outdoor das and small cells

Report Sponsors: Supplier Guide Sponsors:

M A Y 2 0 1 6

CASE STUDIES

Outdoor DAS and small cells By Martha DeGrasse

B O N U SS U P P L I E RG U I D E29 WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE

COMPANIES

SERVICE, TRAINING, STAFFING,

HARDWARE, COMPONENT AND

ACCESSORY COMPANIES

2

F E A T U R E R E P O R T

Outdoor small cells and distributed

antenna systems are deployed in

a variety of ways. A traditional

DAS usually means pole-mounted

antennas and amplifiers connected

to a remote radio, a configuration

that remains the solution of choice

in many scenarios. But now some

operators are deploying complete

small cells that include radio,

antenna and baseband in one box.

Another solution is the remote

radio unit, which turns a utility pole

or rooftop into a mini tower, with

fiber connecting the radio unit to a

base station.

“Low power remote radio head

units are becoming an important

part of the heterogeneous net-

work, with centralized radio ac-

cess network architectures shap-

ing up in multiple networks,” said

analyst Joe Madden of Mobile Ex-

perts. “The common public radio

interface architecture will shift

to split-baseband architectures

over time. Meanwhile, carrier ag-

gregation, license assisted access

and LTE Wi-Fi link aggregation

will become an increasing part of

the small cell market as radios are

built into small cells in unlicensed

and shared-license bands.”

DAS equipment makers know

that in some instances operators

will choose remote radio units or

complete small cells instead of

DAS remotes. But with carrier

spending on outdoor densification

on the rise, there is healthy de-

mand for all approaches.

“We believe that the DAS remote

on the pole is actually the better

solution,” said Ken Sandfeld,

president of Solid Americas, adding

that centralizing the radio units gives

the operator more control. Sandfeld

also said DAS remotes are evolving

to meet operator needs. “We’re going

to see much smaller solutions, much

lower power solutions and a higher

ability to handle more bands. After

all, the goal is densification so

we’re trying to add a high degree of

capacity at every pole.”

Utility poles and light poles are of-

ten the locations of choice for out-

door DAS and small cells. They may

not always be the tallest structures

in sight, but they are usually located

“Low power remote radio head units are becoming an important part of the heterogeneous network, with centralized radio access network architectures shaping up in multiple networks,”

Joe Madden, Mobile Experts

“We believe that the DAS remote on the pole is actually the better solution,”

Ken Sandfeld, president of Solid Americas

3

solid.com

LIVING ON THE

EDGE

Today’s wireless 24/7, anywhere, any-device communications has driven us to the Edge. Whether it’s the inability to place a call or a painfully slow video stream, when we are unable to connect and communicate there is a certain on-the-edge-angst we all feel. It’s also a sign that we are at the edge of today’s wireless network.

SOLiD’s portfolio of optical transport solutions and robust Distributed Antenna and Repeater Systems are designed speci�cally to satisfy the needs of Carriers, 3POs, VARs and Middleprise venue owners. The Edge presents challenges, SOLiD answers with solutions that densify the edge. solid.com/bold-ideas/edge-densi�cation.html

SOLiD delivers coverage and capacity from the network edge,to the building or pole, and to the smartphone.

85X11_RCR_WEBINAR041916.pdf 1 4/20/16 9:29 AM

4


in the public right of way, which

means lease terms are usually more

favorable than they would be with

a private property owner.

“City planners are generally open

to attaching cellular equipment to

poles located in the right-of-way

when proper processes and approv-

als are met,” said Conlon McCarthy,

VP for site development at NB+C.

“Their decisions are based on the

type of pole (light pole, utility pole,

traffic light or signal), the location

of the pole and the size of the equip-

ment. However, city planners are

only one piece of the puzzle. Utility

companies, who typically own the

poles, have a right to control how

equipment attaches to their poles.

State departments of transportation

also have a say on whether equip-

ment can occupy structures in the

right of way – even if the equipment

is entirely collocated on the existing

pole and no new ground is disturbed.”

This report outlines four munici-

pal deployments, as well as one de-

ployment in a public venue, and one

in a primarily suburban area. In

each case a major carrier or carri-

ers needed an alternative to towers

in order to solve a specific network

problem. The operators chose their

solutions based on the environmen-

tal, regulatory, technical and finan-

cial realities of each situation.

CASE STUDY NO. 1:

Metro network in Atlanta

Crown Castle, which designs and

builds small cell and DAS networks

for multiple carriers, first brought

DAS to Atlanta about eight years

ago. At that time the goal was to

help carriers solve coverage and

capacity problems in high-value

neighborhoods that were difficult

to zone. Now, with mobile data

“City planners are only one piece of the puzzle,”

Conlon McCarthy, VP for site development, NB+C

Sou

rce:

Cro

wn

Ca

stle

A Verizon Wireless node deployed by Crown Castle in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood.

demand increasing throughout the

metro area, the system is becoming

a citywide small cell system. Crown

describes the existing DAS as “fiber

islands” of 30 to 40 nodes each, with

the emerging system as a bridge

between the islands.

By April 2016, Crown Castle had

built roughly 285 of 459 nodes that

will eventually comprise the city-

wide system. Each is a remote radio

unit coupled with an antenna, and is

designed to support one carrier.

A second carrier is preparing to

join the Atlanta system, and instead

of remote radio heads the second

carrier plans to use five- to 10-watt

5


tenant,” explained Crown Castle’s

Mike Kavanagh, president of the

company’s DAS division. Kava-

nagh added it is possible for low-

power small cells to share space

on a pole, especially if the pole is

owned by Crown Castle as opposed

to a public utility.

The second carrier is planning

roughly 200 small cells, a number

small cell units that include radio,

antenna and baseband. In most

locations, the second carrier will

not be able to share a pole with the

first carrier because of the size of

the first tenant’s equipment.

“If you put a remote radio head

… and then you want to put a bat-

tery on a pole, then that pole is

pretty much useless for another

Kavanagh thinks could double

during the next two years. The

locations will be chosen to maxi-

mize network capacity, but also to

leverage Crown Castle’s fiber as-

sets in Atlanta.

“Based on the fiber footprint in

a market, we’ll try to position the

small cells going in there as close

to backhaul as we can to minimize

that fiber build,” said Kavanagh.

He said Crown acquired a signifi-

cant amount of desirable fiber in

Atlanta through its recent acquisi-

tion of Sunesys.

The primary carrier on the sys-

tem will have eight to 10 hub lo-

cations, each of which is designed

to support at least 10 remote radio

heads. Carriers may limit the num-

ber of units supported by each hub

to ensure quality of service.

“If you’re going to tie a higher vol-

ume of remote radio units into a

hub, you have to make sure that the

infrastructure tied to that hub loca-

tion supports the kind of reliability

you would expect to have in that

network,” said Chad Rasmussen,

Crown Castle’s regional director of

small cell implementation for the

Southeast region. Rasmussen said

generators and backup power have

Sou

rce:

Cro

wn

Ca

stle

A remote unit on a city pole in Atlanta

6

INDY500 Start Your Engines! Connect Your Smartphones!

The Indy 500 is known as the greatest spectacle in racing, and it takes place in the largest sports venue in the world. Over 400,000 people attended the Indy 500 last year. The 2016 event marks the 100th running of the race, which promises attendance numbers that could even exceed last year’s crowd.

During the Indy 500 last year nine plus tera-bytes of data consisting of 17,357 Facebook posts and more than 145,000 Instagrams were transported over the Verizon wireless network. This represents a 200 percent increase in usage versus the amount of data

carried over the wireless network during the prior year’s race. How much data will be sent over the wireless network this year?

No matter how many terabytes of data will be used JMA Wireless will be there to enable it. The company’s Teko oDAS (outdoor distributed antenna system) platform ensures robust mobile communications throughout the entire racetrack. This end-to-end solution includes more than 300 DAS antennas that are powered by 144 Teko multi-band Remote Units supporting 59 MIMO (multiple in multi-ple out) sectors.

Why the Teko oDAS Platform is the Ideal SolutionThe Teko DAS is the fastest growing solution in the industry today, enabling wireless coverage at sports venues around the globe. Its outdoor offering provides unprecedented flexibility and benefits. Below are just a few examples explaining why theTeko oDAS is the superior connectivity choice:● Multiple operators, bands and protocols

are covered● Sectors can be added easily and readily

JMA Wireless’ Outdoor DAS Solution Brings Unprecedented Cellular Connectivity to Indy 500 Fans

● Supports TDD and FDD● Lowers Opex and Capex costs● Capacity can be redirected effortlessly to

support highly populated areasYou may not always be able to hear over the roar of the race car engines, but when you can, be assured you will have cellular con-nectivity to make a call. Whether making a call, texting, taking a video or sharing special moments on social media JMA Wireless’ Teko oDAS platform will be there to enable your mobile communications. Come celebrate the Indy 500’s 100th running on May 29, and enjoy this unprecedented cellular coverage for yourself!

About JMA WirelessJMA Wireless is the leading global innovator in mobile wireless connectivity solutions that ensure infrastructure reliability, streamline service operations, and maximize wireless performance. Employing powerful, patented innovations their solutions portfolio is proven to lower the cost of operations while ensuring lifetime quality levels in equipment and unrivaled performance for coverage and high-speed mobile data. JMA Wireless solutions cover macro infrastructure, outdoor and indoor distributed antenna systems and small cell solutions. JMA Wireless corporate head-quarters are located in Liverpool, NY, with manufacturing, R&D, and sales operations in over 20 locations worldwide.

For more information visit jmawireless.com or follow JMA Wireless on Twitter at @JMAwireless.

7


to be in place to maintain service

levels even in emergencies.

The second carrier on the system

will use a centralized radio access

network (C-RAN) architecture.

“They’re using macro towers

as sort of collection points,” ex-

plained Kavanagh. “That’s one

of the things that we’re seeing in

the marketplace right now, they’ll

have maybe a maximum of 10

small cells attached on one mac-

ro [typically by fiber], and then

that will be transported back to

the switch.” Kavanagh said many

operators are moving towards C-

RAN, and within 18 months the

first tenant on the Atlanta system

will begin converting to C-RAN.

Crown Castle has a longstand-

ing relationship with the city of

Atlanta, which Kavanagh said

has been helpful in zoning the

system. He said municipalities

like to work with neutral host

providers like Crown Castle that

can explain an entire fiber build

and many proposed pole attach-

ments at once so the city gets one

big picture instead of multiple re-

quests from disparate companies.

Streamlined negotiations can also

decrease time to market.

“The name of the game here is

‘how do you get this stuff on the

pole as quickly as possible and on

air?’” said Kavanagh. “With the

carriers these days, when they’re

having capacity problems it hap-

pens exponentially. So the time to a

solution is very important. Where-

as maybe back in the DAS days it

would take 18 to 24 months to put

a DAS in tricky areas, here we’re

focusing on nine to 12 months to

get things on air because there’s a

much greater sense of urgency.”.

CASE STUDY NO. 2:

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is

the world’s largest sporting ven-

ue. Each year it hosts more than

400,000 people for its biggest race,

the Indy 500. Last year, Verizon

Wireless customers consumed more

than nine terabytes of data during

the weekend of the race.

Prior to the race, Verizon Wireless

replaced a previous wireless system

with a distributed antenna system

in partnership with equipment

maker JMA Wireless. The carrier

said it needed a system that offered

dynamic capacity.

“You have to hit it from every angle

possible,” said Daniel Hoffman,

Verizon senior RF design engineer.

“There are so many segments of this

venue where there are going to be

concentrated groups of people at

different times of the day. … You

could have 500 people there one

minute, then the next hour there’s

5,000. We have to be able to shift

Sou

rce:

NA

SCA

R.c

om

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

8


the traffic, keep everything at

maximum potential at all times.”

The system includes more than

200 distributed antennas driven

by dozens of JMA’s Teko remote

units. The Teko headend is driven

from three custom-designed base

stations on portable platforms de-

signed to ensure coverage and ca-

pacity throughout the track area,

the stands and the suites.

“The DAS design utilized numer-

ous 31-dBm remote units in a [multi-

ple-input/multiple-output] configu-

ration distributed throughout the

venue,” said Ihab Labib, RF system

engineer at JMA Wireless, “This ap-

proach provides an ability to fully

control and optimize the RF through-

out the facility, enabling the fastest

Hoffman said that before a big

race, Verizon Wireless will test the

network row by row and even seat

by seat. On race day, testing teams

permeate the venue, checking to

make sure there is no loss of cover-

age in any sector.

The fiber that connects the an-

tennas and small cells to the hub

location also undergoes testing.

Dennis Burt, lead DAS trainer for

test equipment maker Anritsu, said

training technicians to work with

fiber is more important than ever.

“We’re basically characterizing

the fiber system, looking for

overall mobile performance.”

In addition, Verizon Wireless de-

ployed nearly a dozen small cells

around the exterior of the track,

and dozens more portable small

cells in the surrounding areas.

All the antennas and remote

units are fed from a large network

facility Verizon Wireless built on-

site to house the DAS headend,

control the network and connect

to the carrier’s core network.

“If we lose commercial power at

the headend compound, we have

enough batteries to let it run for

almost the whole event at a heavy

load,” said Hoffman. “On top of

that we have two huge generators

that give 50 hours of additional

time on one tank of gas.”

Sou

rce:

Ver

izon

Wir

eles

s

Verizon Wireless headend hosting the JMA Wireless DAS at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

“We’re basically characterizing the fiber system, looking for maximum throughput through the fiber,”

Dennis Burt, lead DAS trainer, Anritsu

9

1-800-ANRITSU www.anritsu.com© 2016 Anritsu Company

Master all the capabilities of your Anritsu equipment with hands-on, instructor-led Certification training. Anritsu now offers both Active and Passive DAS Certification training designed to teach installers how to get it done right the first time and avoid costly rework.

Training classes include Site Master Line Sweep, PIM Master, Passive DAS, Active DAS, RF & Microwave Interference Analysis and Fiber Optic & OTDR.

Register now at: www.anritsu.com/training

Register Today. Get Certified for Tomorrow.Anritsu Now Offers DAS Training

Site Master™ S331L

PIM Master™ MW82119B

ACCESS Master™ MT9083x

DASCERTIFICATION TRAINING

DAScertAd.indd 2 5/4/16 9:18 AM

10

maximum throughput through

the fiber, so an improperly spliced

connector or poorly fusion-spliced

cable in the system, or other losses

that might be additive such as

multiple connection points – those

can be very detrimental to ODAS,”

said Burt. “So it does take somebody

who’s really qualified and knows

what they’re doing to make sure

that fiber system is installed such

that it meets or exceeds vendor and

customer expectations.”

Those expectations are high at

Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ve-

rizon Wireless wants its customers

to use their phones at the venue

without ever even thinking about

connectivity or bandwidth.

“Anything you can do outside this

venue on any given day, you will be

able to do inside with minimal if

any slowdowns,” said Hoffman.

Verizon Wireless designed the sys-

tem to allow the addition of other

carriers, with AT&T expected to

join the system this year.

CASE STUDY NO. 3:

Multi-carrier network in Maryland

Montgomery County, Maryland,

is a scenic suburban area near

Washington, D.C. It welcomes

tourists and is somewhat less

hospitable to cell towers.

Sprint decided in 2008 to use a

distributed antenna system to de-

ploy its network in Montgomery

County, and now that network is

shared by AT&T and Verizon Wire-

less as well. NewPath Networks,

now part of Crown Castle, built the

original Potomac South and Po-

tomac North distributed antenna

systems for Sprint.

“Sprint did not want to oper-

ate the DAS at the time,” ex-

plained former Sprint engineer

Jay O’Neill. “They wanted to pro-

vide capital to be the anchor ten-

ant and design it but they did not

want to operate it.”

O’Neill became even more familiar

with the Potomac South DAS after

he left Sprint and joined Advantage

Engineers. Crown Castle hired

Advantage Engineers to handle

structural engineering when Crown

decided to upgrade the Potomac

South DAS to a multicarrier system

by adding additional electronics

and changing out the antennas to

accommodate different frequencies.

Most of the franchise agreements

and zoning approvals were already

in place, so the upgrade was a matter

of RF design, engineering and

construction. Advantage Engineers

handled the engineering piece.

“We look at the characteristics of

the physical structures and what

our client would like to apply to

that structure, making sure that

there is continuity between the

devices and the attachment to the

structure,” said O’Neill. “We insure

that the structure meets proper

code and that it’s also capable of

handling any type of attachment


Sou

rce:

vis

itm

ontg

omer

y.co

m

Bethesda Lane, Montgomery County.

11

Small Cell TestingIndoors. Outdoors. We’ve got you covered.

Targeted small cell deployment can result in major cost savings throughimprovements in network capacity, in-building coverage and overallcustomer experience. But it’s not without its challenges.

Maximize your return on investment and the performance of yoursmall cell network. Rohde & Schwarz has a complete portfolio of small cell test & monitoring solutions to cover you in all phases: planning & design, installation/acceptance, service monitoring & trouble-shooting and optimization.

Visit us at www.rohde-schwarz.com to learn more. Or call 1-888-RSA-TEST

SwissQual QualiPoc Freerider III

QualiPoc Freerider III marks the third generation of SwissQual‘s smartphone-based and portable benchmarking system for multi-channel walk and drive test measurement campaigns. The compact, lightweight, and well-designed backpack system is equipped with up to 6 smartphones, a powerful RF scanner, and RF connectors for optional external antennas.

RCRad2016.indd 1 4/20/2016 12:21:36 PM

12

CASE STUDY NO. 4:

Verizon Wireless C-RAN deployment

in San Francisco

Verizon Wireless is in the pro-

cess of deploying 400 fiber-fed

small cells in the most crowded

areas of San Francisco: the finan-

cial district, the Tenderloin, North

Beach, Market Street and the area

just south of Market Street. The

city presents unique challenges

because of the high concentra-

tion of millennials who use large

amounts of mobile data, coupled

with a population that is keenly

interested in urban aesthetics

and is curious about the potential

health impacts of small cells.

By working closely with the city,

Verizon Wireless secured premium

locations on wooden utility poles

as well as city-owned steel light

poles. The city’s Department of

Public Works is the permitting

agency for deployments in the

right of way. When the agency

grants tentative approval, a notice

is placed on the pole and is mailed

to nearby residents.

“We send out mailers to all resi-

dents within 150 feet and then

we post the photo simulations

on the pole,” said Jake Hamilton,

“There are a multitude of antennas.”

There are also multiple repeaters

at most of the sites, attached to the

antennas by coaxial cable. O’Neill

said the system uses an open source

architecture designed to support

Sprint, Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

If two carriers use the same LTE

frequency, they can share the same

repeater in this system, but this is

not their preferred configuration.

Each carrier has dedicated hard-

ware, fiber strands and antenna

ports. The base station is housed at

a hub location at a volunteer fire

station. Crown Castle’s fiber con-

nects each node to the hub location,

and fiber from third-party provid-

ers takes the signal from there to

the various carriers’ core networks.


as far as weight and the wind

loading. And then we also pro-

duce documents that our clients

can give to general contractors so

they can bid these out.”

The Potomac South DAS in-

cludes 21 nodes, and each node

needed a complete or partial

upgrade. New radios and anten-

nas were attached to add Veri-

zon Wireless and AT&T to most

of the nodes. Each carrier has

a customized antenna design

based on its particular needs,

and O’Neill said the antenna de-

sign differs from site to site de-

pending on coverage needs.

“You may have some overlap of

configuration but it’s more diverse

than it is similar,” O’Neill said.

Sou

rce:

Ad

van

tage

En

gin

eers

Potomac South DAS node

13

engineering director for Verizon

Wireless’ Northern California re-

gion. “They have to sit there for

20 days and that allows for public

protest of the permit.”

“We hear more complaints on the

utility poles than the steel poles

so far,” noted Hamilton. “The de-

sign [on the steel light poles] is a

lot cleaner than what it looks like

on a utility pole, just because of all

the other things we have to work

around on the utility poles.”

On each pole, Verizon Wireless is

mounting a pair of five-watt Eric-

sson micro remote radio units. One

radio can support the 1.7/2.1 GHz

frequency band, and one will sup-

port the 1.9 GHz frequency band.

Each pole also supports an antenna,

and Verizon Wireless uses a variety

of antenna vendors as each config-

uration can be specific to the given

location. But, the carrier requires

the measurements of each antenna

to be roughly the same, two feet by

15 inches or less.

Dark fiber connects each remote

radio unit to the baseband units,

which are housed in five hub lo-

cations. Hamilton said the C-RAN

architecture helped Verizon Wire-

less meet the city’s requirement


Source: Verizon Wireless

Notice from San Francisco’s Department of Public Works.

14

Advantage Engineers recently performed survey and design services for the installation of a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at a major stadium in Philadelphia, PA., a project that included 600 antenna locations and 8,500 feet of interior fiber optic cable routing.

Complex jobs require comprehensive turnkey service. Advantage Engineers handles it all.

That’s a lot of strong signals.

advantageengineers.com ::: 844.890.1604

15

that pole equipment be minimized.

Hamilton said the architecture also

allows the carrier to more easily op-

timize the network in real time.

“The hub location becomes

almost a server farm … multiple

racks with a lot of processing

power,” Hamilton said. “The dark

fiber comes into a patch panel

and is distributed to the specific

baseband units that control the

remote locations. … Once we get

the dark fiber back to the hub

location, then we’ll jump on our

Ethernet backhaul lit fiber ring

that will takes us back to the

switching location.”

Hamilton said Verizon Wireless

prioritized locations the carrier

knew would see heavy traffic dur-

ing Super Bowl 50. The game itself

happened many miles to the south

at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara,

California, but San Francisco capi-

talized on the event by creating

its own “Super Bowl City.” Justin

Herman Plaza, Market Street and

Moscone Center were priority ar-

eas for Verizon Wireless ahead of

the event.

Roughly 150 of the planned 400

small cells went live before the

Super Bowl, with 75 of those con-

sidered critical for network suc-

cess during the event. With the

event over, the network continues

to boost speeds for Verizon Wire-

less customers.

“We have carrier aggregation


Sou

rce:

Ver

izon

Wir

eles

s

A Verizon small cell atop a city owned steel light pole. Each small cell in this deployment consists of one antenna and two micro remote radio units.

Advantage Engineers recently performed survey and design services for the installation of a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at a major stadium in Philadelphia, PA., a project that included 600 antenna locations and 8,500 feet of interior fiber optic cable routing.

Complex jobs require comprehensive turnkey service. Advantage Engineers handles it all.

That’s a lot of strong signals.

advantageengineers.com ::: 844.890.1604

16

enabled and … the max speeds that

I have seen are up to 190 [megabits

per second] download speeds, but

we’re seeing consistent speeds 50 to

75 megabits per second downlink,”

Hamilton said. “We’re seeing upload

speeds on average around 20

megabits per second.”

Hamilton added those speeds

make the Verizon Wireless network

more than competitive with San

Francisco’s public Wi-Fi, which is

available in many of the same lo-

cations now served by the carrier’s

small cell network.

Verizon Wireless is using two dif-

ferent business models for the San

Francisco deployment. South of

Market Street the carrier is per-

mitting in its own name for rough-

ly 100 small cells, and the systems

integrator is a company called Mo-

dus. On Market Street and in areas

north of Market Street, ExteNet

Systems is handling site acquisi-

tion and overseeing construction

for Verizon Wireless, so ExteNet is

handling the permitting for rough-

ly 300 small cells.

“It was really kind of a trial,

self-perform versus a traditional

turnkey solution with ExteNet

where they lease the location,”

said Hamilton. “With small cells

being a fairly new solution for us,

we just did it two different ways so

we could test the pros and cons of

each solution.”

Hamilton said he has been al-

most as heavily involved in the

ExteNet project as he has been

in the one managed by Verizon

Wireless because he wants the

two companies to be consistent in

their interactions with the city.

“You have to make sure both com-

panies are kind of in sync in terms

of what they’re filing, how they’re

filing it, because this is all new to

the city as well, so we’re learning

and creating a process as we go and

so we have to teach each team the

same process so we’re consistent.

… [The city] only wanted a single

point of contact. So we had to fun-

nel a lot of the information from

both ExteNet and our site acquisi-

tion vendor through a single point

of contact at Verizon.”

Self-organizing network

Throughout the build, Verizon

Wireless is continually testing to

make sure the small cells don’t cause

unnecessary interference with one

another or with the macro network.

Small cells can be a double-edged

sword – they have the potential to

enhance network performance, but

also to create new problems.

“We all tend to think of small

cells from a user point of view as

something good … you fill in the

coverage holes, get more through-

put, etcetera. But it is to a certain

extent a planning nightmare,” said

Paul Denisowski, senior applica-

tions engineer at test equipment

maker Rohde & Schwarz. “You have

all these little cells. How do you

manage that? How do you make


“With small cells being a fairly new solution for us, we just did it two different ways so we could test the pros and cons of each solution,”

Jake Hamilton, Verizon Wireless

17

NETWORKBUILDING.COMNETWORKBUILDING.COM

© 2

016

NE

TW

OR

K B

UIL

DIN

G +

CO

NS

UL

TIN

G, L

LC

.

SITE DEVELOPMENT + ENGINEERING + CONSTRUCTION

Not everybody understand

s

small cells.

But we’re not everyb

ody.

Small cells are different, and we get it.

That’s why NB+C comes through

when all other fi rms simply can’t.

Our experience includes:

+ 30 years of relationships on

the East Coast with state

and local governments,

DOTs, utilities and

Departments of

Public Works

+ Providing on-staff

Right-of-Way

Specialists

+ Specialized civil and

structural design for

hundreds of small cells

Jimmy Ellis, Project ManagerJimmy Ellis, Project Manager

NBC16-14 Jimmy_RCR-Ad_C85x11-M1.indd 1 4/19/16 1:31 PM

18

sure they’re not interfering with

each other? How do you make sure

they’re optimized to provide cover-

age and give you a net plus in terms

of performance?”

Denisowski said even though oper-

ators have a good understanding of

how to plan networks up front, test-

ing them is still an iterative process

in many cases.

“I’m not sure there’s a clear

understanding of how to deal with

this issue other than by trial and

error at this point,” Denisowski said.

The solution appears to lie in

self-organizing networks, Den-

isowski said, noting today SON

technology is well understood at

the macro level, and next the tech-

nology needs to be built into small

cell networks.

“There’s not a lot of talking going

on between the small cells and the

macro cells,” said Denisowski. “The

way to deal with interference is-

sues and coverage issues and per-

formance issues that are related to

macro vs. small is you’re going to

have to build out that intelligence,

that self-organizing network idea

to the small cells.”

Hamilton said by centralizing

the radio access network for the

San Francisco deployment, Veri-

zon Wireless has been able to bet-

ter orchestrate the small cell per-

formance and reduce interference.

SON technology is not just for

small cells; DAS equipment ven-

dors are also working to make

their equipment smarter.

“DAS can no longer just be this

dumb element,” said Sandfeld of

Solid. “It actually has to be able

to integrate with the radios very

carefully so it can handle that

SON and it needs to be able to do

that on a remote basis because

people don’t want to roll a truck to

adjust those things. They want it

taken care of. They want the sen-

sors essentially to be at the pole

so that the street element can ad-

just itself without having to roll

trucks and figure out interfer-

ence problems.”.

CASE STUDY NO. 5:

Underground connections in

Switzerland

Swisscom’s mobile network need-

ed help to deal with the skyrocket-

ing demand for data in several ur-

ban areas, but the carrier had two

problems: acquiring small cell sites

is difficult and building them out is

expensive. For Swisscom, the solu-

tion was hiding just below the sur-

face of the streets.

Swisscom owns conduit

underground and fiber to support

its landline network, so the carrier

decided to use an underground

small cell to address its capacity

problems. Street Connect combines

an Ericsson micro remote radio


“The way to deal with interference issues and coverage issues and performance issues that are related to macro vs. small is you’re going to have to build out that intelligence, that self-organizing network idea to the small cells,”

Paul Denisowski, senior applications engineer, Rohde & Schwarz

19

VISIT US AT IMS 2016, SAN FRANCISCOMAY 24-26, BOOTH # 1233

Stocking DistributorMobile Wireless Solutions

gapwireless.com

20

unit with an antenna made by

Kathrein, one of the world’s largest

antenna manufacturers.

The radio is placed in the conduit

in a special casing made of IP68

composite. Swisscom project man-

ager Marcus Bergagard said the

carrier wanted IP68 because it can

resist the impact of water, heat,

cold and gas, all of which are un-

derground environmental hazards.

Two cables connect the radio to

the antenna, which is also housed

in IP68 casing, and covered by a lid

made of the same composite. The lid

doubles as a manhole cover, which

is what pedestrians and drivers see

on the street.

Swisscom said a below-ground

solution is not ideal for coverage,

and that it would not have chosen

to go below ground if it had not had

aesthetic and economic reasons

for doing so. Also, capacity was the

primary goal in these deployments.

The underground solution is work-

ing well in trials in Bern, Zurich,

Lausanne and Basel, each of which

has two to four cells deployed.

Street Connect looks to address

the problem of cost as well as site

acquisition for Swisscom. There is no

site lease and the system leverages


Sou

rce:

Sw

issc

omSo

urc

e: S

wis

scom

These manhole covers double as lids for underground antennas.

For Swisscom, underground small cells are less expensive than pole-mounted cells

MORE THAN JUST SOFTWAREEDX planning tools are more than just design software. They are smart decision-making solutions empowering you to:

• Visualize system performance

• Optimize infrastructure investment

• Intelligently scale large networks

• Deploy with confidence

Next Generation Wireless Design

541-345-0019 | www.edx.com

21

MORE THAN JUST SOFTWAREEDX planning tools are more than just design software. They are smart decision-making solutions empowering you to:

• Visualize system performance

• Optimize infrastructure investment

• Intelligently scale large networks

• Deploy with confidence

Next Generation Wireless Design

541-345-0019 | www.edx.com

22

Swisscom’s existing underground

fiber. The carrier said total cost of

ownership is about half the cost of

an above-ground small cell over a

five year period.

Low interference is another ad-

vantage of the solution, according

to Swisscom. The company said the

antenna’s shape minimizes interfer-

ence between the cells, and despite

the presence of composite material

there is almost no passive intermod-

ulation. When crowds congregate in

busy urban areas, bandwidth must

be shared and this can of course

impact network performance. But,

the antenna itself performs better

when the streets get crowded be-

cause of signal scattering.

“The more scattering objects ...

the better the performance of

this antenna as a part of a MIMO

system,” said Nima Jamaly, senior

antenna and wireless research en-

gineer at Swisscom.

The antenna supports 4x4

MIMO, but is currently using

2x2 MIMO. With LTE, it connects

two ports to two ports for the

downlink and one port to one port

for the uplink. The antenna also

supports all frequencies between

1.5 GHz and 3 GHz, meaning it

covers Swisscom’s LTE bands as

well as Wi-Fi in the 2.4 GHz band.

In Europe, where infrastructure

sharing is more common than in

the United States, Street Connect

could offer operators the chance to

cut costs by sharing an antenna. Ja-

maly said two carriers could share

a base station, or could each have

their own base station connected to

an RF combiner, which would then

connect to the antenna. Jamaly

added that Swisscom currently has

no plans to share the Street Con-

nect units with another carrier.

Swisscom said it is still in the

process of evaluating the Street

Connect trial, but it is pleased with

the results to date.

CASE STUDY NO. 6:

Berlin Fan Mile

Berlin’s Fan Mile connects Bran-

denburg Gate and the Victory Col-

umn, two of the city’s most famous

landmarks. It is roughly a mile long

and it is used daily by commuters

and pedestrians. But, several times

per year, the Fan Mile is filled with

people as it hosts major sporting

and entertainment events. The

Fan Mile is also one of the world’s

top New Year’s Eve destinations.

Carriers have struggled for years


Sou

rce:

Cob

ha

m W

irel

ess

The Berlin Fan Mile is one of the world’s top New Year’s Eve destinations.

° °

° °° °

° ° ° °

° °

° °

° °° °

° ° ° °

° °

24

to adequately cover the Fan Mile

and satisfy the demand for mobile

data. New radio boxes and anten-

nas are prohibited along the Fan

Mile. Vodafone was able to install

a DAS years ago, but it did not sup-

port LTE technology.

Vodafone and Telefónica decided

to invest together in a digital DAS

solution developed by Cobham

Wireless. Cobham, which owns

Axell Wireless, has a digital DAS so-

lution that relies on a CPRI router.

“We’ll take the RF signal, we’ll

digitize it, [and] now it’s a packet,”

said Matthew Thompson, Cobham’s

VP of DAS sales. “It goes to the

CPRI router, and from there I can

send it to any remote I want to in

the system.” The Cobham solution

is designed to use fiber or Ethernet

cable for connectivity.

Thompson said since the CPRI

interface is built into the router,

Cobham’s solution can work with

the CPRI interface of any manu-

facturer that chooses to share its

interface. The Berlin Fan Mile is

the first deployment to go live.

The base stations for the Fan Mile

system are 25 kilometers away in a

“base station hotel.” Fiber connects

them to 27 digital remote units

Sou

rce:

Cob

ha

m W

irel

ess

A wide road connects Berlin’s Victory Column (above) to the Brandenburg Gate.


Easy Small Cell/DAS connectivity HUBER+SUHNER supports indoor and outdoor networks with dedicated solutions for Small cell and DAS connectivity.All relevant application imply different technologies as radio frequency and fiber optics. Whether passive DAS, nor active DAS, nor Small cell backhauling, HUBER+SUHNER copes with all technologies and has for each application the suitable solution at hand. One stop shop reduces complexity for the purchaser and opens up additional economic potential.

› wirelessinfrastructure.hubersuhner.com

HUBER+SUHNER AG, hubersuhner.com

26

concealed in underground enclo-

sures along the length of the street

and around the Brandenburg Gate.

Since the remote units digitize the

RF signal, the fiber requirements

are much lower than they would be

for a non-digital system. This was

key to the total cost of ownership

for Vodafone and Telefónica. Cob-

ham said since each base station

transceiver feeds its signal directly

into the system, there is no need for

passive combining of two carrier

signals and passive intermodulation

is eliminated.

Each operator has 40 sectors, 20

for LTE and 20 for UMTS. The sys-

tem was designed to support up to

216 sectors so other operators can

join the system.

The solution uses environmental

cooling for the base station trans-

ceiver radio heads and enables the

deactivation of radio bands during

idle periods, both of which save

on power costs. The equipment is

also smaller than traditional DAS

equipment, further reducing the

energy expense.

When the Fan Mile is not overly

crowded, Vodafone and Telefónica

can shift capacity to other nearby

venues. A large convention center is

near enough to use the system when

needed and the carriers are able to

shift the capacity to that venue.

“Following the successful launch

of this service we will now look to

expand the scope of the system to

utilize the full capabilities of this

technology and shift the capac-

ity from the base station hotel to

other sites as required,” said Voda-

fone’s Enrico Schadock, head of

network planning for the carrier

at the time of the deployment. “We

are immensely proud to lead the

way with this new technology and

provide our customers with high-

bandwidth services no matter how

challenging the environment.”

Conclusion

Outdoor systems are most often

deployed to boost network capac-

ity, but they are also used for cov-

erage in areas difficult to zone for

towers. Operators choose different

network architectures and equip-

ment based on the physical and

regulatory environments as well

as the specific problem they are

trying to solve. Although each so-

lution is different, there are sever-

al common themes seen in the case

studies outlined above.

1. Lessismore.

Most municipalities do not want

a lot of heavy equipment on city

owned poles, and those poles

are often desirable locations for

more than one carrier. For both

these reasons, small antennas

and low-power remote units are

finding favor with operators.

2. Fiberleadstheway.

Backhaul is a significant operat-

ing expense for outdoor systems,

and fiber is usually the most ef-

ficient way to bring the signal

from remote nodes to a base sta-

tion or aggregation point. Opera-

tors will often choose to locate

nodes near existing fiber lines

instead of optimizing just for

coverage and capacity.

3. Dynamiccapacityiskey.

DAS nodes and small cells need to

work as part of a network rather

than in isolation. This means cells

need to be optimized through test-

ing, and that operators will value

software that can shift network

capacity from one cell to another

as traffic moves. Operators are

already using remote power allo-

cation and remote electrical tilt

antennas to optimize their net-

works in real time.


27

SOLiDSOLiD is a global manufacturer of RF Amplifiers, Radios and Optical Transport solutions engineered to solve the challenges of today’s dense wireless networks. Our solutions deliver wireless service within hospitals; sports and entertainment venues; corporate buildings, airports and subways. SOLiD—keeping you connected in an ever connected world. For more info, visit www.solid.com

JMA WirelessJMA Wireless is the leading global innovator in mobile wireless connectivity solutions that assure infrastructure reliability, streamline service operations, and maximize wireless performance. Employing powerful, patented innovations their solutions portfolio is proven to lower the cost of operations while ensuring lifetime quality levels in equipment and unrivaled performance for coverage and high-speed mobile data. JMA Wireless solutions cover macro infrastructure, outdoor and indoor distributed antenna systems and small cell solutions. JMA Wireless corporate headquarters are located in Liverpool, NY, with manufacturing, R&D, and sales operations in over 20 locations worldwide. For more info, visit www.jmawireless.com

Rohde & SchwarzRohde & Schwarz supplies test and measurement solutions for all wireless communications technologies such as LTE, LTE-Advanced, WCDMA, HSPA, GSM, CDMA2000®, WLAN, Bluetooth® and 5G. Our products help all market players – chip designers, consumer equipment and infrastructure suppliers, network operators, test houses – introduce innovations efficiently and economically. For more info, visit www.rohde-schwarz.com

AnritsuWith 120 years of global communications technology leadership, Anritsu provides thewireless, telecom, RF/microwave and optical industries with top-notch, easy-to-use test andmeasurement instruments, as well as components for R&D, manufacturing, field installationand maintenance. For more information visit www.anritsu.com.

Advantage Engineers Advantage Engineers provides expert land development, construction engineering and consulting services for the telecommunications industry, including all phases of development from site acquisition, site construction and environmental due diligence. We support clients throughout the U.S. for broadband, fiber and wireless initiatives. For more info, visit www.advantageengineers.com or contact [email protected].

NB+CFounded in 1984, NB+C is a leading wireless site development firm specializing in Site Development, Engineering and Construction + Technical Services. Our 300+ professional team members are totally committed to client service and project results. For more info, visit www.networkbuilding.com

Featured Companies

28

Featured Companies

PCIAPCIA - The Wireless Infrastructure Association is the trade association representing the companies that make up the wireless telecommunications infrastructure industry. Our members include the carriers, infrastructure providers and professional services firms that own and manage more than 135,000 telecommunications facilities throughout the world. Visit www.pcia.com for more info.

Gap WirelessGap Wireless provides North American wireless service providers with thousands of world-class Wireless Infrastructure, DAS, and Test & Measurement products, and UAV inspection solutions. For more info, contact [email protected] or visit www.gapwireless.com

ascomTEMS™ Solutions cover every phase in the network life-cycle from planning, deployment, benchmarking and monitoring of any network, including LTE, VoLTE and IMS Core. For more info, please visit www.ascom.com/networktesting. For Sales, contact us at [email protected]

EDXEDX offers robust solutions built upon industry standards and designed to fulfill the needs of evolving wireless networks deployments. Used in the planning, deploying and optimizing of Small Cell, in-building DAS, LTE, Mobile/Cellular, Mesh, LMR, WiMAX and more, EDX SignalPro is an all-in-one solution. For more info please visit www.edx.com

Gamma Nu ThetaGamma Nu Theta is a global HetNet antenna manufacturer focused upon providing PIM FREE ANTENNAS thus enabling a COVERAGE/CAPACITY/COST optimized air interface technology. For more info, visit www.gammanu.com

HUBER+SUHNERHUBER+SUHNER develops and manufactures components and system solutions for electrical and optical transportation of data and energy. The company serves customers in the Communication markets (Wireless-Macro Site, Small Cell, DAS and Active and Passive Transport) with cables, connectors, cable systems, antennas, and other passive components relying on its expertise in radio frequency, fiber optics, and low frequency technologies. The products standout due to their exceptional quality, reliability,and durability-even harsh environmental conditions. HUBER+SUHNER maintains close relationships with its customers providing tremendous local customer support and local inventory. The company captures promising markets with its ground breaking developments.

Featured Companies

MAY 2016

HetNet Series:Case Studies: Outdoor DAS and Small Cells

Analyst Angle Series:VoLTE, VoWiFi: Voice Comes to the Fore, Again

JUNE 2016

HetNet Series:Scalability, ROI and the Business Case for Small Cells

JULY 2016

HetNet Series:View from the Top: Tower and Antenna Technology Trends

AUGUST 2016

Telecom Software Series:Assuring the Virtualized Networks of the Future

SEPTEMBER 2016

HetNet Series:Densification Strategies: Indoor or Outdoor?

HetNet Series:Breaking Down the 5G Future

OCTOBER 2016

IoT Innovation Series:Testing the Internet of Things: Making IoT Functional and Secure

HetNet Series:Building Tomorrow’s Networks: Best Practices for Deploying Hetnets

NOVEMBER 2016

Telecom Software Series:Securing Mobility in the Age of Analytics

Analyst Angle Series:Mobile Backhaul and Fronthaul

For information contact [email protected]

25% discountWhen you sponsor 2 or more programs

Each program is limited to three (3) sponsors

Fast facts about RCR Wireless News digital network (October 2015)

Need guaranteed leads? Thought leadership? Incremental content marketing opportunities?Sponsor an RCR Wireless News' multi-platform, editorial program and receive the following benefits:

Editorial Webinar – sponsorship includes 250 guaranteed leads, participa-tion as sponsored guest and recognition as sponsor in all promotional materi-als. Sponsors will receive webinar registration and attendee list, responses to pre and post surveys and polling responses gathered during webinar.

Editorial Feature Report – in addition to recognition as sponsor in program promotion, sponsorship includes 250 guaranteed leads, distinct from webinar leads, 2-page ad spread or advertorial in feature report, and respons-es to lead capture survey questions.

http://www.rcrwireless.com/category/free-reports

UPCOMING 2016

EDITORIAL PROGRAMS INCLUDE:

372,863 monthly page views

262,599 unique monthly visitors to websites

76,000+ opt in newsletter subscribers

269,957 monthly video minutes viewed on RCR Wireless News Youtube channel

68,522 monthly videos viewed on RCR Wireless News Youtube channel

Industry leading demand generation programs and results

outdoor das and small cells

Documents