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In-building WirelessA Deployment Guide for Wireless Service Providers

Welcome to the In-building Wireless Deployment Guide for Network Managers

What’s inside counts. That statement sums up customer expectations about wireless service inside offices, homes and public places such as malls, hospitals and subway stations. Wireless service providers have a vested interest in meeting those expectations: When consumers and business users are convinced that indoor coverage is reliable and nearly ubiquitous, they’re far more likely to believe that their mobile phone can be their only phone. That belief helps wireless carriers’ bottom lines by increasing average revenue per user (ARPU).

Many wireless service providers are aggressively expanding their in-building coverage. In fact, this trend is a major reason why the in-building market will be worth $1.3 billion by 2009, according to a June 2006 report by Visiongain, an independent analyst firm. The report notes: “The need for improved voice quality in homes, offices and other buildings, as well as increasing usage of mobile data networks indoors, are driving this growth of cellular and wireless in-building solutions. Upwards of 70 percent of 3G data traffic originates indoors and adopting the right strategy can help operators alleviate network capacity issues while at the same time boost data ARPU and reduce churn through service differentiation.”

Other analyst firms are equally optimistic. For example, a December 2006 ABI Research report forecasts the in-building market to grow 20 percent annually, to more than $3.6 billion by 2011.

In-building voice and data usage have steadily increased over the past several years. In 2005, 67 percent of all business users’ wireless data sessions and voice calls already were made indoors, according to a Strategy Analytics survey. Those usage habits have become more common since then, and they highlight the importance of reliable, seamless indoor coverage for wireless service providers targeting the enterprise market.

The purpose of this guide is to provide you with an understanding of the issues surrounding in-building wireless solution implementation, including:

•Whatarethechallengesindesigningandexecutingin-building wireless projects?

•WhatfactorsaffecttheirROIandongoingcosts?

• Howcanmultipleentitiesshareconstructionandoperational costs?

•Whatisthebusinesscaseforin-buildingwireless?

It is our goal to help you implement more solutions seamlessly, economically and quickly. If you don’t have the answers to some of these questions, or if you lack a complete understanding of in-building wireless, this guide is a great place to start.

Charting the Future Direction of In-building Wireless

This In-building Wireless Guide is designed as a hands-on reference document. We invite you to share this guide with your staff and use the information to build your own “Blueprint for In-building Wireless Success.”

It has the potential to help you and your staff in the following ways:

• GainaholisticapproachtoRFplanningandsolutionintegration.

• Identifyopportunitiesforusingin-building wireless to improve your competitive position and bottom line.

• Aidsolutionselection.

•Minimizeimplementationdelaysandcosts.

How to Use the Deployment Guide: Sections 1 through 4

The guide is divided into four easy-to-navigate sections. Although this format allows you to pick and choose which sections to view, the most effective way to use this document is to work through each section in order.

You will be asked to complete an in-building wireless audit, which offers the dual benefit of allowing you to document your current situation and providing ADC with the necessary information to answer your tough indoor wireless questions. This audit will ultimately streamline the process, creating faster time-to-market and increased customer satisfaction.

The guide also provides you with insight into design choices for effective in-building wireless infrastructure, as well as case histories from real-world indoor wireless implementations.

Section 1 Auditing Your In-building Wireless Deployment

Section 2 Service and Technology Considerations

Section 3 Your Blueprint for In-building Wireless Success

Section 4 Case Studies: In-building Wireless Deployment Scenarios

Note: You will encounter many acronyms throughout this document. Although they will be defined along the way, an acronym key is provided in the appendix.

In-building Wireless: A Deployment Guide for Wireless Service Providers

In-Building Wireless: A Deployment Guide for Wireless Service Providers

Section 1: Auditing Your In-building Wireless DeploymentA successful in-building wireless deployment begins with building a solid foundation. Your partner requires a thorough understanding of your needs and priorities. In Section 1, we examine the objectives of your in-building wireless deployment, objectives of the venue or other stakeholders, your network infrastructure considerations, and the operational requirements you may face.

Typical preliminary questions include:

Product Considerations

1.) At what stage is your in-building wireless project?

oActivating service

o Vendor selection

oCollecting information from vendors

oSecuring funding/budgets

oOther

2.) What business challenges led you to consider in-building wireless? (Check all that apply.)

oCustomer service for existing Enterprise

o Gain MOUs public venue

o Stressed Macro (capacity, pilot pollution)

o Hostneutral/plantolead

o Contractual requirement

o Other, please describe ______________________

_________________________________________

3.) What are the most critical in-building wireless challenges that you want to overcome? (please describe) _____________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

4.) What process will you use to select vendors?

oRFI

oRFP/RFQ

o Sole source

5.) What is your timeline for deploying in-building wireless? (See Project Timeline in appendix)

oDeploying now

oIn the next 6 months

oIn the next year

oConsidering / contract or pending funding

6.) What are your preliminary solution preferences?

oActive Distributed Antenna System (DAS)

oPassive DAS

oRepeater

oPico or microcell

oOther __________________

Facility and Installation Considerations

7.) What is the type of facility? (Check all that apply.)

oOpen/warehouse

oIndustrial/Manufacturing

oCubed office

oDrywall office

oHi-risebuilding

oGovernment building

oHospitalbuilding

oMall

oAirport

oConvention center

oStadium/Arena

8.) What is the estimated number of subscribers within the venue? __________

9.) Howmanybuildingsareinthisfacility? __________

10.) Whatistheapproximatesizeofthisfacility? (list per building) ____________ square feet ____________ square feet ____________ square feet ____________ square feet

11.) Howmanyfloorsdoesthisfacilityhave? _________

If more than one venue, please describe each. ____

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

___________________________________________


12.) Are floor plans available?

oYes

o No

13.) Is existing cable infrastructure available?

o No

o Yes, single-mode fiber

o Yes, multi-mode fiber

o CAT3/5 cable

o CATV

o Coax

14.) Is installation of conduit/innerduct required?

oNo, existing

oYes, why required _________________________

_________________________________________

15.) Are plenum-rated cables required?

o Yes

o No

16.) Are dust tents/partitions required (clean room environment)?

o Yes, describe where and why ________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

o No

17.) Are there any special work instructions?

o Union labor required

o Incumbent installer

o Building restricted access, security

o Off hours

o Asbestos or other environmental issues

o Other work restrictions, please list ____________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

18.) Is high lift equipment required for installation?

o Yes, describe coverage areas ________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

o No

19.) Are there any special installation requirements? (Examples could include architectural, aesthetic and historical considerations.)

o Yes, please describe ________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

o No

RF Considerations

20.) What is your design goal in terms of dBm? _______

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

21.) Which bands are in use? And what is the number of RF carriers per band?

o700MHzpublicsafety_______________

o800MHzSMR_______________

o 800MHzcellular–Aband_______________

o 800MHzcellular–Bband_______________

o 900MHzSMR_______________

o 900MHzGSM_______________

o 1800MHzDCS_______________

o 1900MHzPCS–Aband_______________

o 1900MHzPCS–Bband_______________

o 1900MHzPCS–Cband_______________

o 1900MHzPCS–Dband_______________

o 1900MHzPCS–Eband_______________

o 1900MHzPCS–Fband_______________

o AWS1700/2100MHz_______________

o 2100MHzUMTS_______________

oOther services_______________


22.) What is the access protocol and number of RF carriers?

o TDMA_______________

o GSM-TDMA_______________

o CDMA_______________

o WCDMA/UMTS_______________

o iDEN_______________

23.) Does this project require support for multiple service providers and/or multiple access protocols?


_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

o No

24.) Are there any other in-band services or known interferers?


_________________________________________

_________________________________________

_________________________________________

o No

25.) What is the RF source?

oRemote off-air interface

oLocal BTS/Node B interface

onanoBTS(IP–picofeed)

oRemote BTS feed

It is important to identify your top priorities when selecting a solution. A partner like ADC who offers a wide-range of products from repeaters, indoor DAS, outdoor DAS, pico and microcells, structured cabling, andserviceswillbeabletocustomizeasolutionbasedon your priorities.

Section 2: Service and Technology ConsiderationsQuality of service (QoS) can be a powerful market differentiator. Seamless, reliable in-building coverage is a key component of a wireless service provider’s overall QoSstrategy.Herearesomekeyconsiderationswhendeveloping and executing in-building wireless projects:

Create and Maximize Revenue Opportunities

Customers can’t use what’s not available. Simply put, revenue opportunities are often lost when customers frequentareas–suchasinsideofficebuildingsand malls–wherethere’softennosignaloronethat’s marginal. With growing consumer reliance on mobile communication devices and the increasing sophistication of available services particularly with business users, in-building coverage and capacity is becoming the primary focus for network improvement.

Wireless operators have two primary types of deployments, both of which can benefit from in-building wireless solutions. The first type is public areas, where reliable, seamless coverage indoors and out is key to attracting and retaining consumers, adding incremental MOUs and improving QoS. The second primary type is private areas, such as office buildings and campuses. Good in-building coverage is an asset for wireless operators targeting the enterprise customer and displacing wireline services. In both deployment types, wireless operators can use in-building systems to build consumer confidence that the network providing those voiceanddataservicesisreliableandnearlyubiquitous–indoors and out.

In some cases, providing an in-building wireless system may be the only way to land a major customer. A prime exampleishealthcare:Historically,hospitalsandotherhealth care facilities typically required that employees’ and/or visitors’ phones be shut off in many areas, due to concerns about interference with medical equipment, obviously disturbing or interrupting service. Those policies significantly reduce ARPU. But a well-designed in-building wireless system allows mobile phones to remain on in more areas by reducing the handset power to the minimum necessary to maintain a reliable connection. That can mitigate concerns about interference with medical equipment, leading to relaxed policies and in turn increasing ARPU. Reliable indoor coverage also increases the value of wireless in the eyes of health care CIOs and IT managers. More importantly, medical staffs are able to migrate to more sophisticated devices and communicate reliably.


Reduce Overhead Costs

An in-building wireless system can reduce overhead costs in a variety of ways. For example, it can reduce the traffic load on the macrocellular network to the point that additional base stations may not be necessary. Considering that a new base station can cost $250,000 or more, with backhaul and site leases adding to that cost, the savings can be significant.

Another example is how solid indoor coverage can improve data performance. If bandwidth-intensive applications such as streaming multimedia have access to a good signal, it makes for a better user experience. Just as important, a good signal reduces the number of lost and corrupted packets, in turn reducing the number that have to be resent. As a result, the operator may not need to upgrade its network capacity because the current infrastructure isn’t wasted on unnecessary tasks such as resending packets. Those savings also free up capital that can be spent on revenue-generating projects.

In-building systems also can be a cost-effective way to accommodate high voice and data usage. For example, instead of splitting macro cells or adding capacity to macro cells, deploying an in-building system can offload some of that traffic. That approach frees up capacity on the macrocellular network improving the customer experience indoors and out.

Finally, reliable indoor service also reduces customer complaints and churn, so the operator may have lower customer-acquisition costs because it isn’t constantly trying to replace customers who have left. Fewer customer complaints also can reduce the need to staff up call centers, issue service credits or both. A side benefit of reduced churn and lower customer-acquisition costs is that investors closely monitor these metrics when assessing a wireless carrier’s competitive position.

Identify All Variables

Proposals are only as accurate as the information on which they’re based. Identifying all variables up front is the best way to avoid change orders, which can cause project costs to spiral out of control, undermining the business model. Overlooking variables also can delay time-to-market and the ROI. The worst-case scenario is a lengthy work stoppage caused by variables that should have been identified up front.

Site surveys are highly recommended for identifying structural and environmental variables.

Table 1 lists some common environmental factors to consider in old and new buildings.

Table 1: Old Buildings vs. New Buildings

• Olderbuildingsmayhaveasbestos,whichrequiresspecial consideration when, for example, the material is in areas where cables must be pulled or where holes must be drilled.

• Newerbuildingsoftenhavefloorplansthatareavailable in electronic form, such as Auto-Cad drawings.However,it’simportanttocheckwhetherthose plans have been updated to reflect any remodeling or additions since the initial construction.

• Inbotholdandnewbuildings,checkwiththeITdepartment or other entity that’s likely to know where fiber is and isn’t available, as well as type(s) used. If existing conduit doesn’t have extra room for additional fiber pulls, determine the amount that will have to be added. Also, determine whether additional conduit isnecessaryonlyonverticalsoronhorizontals,too.Besides fiber, identify other infrastructure that can be leveraged in order to reduce costs and installation time. Examples include the facility’s Cat5 plant and local power.

Old Buildings New Buildings

Signals typically propagate through floors

In-building signals stay inside, while macrocellular signals stay outside, due to attenuating features of building materials such as foil-faced insulation and metallic window tinting

Higherlikelihoodof core drilling required; not designed for cable infrastructure; no Telco closets

Generally facilitate cable installation; interstitial space; typically have stacked Telco closets

Fiber runs may be longer than anticipated (no way to get there from here)

Higherlikelihoodofavailablefiber backbone

Higherlikelihoodthatfacilityhas hard-to-install ceiling construction such as hard pan

Drop-ceiling and/or air duct ceiling more common

May have historic preservation requirements (e.g., protect woodwork) and aesthetic requirements; Asbestos abatement

Higherlikelihoodof clean-room requirements

Often have many additions/ exterior walls on the interior; floor plans may show the facility as one complete floor when in reality they are separate facilities adjoined; for this circumstance there is no way to quickly/efficiently model

Typically have Auto-Cad drawings, but often not updated when facility changes occur


Focus on Solutions

A sound and ideal in-building wireless solution typically requires propagation analysis, system design, site surveys, coordinationofinstallationservices–whichmayincludeunionlaborandvalue-addedresellers(VARs)–andallhardware. The solution also should include accountability, with clearly defined benchmarks for measuring success. Hence,itisimportanttochooseapartnerthat’scapableof providing a comprehensive, turnkey solution.

There are several technical solutions available for in-building wireless coverage and capacity. They include: pico and microcells, high and low powered repeaters, passive coax-based transport, and low and high powered active DAS. Before selecting a specific solution or combination of solutions, it is important to consider the following:

• Istheneedcapacity,coverage,orbothinnature?

• Whatisthesizeandtypeofvenue?

• Howmanywirelessserviceprovidersdoesthesolutionneed to support?

A sound understanding of these needs along with the reconciliation of the business criteria and venue requirements, will guide you to the appropriate technologies.

Determine Ownership and Set Expectations

Different environments have different requirements. That goes without saying, but it bears repeating because in some cases, the landlord or enterprise may want an in-building solution that’s operator- and/or technology-agnostic. A related issue is which entity pays for and owns the in-building system.

It’s critical to identify ownership and the owner’s requirements up front because they affect design considerations. For example, sharing power amplifiers may require additional remote units, which translates into additional hardware and labor costs. By comparison, a discrete system may be easier to design and manage because it’s easier to mitigate interference and eliminates ownership and maintenance questions.

Identifying the variables discussed earlier in this section is a highly effective way to set expectations before the project gets underway. Setting expectations also avoids scope creep. Other important considerations are:

• Identifyandagreetoallrequirementsupfront. Once the project is underway, changes and additions become change orders, which can be expensive and time-consuming.

• Thefacilities-maintenancedepartmentcanbeagood source of information about ceiling types because they’ve encountered them while installing or maintainingHVACductwork.Thisdepartmentalsoshould be able to provide information about what’s above ceilings.

• Notetheceilingheightsinallareaswherein-buildingcoverage is required. Do they require more than just a standard 8- or 10-foot stepladder to reach? If so, factor in additional costs, such as renting scissor lifts. Check with facilities management to see if a scissor lift is already on site and can be borrowed for the project, although insurance requirements might not allow it.

• Identifyuniquebuildingfeaturesthatwillaffectcoverage and propagation, such as long hallways with offices on both sides, or banks of metal lockers. Hospitalstypicallyhaveafewroomswithlead-linedwalls, such as X-ray rooms.

• Lookforcleanrooms,whicharecommoninawidevariety of facilities, ranging from hospitals to hotels to data centers. A good rule of thumb is that the older the facility, the more likely that it will include areas that can’t be covered in dust, such as when drilling holes, or floors tracked by a scissor lift. Factor in time and budget for preventive measures such as tenting, which generally require a two-person team. A two-person team more than doubles labor costs and the project’s time frame.

• Whereverpossible,notethebuildingmaterials.Forexample, plaster walls typically have embedded wire mesh, which reflects signals at cellular frequencies suchas850MHzand1900MHZ.Bycomparison,drywall typically reflects only a small percentage of the signal. Offices built over the past few decades tend to have windows with metallic tinting, which routinely attenuate signals by 20dB or more.

• Lookforpartsoftheenvironmentthatcanbemovedorreconfigured,suchaspalletracksandmezzanines.These typically are made of steel, which means that they’ll affect propagation. So if they’re moved or removed, signal coverage almost certainly will be altered–andnotnecessarilyforthebetter.Evenlargewooden benches, which may absorb signals, can be a factor.

Another key consideration is installation labor, which typically is 40-50 percent of the system’s cost. Refer to the audit in Section 1 for labor-related considerations.

It’simportanttorecognizethatsomeorallofthesevariables might exist in your project. Identifying as many of them as possible as early as possible significantly reduces the chances that you’ll be surprised later on by delays and additional costs.


Examples of this may include:

• Changestoadesiredcoverageareasuchasaddingcoverage to a parking garage or facility area;

• ChangetotheRFsourcei.e.,basestationon-sitevs.off-air affects equipment configuration and physical placement in the venue;

• Misunderstandingofexistingcablepathlocation may result in the need to modify RF plan or pull new cable.

If changes are required, there are several options:

• Oncethepurchaseorderisissued,anythingoutsidethe proposal on which it’s based should be managed separately. Outside requirements may cause the project to be put on hold so that the plan can be amended.

• Havetheenterprisepayfortheadditionalmaterialsand labor required to make the change. Or revamp the design and negotiate sharing the cost of the changes.

• Youmaymodifytheplanbutyouarenotgoingtomodify the total allocated dollars.

By sharing the costs of the in-building solutions, it may complicatethepre-workbutminimizesstakeholdersexpenses and facilitates communication. All parties with monies invested are sure to lobby for their needs, ultimately satisfying all stakeholders.

Section 3: Your Blueprint for In-building Wireless SuccessWe are now able to begin a blueprint for a successful in-building wireless system. This blueprint should account for all variables that will affect the system’s construction and operational costs, including:

• Integrationwithoneormoremacrocellularnetworks;

• Accesstocableinfrastructure;

• Theabilitytousealternativetransporttechnologiessuch as Millimeter Wave and WDM;

• Architecturedetermination

• Theeffectsofcapacityonthedistributionsystem;

• Anarchitectureplanthatdeterminesdiscrete or shared systems; and

• Theimportanceofmodular,scalable flexible products.

In this section, we will show you how the choices you make today will determine your in-building success tomorrow. We’ll guide you through the architectural decisions and equipment selections that impact the short-term and long-term success of your in-building wireless system.

There are a variety of coverage and capacity solutions on the market. Different technologies, such as digital transport, direct modulated RF/analog, or analog transport that converts to IF, offer different architectural and performance benefits. Identifying your priorities will help match the best product for the application. Things to consider may include:

• Minimizingtotalcost

• Easeofinstallation

• Expandability

• Edge-to-edgebandwidthflexibility

• Abilitytouseexistingcableinfrastructure

• Abilitytotransportoverlongdistances (in and between facilities)

• RFperformance;minimizingsystemnoiselevel

• Alarm&management

• Quicktimetodeploy(systemturn-up)

• Discreteantennalocations

• Blanketcoverageorhole-fill


Figure 1: Large Facility Installation

Assessing the Transport Options

Fiber is an ideal backbone for in-building wireless systems. The obvious reasons include its bandwidth capabilities–whichareamajorassetforsupporting 3G’sdata-intensiveapplications–itsrelativelylowcostand the large installed base that in-building systems can tap into. A less-obvious benefit is immunity to interference: Fiber cables don’t emit RF, nor are they susceptibletoRF.Likewise,digitizedRFmitigatesany RF interference concerns (e.g., intermods, harmonics). This provides more design and installation flexibility. For example, the in-building system’s fiber can be run in the same conduit as coax that’s supporting a mall’s digital signage installation.

Immunity to interference also can reduce troubleshooting costs. For example, suppose that in a new building under construction, the design calls for some of the fiber to be routed through elevator shafts. After construction is complete, it turns out that the elevator motors produce more electrical noise than expected. If copper had been used for the in-building system, expensive, time-consuming changes might be required in order to work around that interference. But fiber is unaffected by the electrical noise.

Additionally, a system capable of supporting single- and multi-mode fiber offers increased flexibility. It’s not uncommon for both types to be available in the same facility, depending on its age and the number of IT projects over the years. So support for both major types provides flexibility and reduces the need for pulling new fiber within or between buildings on a campus. The ability to mix and match single-mode and multi-mode fiber provide design flexibility and cost savings.

Ensuring Flexibility for Future Growth

Part of the reason for deploying an in-building wireless system is to support mobile usage as next generation devices and mobile offices proliferate. As a result, the system should be flexible and scalable in order to accommodate increased usage and growth as RF coverage and capacity needs change.

One way to achieve that flexibility is by using expansions, which make it easy to grow the system coverage. Expansion or Remote units may be added as an application grows. Figure 1 illustrates this design.

Service Expansion

A system can expand in two ways. First, the coverage area may grow. This requires a solution that can accommodate additional equipment added to the infrastructure to distribute RF in areas that were not included in the original design. For example, adding coverage to a parking garage, basement, or other area of a building. Adding capacity is more complex a matter. If adding additional frequencies to a system is required, your solution will need to support the additional capacity via the equipment already in place. In those circumstances, the initial RF plan should consider not only the capacity needs today, but what growth could be expected in the coming years. If that is not done, the footprint of each antenna coverage area may shrink and additional equipment and infrastructure may be required-ultimately adding cost. Finally, if a system requires an addition of a frequency not supported by the initial design, a solution that accommodates that added frequency and the cable backbone is most desirable.

BTS/Off Air Interface

Multimode FiberSinglemode FiberSM SM MM MM

RU RURU RU

Host Unit

RURU

RU RU RU

RU

Expansion Unit

RURU

RU RU RU

RU

Expansion Unit

Growth


Support for Multiple Technologies

Some in-building wireless projects require support for multiple air interfaces or service providers (known as host-neutral systems). As a result, it is often desired for example that the in-building system, bring in signals from CDMA and GSM base stations through a common platform. The determination on whether or not to load power amplifiers with multiple protocols and carriers versus using dedicated or separate power amplifiers affects cost, performance and installation.

Table2summarizesthekeyattributesofserviceproviderssharing power amplifiers and using discrete amplifiers.

It is important to note that discrete may refer to systems separated by individual frequency band OR separated by wireless service provider. Separating systems by wireless service provider offers the carrier control over the signal distribution as their competitors make changes to the macro (the RF feeding the DAS) and alarm and management functions.

Table 2: Key Attributes of Shared and Discrete Power Amplifier Designs

Wireless Service Provider Shared Amplifier

Wireless Service Provider Discrete Amplifier

Often requires more remote locations based on channel loading; which increases material, equipment, and labor costs

Fewer number of cable runs and remotes required BUT higher number of terminations

Design built upon the worst-case coverage scenario; adds costs but may accommodate future growth

Each Service Provider owns their own system or has the ability to monitor and man-age their portion and is not impacted by actions of other Service Providers

Costs are typically divided equally, not factored based on the proportion of total power required

Minimizeequipmentcoststoday and add materials as necessary to support subse-quent Service Providers OR additional capacity (carriers) without affecting existing coverage and may be deployed incrementally

Interference mitigation issues may require lowering of power, resulting in additional cost

Facilitates ease of interfer-ence mitigation by manag-ing discrete remotes and antenna locations

Single wide-band antenna Possible antenna farm

It is important to note that there are several system architectures available:

• Discreteornarrowbandsystemsthatcanbeoverlaidfor multiband applications

• Multibandsystemsthatofferdedicatedpoweramplifiers but share packaging, mechanical, cable, power and other system functions

• Widebandsystemsthatutilizeasingletransportpipeand power amplifier for all RF, which are typically difficult to manage and do not offer high quality performance characteristics

You partner can model an application both ways to illustrate your design options and total cost of solution.


Section 4: Case Studies: In-building Wireless Deployment ScenariosStudying real-world deployments is a good way to understand and anticipate the issues that your project might include. This section provides three case studies as representative examples of design and installation considerations, as well as end-user benefits.

University of Wisconsin Hospital and ClinicsLike most health-care facilities, University of Wisconsin HospitalandClinicsfacedadilemmawithwireless. Its medical staff relied on cell phones and pagers to keep in touch at all times but were concerned that wireless could interfere with medical telemetry equipment, such as cardiac monitors. Meanwhile, many areas of the 2- millionsquarefootUniversityofWisconsinHospitalandClinics facilities had weak or no signal due to factors such as lead-lined X-ray rooms.

ThusUWHospitalisanexampleofhowimportantwireless coverage can be in health care facilities. “Our doctors felt strongly that poor wireless communications within the complex posed a potential threat to patient safety,” said Ruth Fankhauser, Assistant Director of InformationSystemsatUWHospital.

For U.S. Cellular, a related challenge was poor coverage on the adjacent University of Wisconsin campus. However,UWHospitalwouldn’tallowU.S.Cellular–oranyotherserviceproviderservingtheMadisonmarket–toputacellsiteonitsproperties.U.S.Cellularovercame this hurdle by installing an in-building wireless systemtocovertheUWHospitalcomplex.Inreturn,thehospital allowed U.S. Cellular to install a macro site atop its building, thus improving coverage throughout the University of Wisconsin campus and the western edge of downtown Madison.

Although the new macro site also covered the top five floors of the hospital complex, the facilities’ concrete construction attenuated signals to the point that they couldn’t reach the bottom three floors. But good coverage on the first three floors was critical because they house the emergency room and operating rooms, as well as many public areas.

To address this, U.S. Cellular installed ADC’s Digivance® RF Transport System to redistribute RF signals within the complex. ADC designed and installed a system of 27 remote units throughout the bottom three floors, alllinkedthroughExpansionunitstotheHostUnitwithfiber optic cables. Except for a small amount of cabling within the complex, U.S. Cellular funded the entire project.

The Benefits

With the macro site covering the top five floors and the Digivance in-building system covering the bottom three floors, cell phones could operate at lower power throughouttheUWHospitalfacilities.Thatreducedtherisk of cellular interference with hospital equipment, a key consideration.

US Cellular chose ADC’s Digivance RF Transport System for several reasons:

• A fiber-centric design. Copper cables have distance limitations, which make them impractical for large projects with long runs, as was the case at UW Hospital.“Withinthebuilding,thereweresomanyfloors and special areas to cover, including stairwells and hallways, that we needed the longer reach of a fiber system,” said Ken Drake, Senior RF Engineer at U.S. Cellular. A related issue for the macro site was the distance limitation of a coax feeder cable.

• Flexibility. U.S. Cellular also was attracted to Digivance’s design flexibility. “Digivance is one of the few indoor systems that does not require a home run to a central location for each DRU and antenna,” said Al Remondini, RF Design Engineer at U.S. Cellular. Instead of a home run topology, DEUs are installed throughout the complex, each of which serve up to six DRUsandantennas.ADCdesignedtheUWHospitalin-building system so that each DEU had one open port, allowing easy addition of another antenna or DEU, for multiple antennas.


This daisy chain topology works because as the only all-digital RF transport system on the market today, DigivancecanperfectlyreplicatethedigitizedRFsignalover each port on each DEU and DRU throughout the system. This flexibility directly benefits U.S. Cellular and UWHospital.“Nomatterhowmuchyoutest,youalwaysfind coverage issues after turn-up because of the unique construction characteristics of each building,” Drake said. “It is a lot easier to add coverage with Digivance, both in terms of cabling and man hours, than with other systems.”

• Ease of macrocellular integration. Although one sectorofthethree-sectormacrositeatopUWHospitalcould be easily located just outside the equipment room, the other two sectors needed to be placed on the other side of the building, approximately 2,000 feet away. That distance was well beyond what coax could handle, but it was a relatively short span for the Digivance RF Transport System, which supports hops of up to 12 miles without the attenuation issues that plague coax-based systems. As a result, Digivance gave U.S. Cellular more flexibility in terms of site selection.

• Turnkey solution. ADC also provided design and installation of both fiber and equipment for the Digivance in-building and macro system. The digital transport and modularity allowed for faster installation which translated into lower installation costs and a more rapid time to market. “The installation went very smoothly,” Remondini said. “There were no complaints, which says a lot when you consider that they (ADC) had to work in sensitive areas in a 24x7 environment.”

• Future-proofing. Since the system went live, U.S. Cellular has added two more Digivance macro systems to accommodate its new CDMA network alongside its existing TDMA and analog networks. Although Digivance accommodates any modulation standard, U.S. Cellular was unable to combine the systems because of their antennas’ limitations. Digivance alsowasabletoaccommodateUWHospital’snewconstruction, including new surgical wards.

• Business models. The Digivance system allowed U.S. Cellular to create an in-building rate plan for UW Hospitalemployees.ThisbenefithelpsU.S.Cellularattract and retain these high-ARPU customers and drive additional revenue.


Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

The Challenge

Hartsfield-JacksonAtlantaInternationalAirport(HAIA)isthe world’s busiest passenger airport, serving more than 83 million passengers per year. As part of its mission “to be the world’s best airport by exceeding customer expectations,”HAIAhascontinuallyenhancedits5.8million square-foot facility. Part of that effort involves ensuring clear, reliable communications services for passengers and airport personnel to ensure a safe and productive environment.

The Upgrade Plan

In2000,HAIAmanagementdeterminedthattheexistingnetwork and telecommunications infrastructure was inadequate to support the airport’s long-term vision. “When we looked at our current infrastructure and considered our customer needs and where we wanted to go with services, we found that there were major gaps,"saysLanceLyttle,HAIA’schiefinformationofficer.“The airport did not have an airport wide, centrally managed, infrastructure with the required technology and bandwidth to support future required applications.

In addition, cellular telephone and public safety wireless coverage was spotty, with dead spots and poor reception plaguing certain parts of the facility. Although some cellular carriers had deployed their own, in-building wireless distribution systems to boost their signals, other carriers relied on nearby outdoor cell towers.

As a result of the analysis, the airport embarked on a three phase, four-year, $11 million telecommunications infrastructure upgrade program that would bring state-of-the-art voice, video, and data communications to every part of the airport for passengers, employees, and tenants. The program rolled out in three phases, the first two of which involved building new telecommunications rooms, raceways, conduits, and cable trays and then installingacentralized,OC-192fiber-basedbackboneforall voice, video and data traffic.

Inthethirdphase,HAIAbuiltvalue-addedservices,including Wi-Fi access and pervasive cellular and public safety wireless coverage.

Cellular Coverage Requirements

Some public facilities rely solely on wireless service carriers todeployandmanagein-buildingsystems.However,aspartofitswirelessneutral-hoststrategy,HAIAchoseto build its own system. The objective is to ensure the highest quality service and coverage for both cellular and public safety systems, along with the ability to add new services as they became available. Although several companiessupplyin-buildingwirelesssystems,HAIA’sevaluation team worked directly with cellular carriers for over a year to select, design, and implement a system that would meet everyone’s needs.

“We wanted a proven system that would support multipleproviders–asystemthathadthecarriers’confidence,” says Lyttle. “We actually had weekly meetings with Cingular, Nextel, T-Mobile, metroPCS, Verizonandothercarriersduringourevaluationoftechnology options to make sure their requirements were met.”

As with most in-building systems, the deployment included on-site base stations from cellular carriers. These base stations are located in the airport’s new “telecommunications hotel,” and the wireless signals would be propagated from them throughout the airport viaadistributedantennasystem(DAS).Giventhesizeofthefacility,theHAIAteamwantedaDASthatcoulddistribute wireless coverage evenly, without signal loss, regardless of the distance from the carrier base station. In addition, the team wanted a system that could easily support the airport’s high customer volume and could be cost-effectively deployed and upgraded to support additional capacity and new wireless services.


The Solution

The evaluation team eventually chose the InterReach Unison® system.

The Unsion system uses a familiar hub-and-spoke architecture, much like that of an Ethernet LAN. AtHAIA,thedeploymentinvolvedeightseparateUnisonsystemsthatincluded36MainHubs,96ExpansionHubs,over 500 active Remote Access Units (RAUs), and more than 700 ceiling-mounted antennas.

Duetoitssize(oneofthelargestsystemsintheworld)and a design change during deployment, installation and testing of the Unison system took about six months. It went live in mid-January 2006.

System Performance and Customer Satisfaction

The Unison system now delivers clear, high-quality voice and data services to every area of the airport, including ticket lobbies, baggage handling areas, gates, and throughout the underground passenger transportation system. It currently handles traffic for all wireless subscribers as well as the airport’s public safety workforce.

With a current capacity of nearly 70,000 calls per hour, HAIA’stravelerscanusetheirtimemoreproductivelyforuntetheredvoiceanddatacalling.Already,Verizonhasdeployed its new 3G mobile data service (using EV-DO) for users of its wireless laptop cards, who are enjoying connection speeds of up to 900 Kbps. The other carriers are planning high-speed data service upgrades as well. The new system has also eliminated coverage gaps for security personnel, ensuring continuous contact in elevators, stairwells, or anywhere else in the facility.

Now at the completion of its telecommunications upgradeprogram,HAIAboastsacellularwirelessinfrastructure with service and coverage second to none—an asset that's only fitting for the world's largest passenger airport. Thanks to ongoing improvements andpremiumtechnologypartners,Hartsfield-JacksonAtlanta International Airport is poised to continue its industry leadership.


Unwiring the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino

The Challenge

When it opened in May 1999, the Venetian Resort HotelCasinowastheworld’slargesthotel,casino,andconvention complex, and the property has since remained a premiere destination for travelers to Las Vegas. With more than 4000 guest suites, a 650,000 square-foot conference center, the 2 million square-foot Sands Expo Center, corporate offices, and a 160,000 square foot casino, the Venetian complex hosts thousands of guests each year. Rather than resting on their laurels, the Venetian’s owners are now expanding the property with a new tower that will accommodate 3,000 more guest suites as well as three floors of new meeting rooms.

Running a successful hotel resort like the Venetian depends not only on the property’s architectural beauty, but on outstanding customer service. Clients should be made to feel that their every need is being satisfied, and that means that the property’s employees, or team members, must have fast and reliable communications in order to coordinate services. Within two years of opening, however, the Venetian’s management recognizedonekeyneedthatwasnotbeingmet:reliablewirelesscommunications.Hotelguestsandworkershavecome to expect that their cellular phones or portable data terminals will work wherever they are, but that wasn’t the case inside the Venetian.

Big Buildings Block Signals

This problem is not a new one to cellular carriers or their customers. Any large building presents indoor cellular coverage challenges, because the steel, concrete, stone, and other materials used in buildings or furnishings tend to block or attenuate cellular signals. Cell phones may work fine next to exterior windows, but have problems getting calls farther inside the building. And even if the cellular phone can still transmit from inside a building, it must boost its transmission signal to do so, which reduces its battery life.

The solution is an in-building wireless system that delivers a strong cellular signal to every interior area via on-site cellular carrier base stations and remote antennas. In some cases, the facility itself pays for the deployment of the in-building system, but often, carriers are the ones who bear the cost. This was the case with the Venetian.

In2001,fourmajorcellularcarriers(Verizon,Nextel,Sprint,andAT&TWireless)approachedtheVenetianabout installing the first in-building wireless system in Las Vegas, and the hotel’s chief technical officer, Steve Vollmer, quickly agreed.

“We knew there were some major dead spots inside the hotel where coverage was either weak or non-existent because we had had complaints from guests and our own team members,” said Vollmer. “When the carriers offered to install a system to eliminate them, we were all for it.”

Selecting The Right System

A typical in-building wireless system incorporates an on-site carrier base station plus a hub, distribution cabling, and remote antennas that supply distributed coverage. There are several choices in in-building wireless systems, but the Venetian’s cellular providers had some very specific technical requirements:

• Thesystemhadtoaccommodateanycarrier,soithadto support iDEN, GSM, CDMA, and TDMA protocols atboth800and1900MHzfrequencies.

• Thesystemhadtoalloweachcarriertoseparatelymanage its infrastructure.

• Thesystemhadtoaccommodatefutureenhancements such as high-speed data.

• Thesystemhadtoofferthehighestpossibleperformancetominimizebatterydrainforhandheldphone users.

• Thesystemhadtohaveend-to-endalarmingsothatproblems such as malfunctioning antennas could immediately be spotted and fixed.

• Thesystemhadtopreservethehotel’saesthetics.

• Thesystemhadtobecost-effectivetoinstall,withminimal disruption to guests.

Based on these criteria, the carriers chose the MetroReach and LGCell systems. The systems active architecture easily supports any number of carriers with high performance, independent management, and low installation costs. While other systems required rigid coaxial cabling over which wireless signals degraded with distance, for example, the LGCell system delivered exactly the same level of performance at all remote antennas, no matter how far they are from their expansion hub. In addition, systems based on coax cabling do not offer end-to-end management. Finally, the deployment costs were far lower with LGCell because it could use standard fiber and Ethernet cabling (including some existing cabling), and required no special training or equipment to install.


Deployment and Maintenance

Over a period of about two months, the carriers installed individual base stations in the Venetian’s Campanile Tower (where they also provide outdoor coverage on the Las Vegas Strip in front of the hotel) as well as one (forAT&TWireless)initsITdatacenter.AseparateMetroReachsystemandLGCellMainHubs(locatedinthehotel’s IT data center) deliver signals from each carrier’s basestations.FromeachMainHub,carriertechniciansran fiber optic cabling up building risers to connect with distributedExpansionHubsoneachfloor.Fromeachexpansion hub, standard CAT-5 Ethernet cabling was run to each remote, ceiling-mounted antenna.

In all, the system includes more than 80 hubs and more than 200 antennas to provide coverage in all hotel rooms, restaurants, gaming areas, theaters, Grand Canal shops, and other facilities. The flush-mount antennas in the ceiling have been painted to blend in seamlessly with the frescoes that are part of the hotel’s décor.

Since each carrier’s system has its own base station, hubs, and antennas, each carrier can remotely monitor and manage its system. When there’s a problem, the carrier sends out a service technician to fix it. Due to recent mergers and acquisitions, the carriers managing equipment at the Venetian today include Sprint/Nextel, Verizon,Cingular,andT-Mobile.

Since its installation, the system has quietly provided full coverage and outstanding performance. “We don’t realizehowwellthisworksuntilanantennagoesdown or there’s a problem with an expansion hub,” says Vollmer. “Then we get complaints. As far as I’m concerned, in-building wireless is no longer a nice-to-have feature; it’s a must-have feature. There used to be a rumor that the hotels would never allow cell phones in casinos, but now people can’t live without their Black Berry® devices and cell phones, no matter where they are.”

Flexibility and Performance

Over time, the flexibility and performance offered by MetroReach and LGCell have allowed for fast and trouble-free upgrades. For example, when Sprint and Verizonupgradedtheirbasestationstodeliverhigher-speed EV-DO data services and Cingular upgraded to support UMTS services in Las Vegas, they all did so without having to upgrade any of the LGCell hubs or antennas.ItwillbejustaseasytoupgradetoHSDPAservices when Cingular rolls out this service in Las Vegas.

Comprehensive, reliable cellular coverage is a given at majorresortsliketheVenetianResortHotelCasino,andnow guests and hotel team members get such coverage.


Appendix

Acronym Key

You will encounter many acronyms throughout this document. Although they will be defined along the way, the following acronym key is provided as an ongoing reference tool.

ARPU

Average revenue per user

BER

Bit error rate

BTS

Base Station Transceiver

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access; 2G digital standard

CWDM

Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing

DAS

Distributed Antenna System

dB

Decibel

dBm

Decibel referred to 1 milliwatt

DEU

Digivance ICS “Digital Expansion Unit”

DHU

DigivanceICS“DigitalHostUnit”

DRU

Digivance ICS “Digital Remote Unit”

FSO

Free Space Optics

GSM

Global System for Mobile communications; 2G digital standard.

Host

Module that interfaces to the BTS or BDA and Remote(s)

ICS

In-building Coverage Solution; Refers to ADC in-building mobile wireless coverage products

IF

Intermediate Frequency

MHz

Megahertz

MMW

Millimeter Wave

MOU

Minutes of use

QoS

Quality of service

RF

Radio Frequency

RFI

Request for information

RFP

Request for proposal

RFQ

Request for quote

SM/MM

Single mode/Multi mode

TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access

VAR

Value added reseller

W-CDMA

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access; 3G mobile wireless protocol

WDM

Wave Division Multiplexing


SummaryADCoffersthebroadestportfolioofin-buildingsolutionsavailablewithproductsthatscaleforfacilitysize,offermultipletransport options, and may be used in conjunction with one another to provide an performance and economically optimizedsolutionbasedonyourindividualapplication'sneeds.

For more information, please contact 800-366-3891 ext. 73008 or visit www.adc.com/inbuildingwireless.

Date Item Assignment Comments

Budgetary Design Solutions Provider Budgetary design based on floor plan coverage analysis/modeling

Site Walk Solutions Provider, Wireless Service Provider, end-user

Benchmarking of existing signal levels and required coverage areas in-building, installation

requirements, architecture, etc.

Final Design Solutions Provider Final system design compiled using site walk data, customer requirements, etc.

Day 1 Receipt of PO Wireless Service Provider, Solutions Provider

Day 2 Kick-off meeting/ scheduling

Solutions Provider, Wireless Service Provider, end-user

Coordination of material management, installation, resources, etc.

Day 16 DeliveryofProduct&Material

Solutions Provider

Day 17 Installation Solutions Provider ReferenceSOW&Design

Day 22 Commissioning/ on-Site Acceptance

Wireless Service Provider, Solutions Provider

Day 25 As-built documentation Solutions Provider

Day 28 Acceptance Wireless Service Provider or end-user

Sample Project Timeline

*Thisoutlinesatypicalprojectflowandtimingmayvarybasedonprojectsizeandcomplexity.

Website: www.adc.comFromNorthAmerica,CallTollFree:1-800-366-3891•OutsideofNorthAmerica:+1-952-938-8080

Fax:+1-952-917-3237•ForalistingofADC’sglobalsalesofficelocations,pleaserefertoourwebsite.

ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O. Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document. Because we are continuously improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. At any time, you may verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis. ADC Telecommunications, Inc. views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents. Products or features contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S. or foreign patents. An Equal Opportunity Employer

105493AE 3/08 Revision © 2008, 2007 ADC Telecommunications, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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