PLANNING GUIDE

In-building Wireless
A Deployment Guide for Wireless
Service Providers

Welcome to the

In-building Wireless

Deployment Guide for Network Managers

Whats 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, theyre 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.

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

The purpose of this guide is to provide you with an

understanding of the issues surrounding in-building
wireless solution implementation, including:
What are the challenges in designing and executing
in-building wireless projects?
What factors affect their ROI and ongoing costs?
How can multiple entities share construction and
operational costs?
What is the business case for in-building wireless?
It is our goal to help you implement more solutions
seamlessly, economically and quickly. If you dont 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

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.

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.

Section 1
Auditing Your In-building Wireless Deployment

It has the potential to help you and your staff in the

following ways:

Section 3
Your Blueprint for In-building Wireless Success

Gain a holistic approach to RF planning and solution

integration.
Identify opportunities for using in-building
wireless to improve your competitive position
and bottom line.
Aid solution selection.
Minimize implementation delays and costs.

Page 3

Section 2
Service and Technology Considerations

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

Section 1: Auditing Your

In-building Wireless Deployment

5.) What is your timeline for deploying in-building

wireless? (See Project Timeline in appendix)

A 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.

o
In the next 6 months

Typical preliminary questions include:

o
Deploying now
o
In the next year
o
Considering / contract or pending funding
6.) What are your preliminary solution preferences?
o
Active Distributed Antenna System (DAS)
o
Passive DAS
o
Repeater

Product Considerations

o
Pico or microcell

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

o
Other __________________

o Activating service
o Vendor selection

Facility and Installation Considerations

o Collecting information from vendors

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

o Securing funding/budgets

o
Open/warehouse

o Other

o
Industrial/Manufacturing

2.) What business challenges led you to consider

in-building wireless? (Check all that apply.)

o
Cubed office

o
Customer service for existing Enterprise

o
Hi-rise building

o Gain MOUs public venue

o
Government building

o Stressed Macro (capacity, pilot pollution)

o
Hospital building

o Host neutral / plan to lead

o
Mall

o Contractual requirement

o
Airport

o Other, please describe_______________________

o
Convention center

o
Stadium/Arena

__________________________________________

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?

o
Drywall office

8.) What is the estimated number of subscribers within

the venue? __________
9.) How many buildings are in this facility?___________
10.) What is the approximate size of this facility?
(list per building)
____________ square feet
____________ square feet
____________ square feet
____________ square feet
11.) How many floors does this facility have?__________

o
RFI

If more than one venue, please describe each._____

o
RFP/RFQ

_ ___________________________________________

o Sole source

_ ___________________________________________

_ ___________________________________________

_ ___________________________________________

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

12.) Are floor plans available?

18.) Is high lift equipment required for installation?

o
Yes

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

19.) Are there any special installation requirements?

(Examples could include architectural, aesthetic and
historical considerations.)

14.) Is installation of conduit/innerduct required?

o
No, existing
o
Yes, why required_ _________________________

__________________________________________

15.) Are plenum-rated cables required?

o Yes
o No
16.) Are dust tents/partitions required
(clean room environment)?

o Yes, describe coverage areas_ ________________

o Yes, describe where and why_________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

o No

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?

o
700 MHz public safety_______________

o
800 MHz SMR_______________

o 800 MHz cellular A band_______________

17.) Are there any special work instructions?

o 800 MHz cellular B band_______________

o Union labor required

o 900 MHz SMR_______________

o Incumbent installer

o 900 MHz GSM_______________

o Building restricted access, security

o 1800 MHz DCS_______________

o Off hours

o 1900 MHz PCS A band_______________

o Asbestos or other environmental issues

o 1900 MHz PCS B band_______________

o Other work restrictions, please list_____________

o 1900 MHz PCS C band_______________

__________________________________________

o 1900 MHz PCS D band_______________

__________________________________________

o 1900 MHz PCS E band_______________

__________________________________________

o 1900 MHz PCS F band_______________

__________________________________________

o AWS 1700/2100 MHz_______________

o 2100 MHz UMTS_______________

o
Other services_______________

o No

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

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 Yes, please describe_________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

o No

24.) Are there any other in-band services

or known interferers?

o Yes, please describe_________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

o No

25.) What is the RF source?

o
Remote off-air interface

o
Local BTS/Node B interface

o
nanoBTS (IP pico feed)

o
Remote 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,
and services will be able to customize a solution based
on your priorities.

Section 2: Service and

Technology Considerations
Quality of service (QoS) can be a powerful market
differentiator. Seamless, reliable in-building coverage is
a key component of a wireless service providers overall
QoS strategy. Here are some key considerations when
developing and executing in-building wireless projects:
Create and Maximize Revenue Opportunities
Customers cant use whats not available. Simply put,
revenue opportunities are often lost when customers
frequent areas such as inside office buildings and
malls where theres often no signal or one thats
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
voice and data services is reliable and nearly ubiquitous
indoors and out.
In some cases, providing an in-building wireless system
may be the only way to land a major customer. A prime
example is health care: Historically, hospitals and other
health 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.

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

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 isnt 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 isnt 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 carriers competitive position.
Identify All Variables
Proposals are only as accurate as the information on
which theyre 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.

Page 7

Table 1: Old Buildings vs. New Buildings

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

Higher likelihood of
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)

Higher likelihood of available

fiber backbone

Higher likelihood that facility

has 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

Higher likelihood of
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

Older buildings may have asbestos, which requires

special consideration when, for example, the material
is in areas where cables must be pulled or where holes
must be drilled.
Newer buildings often have floor plans that are
available in electronic form, such as Auto-Cad
drawings. However, its important to check whether
those plans have been updated to reflect any
remodeling or additions since the initial construction.
In both old and new buildings, check with the IT
department or other entity thats likely to know where
fiber is and isnt available, as well as type(s) used. If
existing conduit doesnt have extra room for additional
fiber pulls, determine the amount that will have to be
added. Also, determine whether additional conduit
is necessary only on verticals or on horizontals, too.
Besides fiber, identify other infrastructure that can
be leveraged in order to reduce costs and installation
time. Examples include the facilitys Cat5 plant and
local power.

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

The facilities-maintenance department can be a

good source of information about ceiling types
because theyve encountered them while installing or
maintaining HVAC ductwork. This department also
should be able to provide information about whats
above ceilings.
Note the ceiling heights in all areas where in-building
coverage 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.
Identify unique building features that will affect
coverage and propagation, such as long hallways
with offices on both sides, or banks of metal lockers.
Hospitals typically have a few rooms with lead-lined
walls, such as X-ray rooms.

Focus on Solutions
A sound and ideal in-building wireless solution typically
requires propagation analysis, system design, site surveys,
coordination of installation services which may include
union labor and value-added resellers (VARs) and all
hardware. The solution also should include accountability,
with clearly defined benchmarks for measuring success.
Hence, it is important to choose a partner thats capable
of 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:
Is the need capacity, coverage, or both in nature?

Look for clean rooms, which are common in a wide

variety 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 cant 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 twoperson team more than doubles labor costs and the
projects time frame.

What is the size and type of venue?

Wherever possible, note the building materials. For

example, plaster walls typically have embedded wire
mesh, which reflects signals at cellular frequencies
such as 850 MHz and 1900 MHZ. By comparison,
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.

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 thats operator- and/or technologyagnostic. A related issue is which entity pays for and
owns the in-building system.

Look for parts of the environment that can be moved

or reconfigured, such as pallet racks and mezzanines.
These typically are made of steel, which means that
theyll affect propagation. So if theyre moved or
removed, signal coverage almost certainly will be
altered and not necessarily for the better. Even large
wooden benches, which may absorb signals, can be a
factor.
Another key consideration is installation labor, which
typically is 40-50 percent of the systems cost. Refer to
the audit in Section 1 for labor-related considerations.
Its important to recognize that some or all of these
variables might exist in your project. Identifying as
many of them as possible as early as possible significantly
reduces the chances that youll be surprised later on by
delays and additional costs.

How many wireless service providers does the solution

need 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

Its critical to identify ownership and the owners

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 its 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:
Identify and agree to all requirements up front.
Once the project is underway, changes and additions
become change orders, which can be expensive
and time-consuming.

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

Examples of this may include:

C
 hanges to a desired coverage area such as adding
coverage to a parking garage or facility area;
C
 hange to the RF source i.e., base station on-site vs.
off-air affects equipment configuration and physical
placement in the venue;
M
 isunderstanding of existing cable path location
may result in the need to modify RF plan or pull
new cable.
If changes are required,
there are several options:

Section 3: Your Blueprint for

In-building Wireless Success
We 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 systems construction
and operational costs, including:
Integration with one or more macrocellular networks;
Access to cable infrastructure;
The ability to use alternative transport technologies
such as Millimeter Wave and WDM;

Once the purchase order is issued, anything outside

the proposal on which its based should be managed
separately. Outside requirements may cause the project
to be put on hold so that the plan can be amended.

Architecture determination

Have the enterprise pay for the additional materials

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

The importance of modular, scalable

flexible products.

You may modify the plan but you are not going to
modify the total allocated dollars.
By sharing the costs of the in-building solutions, it may
complicate the pre-work but minimizes stakeholders
expenses and facilitates communication. All parties
with monies invested are sure to lobby for their needs,
ultimately satisfying all stakeholders.

The effects of capacity on the distribution system;

A
 n architecture plan that determines discrete
or shared systems; and

In this section, we will show you how the choices

you make today will determine your in-building success
tomorrow. Well 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:
Minimizing total cost
Ease of installation
Expandability
Edge-to-edge bandwidth flexibility
Ability to use existing cable infrastructure
Ability to transport over long distances
(in and between facilities)
RF performance; minimizing system noise level
Alarm & management
Quick time to deploy (system turn-up)
Discrete antenna locations
Blanket coverage or hole-fill

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

Assessing the Transport Options

Ensuring Flexibility for Future Growth

Fiber is an ideal backbone for in-building wireless

systems. The obvious reasons include its bandwidth
capabilities which are a major asset for supporting
3Gs data-intensive applications its relatively low cost
and the large installed base that in-building systems
can tap into. A less-obvious benefit is immunity to
interference: Fiber cables dont emit RF, nor are they
susceptible to RF. Likewise, digitized RF mitigates any
RF interference concerns (e.g., intermods, harmonics).
This provides more design and installation flexibility.
For example, the in-building systems fiber can be run
in the same conduit as coax thats supporting a malls
digital signage installation.

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

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, timeconsuming 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 singleand multi-mode fiber offers increased flexibility. Its 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.

RU

RU
RU

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.

RU
RU

RU
RU

RU

Expansion Unit

RU
RU

RU

Expansion Unit
RU

Singlemode Fiber

RU

SM

RU

SM

RU

MM

RU

MM

Growth
Multimode Fiber

Host Unit
BTS/Off Air Interface

Figure 1: Large Facility Installation

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

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.
Table 2 summarizes the key attributes of service providers
sharing 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 worstcase coverage scenario; adds

costs but may accommodate
future growth

Each Service Provider owns

their own system or has the
ability to monitor and manage 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

Minimize equipment costs

today and add materials as
necessary to support subsequent 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 interference mitigation by managing discrete remotes and

antenna locations

Single wide-band antenna

Possible antenna farm

Page 11

It is important to note that there are several system

architectures available:
Discrete or narrowband systems that can be overlaid
for multiband applications
Multiband systems that offer dedicated power
amplifiers but share packaging, mechanical, cable,
power and other system functions
Wideband systems that utilize a single transport pipe
and 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.

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

Section 4: Case Studies:

In-building Wireless
Deployment Scenarios
Studying 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 Clinics
Like most health-care facilities, University of Wisconsin
Hospital and Clinics faced a dilemma with wireless.
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 2million square foot University of Wisconsin Hospital and
Clinics facilities had weak or no signal due to factors such
as lead-lined X-ray rooms.
Thus UW Hospital is an example of how important
wireless 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
Information Systems at UW Hospital.
For U.S. Cellular, a related challenge was poor coverage
on the adjacent University of Wisconsin campus.
However, UW Hospital wouldnt allow U.S. Cellular
or any other service provider serving the Madison
market to put a cell site on its properties. U.S. Cellular
overcame this hurdle by installing an in-building wireless
system to cover the UW Hospital complex. In return, the
hospital 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.

To address this, U.S. Cellular installed ADCs 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,
all linked through Expansion units to the Host Unit with
fiber 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
throughout the UW Hospital facilities. That reduced the
risk of cellular interference with hospital equipment, a
key consideration.
US Cellular chose ADCs 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. Within the building, there were so many
floors 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
Digivances 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
DRUs and antennas. ADC designed the UW Hospital
in-building system so that each DEU had one open
port, allowing easy addition of another antenna or
DEU, for multiple antennas.

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
couldnt 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.

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

This daisy chain topology works because as the only

all-digital RF transport system on the market today,
Digivance can perfectly replicate the digitized RF signal
over each port on each DEU and DRU throughout the
system. This flexibility directly benefits U.S. Cellular and
UW Hospital. No matter how much you test, you always
find 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
sector of the three-sector macro site atop UW Hospital
could 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.

Page 13

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
also was able to accommodate UW Hospitals new
construction, including new surgical wards.
Business models. The Digivance system allowed
U.S. Cellular to create an in-building rate plan for UW
Hospital employees. This benefit helps U.S. Cellular
attract and retain these high-ARPU customers and
drive additional revenue.

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

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport
The Challenge
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (HAIA) is
the worlds busiest passenger airport, serving more than
83 million passengers per year. As part of its mission
to be the worlds best airport by exceeding customer
expectations, HAIA has continually enhanced its 5.8
million 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
In 2000, HAIA management determined that the existing
network and telecommunications infrastructure was
inadequate to support the airports 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, "says Lance Lyttle, HAIAs chief information officer.
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.

Cellular Coverage Requirements

Some public facilities rely solely on wireless service carriers
to deploy and manage in-building systems. However,
as part of its wireless neutral-host strategy, HAIA chose
to 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
companies supply in-building wireless systems, HAIAs
evaluation team worked directly with cellular carriers for
over a year to select, design, and implement a system
that would meet everyones needs.
We wanted a proven system that would support
multiple providers a system that had the carriers
confidence, says Lyttle. We actually had weekly
meetings with Cingular, Nextel, T-Mobile, metroPCS,
Verizon and other carriers during our evaluation of
technology 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 airports new
telecommunications hotel, and the wireless signals
would be propagated from them throughout the airport
via a distributed antenna system (DAS). Given the size
of the facility, the HAIA team wanted a DAS that could
distribute 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 airports high customer volume and could
be cost-effectively deployed and upgraded to support
additional capacity and new wireless services.

As a result of the analysis, the airport embarked on a

three phase, four-year, $11 million telecommunications
infrastructure upgrade program that would bring stateof-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
installing a centralized, OC-192 fiber-based backbone for
all voice, video and data traffic.
In the third phase, HAIA built value-added services,
including Wi-Fi access and pervasive cellular and public
safety wireless coverage.

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

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.
At HAIA, the deployment involved eight separate Unison
systems that included 36 Main Hubs, 96 Expansion Hubs,
over 500 active Remote Access Units (RAUs), and more
than 700 ceiling-mounted antennas.
Due to its size (one of the largest systems in the world)
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 airports public
safety workforce.
With a current capacity of nearly 70,000 calls per hour,
HAIAs travelers can use their time more productively for
untethered voice and data calling. Already, Verizon has
deployed 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
upgrade program, HAIA boasts a cellular wireless
infrastructure with service and coverage second to
nonean asset that's only fitting for the world's largest
passenger airport. Thanks to ongoing improvements
and premium technology partners, Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport is poised to continue its
industry leadership.

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

Unwiring the
Venetian Resort Hotel Casino
The Challenge
When it opened in May 1999, the Venetian Resort
Hotel Casino was the worlds largest hotel, casino, and
convention 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
Venetians 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 propertys 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 propertys employees, or team
members, must have fast and reliable communications
in order to coordinate services. Within two years
of opening, however, the Venetians management
recognized one key need that was not being met: reliable
wireless communications. Hotel guests and workers have
come to expect that their cellular phones or portable
data terminals will work wherever they are, but that
wasnt 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.

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 Venetians cellular providers had some
very specific technical requirements:
The system had to accommodate any carrier, so it had
to support iDEN, GSM, CDMA, and TDMA protocols
at both 800 and 1900 MHz frequencies.
The system had to allow each carrier to separately
manage its infrastructure.
The system had to accommodate future
enhancements such as high-speed data.
The system had to offer the highest possible
performance to minimize battery drain for handheld
phone users.
The system had to have end-to-end alarming so that
problems such as malfunctioning antennas could
immediately be spotted and fixed.
The system had to preserve the hotels aesthetics.
The system had to be cost-effective to install, with
minimal 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.

In 2001, four major cellular carriers (Verizon, Nextel,

Sprint, and AT&T Wireless) approached the Venetian
about installing the first in-building wireless system in
Las Vegas, and the hotels chief technical officer, Steve
Vollmer, quickly agreed.

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

Deployment and Maintenance

Flexibility and Performance

Over a period of about two months, the carriers installed

individual base stations in the Venetians Campanile
Tower (where they also provide outdoor coverage on
the Las Vegas Strip in front of the hotel) as well as one
(for AT&T Wireless) in its IT data center. A separate
MetroReach system and LGCell Main Hubs (located in the
hotels IT data center) deliver signals from each carriers
base stations. From each Main Hub, carrier technicians
ran fiber optic cabling up building risers to connect with
distributed Expansion Hubs on each floor. From each
expansion hub, standard CAT-5 Ethernet cabling was run
to each remote, ceiling-mounted antenna.

Over time, the flexibility and performance offered by

MetroReach and LGCell have allowed for fast and
trouble-free upgrades. For example, when Sprint and
Verizon upgraded their base stations to deliver higherspeed 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. It will be just as easy to upgrade to HSDPA
services when Cingular rolls out this service in Las Vegas.

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 hotels dcor.
Since each carriers system has its own base station,
hubs, and antennas, each carrier can remotely monitor
and manage its system. When theres 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, and T-Mobile.
Since its installation, the system has quietly provided
full coverage and outstanding performance. We dont
realize how well this works until an antenna goes
down or theres a problem with an expansion hub,
says Vollmer. Then we get complaints. As far as Im
concerned, in-building wireless is no longer a nice-tohave feature; its a must-have feature. There used to be
a rumor that the hotels would never allow cell phones
in casinos, but now people cant live without their
Black Berry devices and cell phones, no matter
where they are.

Page 17

Comprehensive, reliable cellular coverage is a given at

major resorts like the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, and
now guests and hotel team members get such coverage.

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

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.

ICS
In-building Coverage Solution; Refers to ADC in-building
mobile wireless coverage products
IF
Intermediate Frequency
MHz

ARPU

Megahertz

Average revenue per user

MMW
BER

Millimeter Wave

Bit error rate

MOU
BTS

Minutes of use

Base Station Transceiver

QoS
CDMA

Quality of service

Code Division Multiple Access; 2G digital standard

RF
CWDM

Radio Frequency

Coarse Wave Division Multiplexing

RFI
DAS

Request for information

Distributed Antenna System

RFP
dB

Request for proposal

Decibel
RFQ
dBm

Request for quote

Decibel referred to 1 milliwatt

SM/MM
DEU

Single mode/Multi mode

Digivance ICS Digital Expansion Unit

TDMA
DHU

Time Division Multiple Access

Digivance ICS Digital Host Unit

VAR
DRU

Value added reseller

Digivance ICS Digital Remote Unit

W-CDMA
FSO
Free Space Optics

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access; 3G mobile

wireless protocol

GSM

WDM

Global System for Mobile communications;

2G digital standard.

Wave Division Multiplexing

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

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

Sample Project Timeline

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

Day 16

Delivery of Product &

Material

Solutions Provider

Day 17

Installation

Solutions Provider

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

Coordination of material management,

installation, resources, etc.

Reference SOW & Design

*This outlines a typical project flow and timing may vary based on project size and complexity.

Summary
ADC offers the broadest portfolio of in-building solutions available with products that scale for facility size, offer multiple
transport options, and may be used in conjunction with one another to provide an performance and economically
optimized solution based on your individual application's needs.
For more information, please contact 800-366-3891 ext. 73008 or visit www.adc.com/inbuildingwireless.

Page 19

IN-BUILDING WIRELESS PLANNING GUIDE

Website: www.adc.com
From North America, Call Toll Free: 1-800-366-3891 Outside of North America: +1-952-938-8080
Fax: +1-952-917-3237 For a listing of ADCs global sales office locations, please refer to our website.
ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O. Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101
Specifications 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