Axell Launches Intelligent Capacity-Centric Digital DAS

BARCELONA, SPAIN - Axell Wireless, a worldwide provider of wireless coverage solutions, launched a new in-building coverage solution allowing mobile operators to allocate capacity to locations only where and when it is needed. The system provides a more cost-effective way for mobile operators to handle the challenges of large-scale in-building coverage projects. Over 80 percent of mobile traffic now emanates from within a building and this figure is growing rapidly.

Historically a DAS (distributed antenna system) has been used to propagate coverage and capacity around a building or facility by taking single or multiple operators’ base station (BTS) resources and re-distributing them. Axell is a market leader in providing such systems and has deployed solutions in many iconic building facilities including the London 2012 Olympic Park, the Eurotunnel, the US Department of Homeland Security, and Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. With traditional DAS solutions individual base station sectors are effectively hard-wired to specific areas of a facility, depending on the peak traffic expected from that location. However mobile traffic is both bursty and sporadic meaning that maximum capacity is not required all of the time. As a consequence today in many in-building deployments expensive BTS resource can be left idle for significant periods of time.

Dynamic Capacity Allocation
Axell’s idDAS (intelligent digital DAS) solution provides mobile operators with a new approach to handling the challenges and current limitations of in-building coverage systems. idDAS allows mobile operators to dynamically allocate capacity around a facility and, in effect, provide a DAS system that can “breathe” and react to user demands. For example, many large-scale building facilities today have multiple uses, including housing hotels, conference centers, business offices, residential apartments and shopping areas. By using idDAS, capacity can be dynamically allocated by mobile operators to different parts of the facility as and when it is needed. During the day maximum capacity may be allocated to the offices and the hotel, however in the evening extra capacity could be re-routed from the offices to the shopping centre and residential apartments where demand has increased. As a result BTS resource can now be pooled and optimized for maximum utilization resulting in substantial cost savings for mobile operators. idDAS can be used for either single or multi-operator deployments as it allows each individual operator total flexibility and control over the allocation of different wireless services within a building facility.

Serving Peak Usage in Urban Environments
Equally idDAS can be deployed to provide the same benefits in an urban environment, where a centrally located base station hotel could be designed to feed multiple buildings including, for example, a hotel, a university, a conference center and a stadium. idDAS allows mobile operators to move capacity around the different locations when it is needed. During the day the university may require high capacity allocation for the students as they study, then during peak periods at the hotel extra capacity can be switched across to serve its guests. Similarly when an exhibition or event is held at the conference center, capacity can be moved so delegates can get online, and during the evening further capacity can be directed to the stadium to serve the fans during a music concert.

As with in-building applications, enabling the dynamic allocation of capacity in this way in an urban environment allows mobile operators to maximize base station resources, by not having to hardwire them to particular locations. Thus, minimizing the idle time and resulting cost that occurs.

Axell’s idDAS solution is based on advanced digital communications and Axell’s patented signal processing and filtering techniques. As a result it delivers exceptional low noise performance resulting in increased base station throughput. idDAS operates with every major wireless technology including GSM, UMTS, WCDMA and LTE, and supports all major frequency bands used by mobile operators across the world. It is completely cable agnostic supporting both fiber and copper cable types making it easier to implement in a building. It also includes full and easy support of MIMO for increased data throughput. The system also includes an embedded 1 gigabit IP backhaul per remote, allowing the use of one common cabling infrastructure throughout for Wi-Fi and other IP traffic. Set up and commissioning is handled through an intuitive wizard-style configuration tool with many auto-setup features, thus saving time and resources during deployment.