17 Dec 2012

Ubidyne active antenna systems support DAS, macro and small cells

Ubidyne's active antenna platform can now support the first fully digital Distributed Antenna System (DAS) for extending mobile broadband coverage (LTE, UMTS) to indoor or outdoor data hot-spots.

The Ubidyne solution supports high-capacity, multi-band, multi-standard and multi-operator installations for environments such as university campuses, airports and other dense urban indoor and outdoor deployments.

“80% of all wireless traffic happens indoors but existing DAS solutions reach their capacity limitations and face operational challenges because of analogue distribution of the RF signal,” said Michael Fränkle, CEO at Ubidyne. “With the Ubidyne digital DAS platform, system and antenna vendors can now upgrade their solutions to meet growing capacity demands."

"Already, countries such as the US, Korea and Japan and some European regions where LTE is being deployed and where mobile broadband traffic is growing exponentially, are running out of capacity in hot-spots,” he added.

Up to 16 independent single-band to quad-band remote antennas can be strategically located and connected using any grade of fiber to a central hub (uBhub), based up to 10km away.

Multiple hubs can be cascaded for coverage solutions in large buildings such as football stadiums or congress centers.

With full digital control of each transceiver/radiator, a single Ubidyne DAS solution can be used by different wireless carriers in the same location to meet specific coverage and capacity needs.

Other benefits include rapid trouble shooting for reduced maintenance costs, self-calibration and easy health checks.

Ubidyne’s digital architecture also supports the combination of different radio solutions. For example, for indoor/campus locations, the DAS system can be connected with a high capacity small cell, also based on Ubidyne’s platform architecture.

Finally, the digital architecture enables future-proofed cooperative antenna solutions with distributed MIMO for high capacity hot-spots.

“A majority of operators are using distributed antennas in their mobile networks for coverage, and despite all the talk about using small cells to boost capacity in large venues, operators we interviewed believe DAS will remain a fundamental tool for malls, airports, stadiums and the like,” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research.

“According to leading research companies, the market for active antenna solutions is expected to grow to over $2bn by 2016, and 26% of this is expected to be from distributed antenna systems,” adds Fränkle. “A major benefit of the Ubidyne platform is that it can be integrated and scaled to a multitude of applications from distributed antenna systems to small cells and macro cells to provide economies of scale and flexibility."

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