Most wireless data sessions start or end indoors, and many never leave the building. Hardware and software solutions that can improve indoor cell service are a major focus of investment and research for the wireless industry, and several new solutions debuted this week at the Mobile World Congress event.
Zinwave, which develops neutral host indoor distributed antenna systems, announced a new interface panel the company says will connect up to four small cells to the Zinwave DAS. Mobile network operators are increasingly interested in using small cells as signal sources for indoor DAS as small cells cost less than full-fledged base stations. But most small cells only support one operator. By enabling up to four small cells to connect, Zinwave hopes to support multiple operators.
Zinwave also said its roadmap includes plans to support any frequency band between 3 GHz and 6 GHz for distribution of both licensed and unlicensed signal within a venue. The goal is to support LTE in unlicensed spectrum, MulteFire and citizens broadband radio service in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band.
The 3.5 GHz band is also a major focus for Wi-Fi access point maker Ruckus Wireless, which recently agreed to be acquired by Arris. Ruckus, which is a founding member of the CBRS Alliance, launched two 3.5 GHz TDD-LTE small cells at MWC. One is meant to cover approximately 10,000 square feet of indoor space and the other is meant to provide an approximately 300-foot outdoor range. Ruckus said both products are based on its OpenG technology and will be able to support 64 concurrently active users. The company said the two products are in trials today and should be generally available in the third quarter of this year.
Traditional DAS vendors also showcased indoor solutions at MWC. CommScope said its OneCell small cell solution can eliminate handovers and interference across large indoor areas through the use of a cloud-based radio access network. CommScope has a device management system to automate provisioning and support, and says OneCell delivers LTE coverage and capacity at price points that make it comparable to managed Wi-Fi.
Corning said it has teamed up with Altiostar to combine the Corning Optical Network Evolution product with Altiostar’s virtualized radio access network solution. Corning said its solution can support multiple LTE network operators and will be compatible with future 5G radio access technologies. The Altiostar solution uses “off-the-shelf” server hardware for its virtualized RAN/baseband solution with an Ethernet fronthaul between the virtualized baseband unit and the DAS headend. The system eliminates the need for on-site base station equipment and single-band high power remote radio heads.
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