provides power for street lighting,
and is built to minimize noise from cooling. Plus no fiber, power or other
cables are visible to patrons.
ACTION FOR METRO PLANNERS,
NEUTRAL HOSTS, AND MOBILE
OPERATORS
As the market shifts towards these
dense metropolitan entertainment
hubs the timing is right to architect
network solutions that ensure the
optimal use budget, manpower
and bandwidth. The C-DAS architecture delivered by the Teko Platform,
along with its new capacity management capability and metro friendly
concealment options, affords an excellent option for maximizing the
delivery of advanced mobile solutions into these metro-scapes.
JMA Wireless
+1 315.431.7100
+1 888.201.6073
www.jmawireless.com