Antenna Systems & Technology - Fall 2015 - (Page 34)

GUEST COLUMN Hiding a DAS By Tyler Hanson, Product Manager, Outdoor Wireless Products - TE Connectivity As DAS deployments spread through cities and suburbs, city councils are increasingly requiring that DAS equipment be hidden from view. Residents don't want to see utility infrastructure so municipalities resist attachments on poles. And it's not just outdoor wireless access getting the stink eye - inside of buildings, occupants object to having a forest of bulging antennas popping out of the ceilings. What's a DAS planner to do? The answer depends on the location, but there are several options for concealing DAS equipment these days, and DAS deployments are accelerating because of them. In municipalities, city councils are frequently requiring that DAS antennas be hidden inside street furniture like light poles or bus shelters, or located below ground level. Some cities have DAS-enabled light poles, including Pittsburgh, Boston, and some cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Municipalities may have architectural guidelines that dictate installers to use the same light pole everywhere to preserve the historical character of the city. All of these municipalities are using streetlights in which the base is a metal enclosure housing a remote DAS antenna. There are manufacturers that specialize in light poles and other solutions that can hide DAS and other network infrastructure gear. When choosing what kind of DAS to hide outdoors, it's important to use a system that supports field upgrades to accommodate new frequency bands. Mobile networks evolve frequently as new bands or technologies are introduced, as service needs change in a market, or as carriers cooperate and share systems. Nobody wants to go back to a city council and get new permissions for an expanded DAS deployment, so the DAS you use should have accessible bays to accommodate new frequency cards within the existing concealment enclosures. Equipment cooling is another requirement that crops up with hidden outdoor DAS. These small cell sites house active gear and often generate heat. DAS remotes often incorporate fans to move air across them, and the fans must be quiet enough to as to be unobtrusive to people passing by. Nobody wants to see or hear the wireless network. Inside of buildings, the challenge is to implement a DAS without crowding the ceiling with antennas. Although many indoor DAS antennas are no more obtrusive than a smoke detector, occupants object to having too much hardware overhead. One solution to this challenge is to use high-power remote units and hide them in wiring closets. Because the solution uses relatively high power (20 watts versus 1 watt or less), the signal covers more square footage. Alternatively, there are several antennas designed to be unrecognizable or a part of the building architecture like flat panel antennas that look like ceiling tiles, antennas that may be painted to blend in with the ceiling. This paint solution has been used in major venues like the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas as well as historic sites like The Greenbrier in West Virginia. Of course, the wireless solution should lend itself to having a minimal presence in the ceiling if ceiling-mounted antennas are used. This means using high-performance broadband antennas that handle multiple frequencies in a single antenna rather than using a system that requires many antennas for each area to be covered. You'll still need two high-performance antennas in each location if you're doing a MIMO deployment, but this is preferable to the 3-5 units you would need if you used other solutions. In any place, being stealth pays off in DAS protection and maintenance. When encased in light poles, DAS remotes are less susceptible to weather and vandalism. Inside of buildings, DAS remotes in wiring closets are easier to maintain than remotes in the ceilings. Those charged with planning and deploying DAS in any area of the network will likely run into some requirements for concealment. Fortunately, there are several options to hide a DAS. About the Author During his more than 12-year tenure with TE, Tyler Hanson has held a variety of positions within TE. Starting in corporate Marketing and then transitioning to Product Manager for Outdoor Wireless products, his current position. In this role, he is responsible for product development initiatives, market management and lifecycle management for TE's outdoor wireless products and the business expansion into global markets. Hanson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business form St. Cloud University, St. Cloud, MN. 34 Antenna Systems & Technology Fall 2015 www.AntennasOnline.com http://www.AntennasOnline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Antenna Systems & Technology - Fall 2015

Editor’s Choice
Dual Tuning - The OEM's Secret Weapon in Spectrum Proliferation
A Hybrid "Hexa-Band" Cellular Antenna
Tunable and Fixed Filtering Solutions Enhance Dynamic Range of 4G-LTE Measurements
Antenna Systems 2015: Conference Preview
Low-Cost and Frequency-Selective Metamateiral and Its Antenna Applications
Antennas
Components/Subsystems
Software / System Design
Industry News
Hiding a DAS
Marketplace

Antenna Systems & Technology - Fall 2015