The

following set of slides addresses the basics of quo5ng, designing and building an
in-building wireless solu5on. At Hu;on we provide a complete set of solu5ons for in-
building wireless systems, typically called DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems) in the
industry. For assistance in designing and quo5ng DAS solu5ons to your customer
Hu;on is here to help you.

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Basic Components of a passive DAS. Though instead of a BDA the signal source could
also be a base sta5on radio.

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This diagram of a simple passive DAS shows a 8 story apartment building with a single
riser. Note the direc5onal coupler or tappers in the ver5cal. Each unit taps some
frac5on of the power of to that oor.

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Heres a much more complex passive DAS. Theres a variety of omni and direc5onal
antennas to match the coverage areas.

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The components of an ac5ve DAS are quite dierent. Though the signal source may
be the same ,either a BDA or base radio, the remainder of the system uses ac5ve
components to distribute the RF signal. Most ac5ve DAS solu5ons use ber op5c
cable due to the low loss over long distances.

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This shows the signal ow from the signal sources out to each ber remote and back.
The MobileAccess solu5on is very typical for ac5ve DAS. It uses a central radio
interface unit to lter, measure and condi5on the incoming RF. All RF streams are
combined here and sent to an op5cal base unit where the signals are converted to
light for the ber op5cs. At the remote end another device converts the op5cs back
to RF over coax for distribu5on over some coax and antennas.

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The Zinwave solu5on is very dierent in that its ber to the antenna. A small ber
remote is located at the antennas loca5on. Therefore there is minimal coaxial loss.
RF is injected into the main hub which can then be connected to ber remotes or to
secondary hubs. This allows many remotes to be fed by a single primary hub.

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When to use a passive DAS

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When to use an ac5ve DAS

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Simplied diagram of a BDA or repeater. Inside are 2 RF paths with ltering and
combining at each end to handle both the uplink and downlink RF paths
simultaneously.

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What do we need to know to get started. Whether youre doing your own designs or
looking for assistance from Hu;on theres certain minimum pieces of informa5on
that we must have. The more info we have the more accurate the design can match
the actual.
For VHF and UHF BDAs its important that we have actual frequencies. Cost of a BDA
can vary from $5K to over $50k depending on the channel mix.

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Lets talk about the importance of donor signal strength.

If you dont know what the donor signal is, or at least a good es5mate, all we can do
is guess as to what solu5on we need and how much gain we need in the BDA.

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Deni5on of a link budget

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An example of the elements of an in-building link budget

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The form that I use for a simplied in-building link budget. Enter donor strength,
antenna and BDA info, spli;er losses based on the number of antennas, desired
coverage area of each antenna plus addi5onal path loss components and this tool will
give you an es5mate of the signal level at the handset radio. Email me if youd like a
copy for yourself.

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Examples of typical wall losses as provided in the iBwave tool. I typically use higher
values for concrete as my experience has shown me the actual losses through
concrete are much higher then shown here. I typically use 6dB per cinder block wall
and 20dB for a poured concrete wall.

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Visual of the drop in RF signal strength over distance and as RF penetrates walls.
Overall wall losses cause degrada5on in coverage area.

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Now lets talk about power and the importance of ltering the incoming signal into
the BDA.
I men5oned in the rst slide that composite power is the sum of all signals coming
into the BDA/Repeater.
All BDAs have a max composite power. This is the point at which the BDA starts
limi5ng the gain applied to the incoming signals in order to not exceed its rated
power output.
So if your BDA is receiving more than you intended you may not be gefng the signal
amplica5on that you planned on.

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Repeater gain of 85dB, max composite power 27 dBm. ( Like the CSI DSP85-PSS8)
Add 85dB gain and youd think you would have +40.76dBm,That would be more
than10 wa;s out of the BDA. But the BDA is limited to 27dBm max (half wa;) so its
only going to operate at 71dB gain
Now your per channel power of the desired signals is -75dBm + 71dB gain = -4dBm
per channel out of the BDA. Or 0.3981 milliwa;s (a li;le less than zero point 4 wa;s)

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Same repeater
Repeater gain of 85dB, max composite power 27 dBm.
-66dBm + 85dB = 19dBm (so we have not exceeded our max composite power)
Now your per channel power of the desired signals is -75dBm + 85dB gain = +10dBm
per channel out of the BDA. Or 10 milliwa;s, over 20 5mes as much power per
channel!
Our previous example we only had -4dBm per channel real power available!

So I hope you can see the importance of being selec5ve with what your BDA sees

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Same repeater
Repeater gain of 85dB, max composite power 27 dBm.
-66dBm + 85dB = 19dBm (so we have not exceeded our max composite power)
Now your per channel power of the desired signals is -75dBm + 85dB gain = +10dBm
per channel out of the BDA. Or 10 milliwa;s, over 20 5mes as much power per
channel!
Our previous example we only had -4dBm per channel real power available!

So I hope you can see the importance of being selec5ve with what your BDA sees

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With so many carriers in the PCS bands its especially important to only look at what
you really need.

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With so many carriers in the PCS bands its especially important to only look at what
you really need.

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So be sure to get a BDA that oers mul5ple pass windows

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Many repeaters oer solware controlled band select lters to bring in only what you
want.

Without a site survey the proposal carries risk.

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Always get permission from the license holder before rebroadcas5ng their signal.

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These slides discuss project management aspects of an in-building project.

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This is my list of things that we really need to know to do a design.
We have oor plans
We have a frequency band, or list of frequencies. This is where its best to know
whats going on in the frequency band (explain rebanding, channelized)
Donor signal - Anything less is an educated guess, not a design.
And what standard are we expected to meet.

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As you can see, the list of things we dont know is always a lot bigger than what we
do know.
From experience we can be pre;y good at our assump5ons
Stairs will have either re rated drywall, CMU, or poured in place concrete
depending on the height of the building.
Plenum rated cable is almost always required above drop ceilings, generally you can
use plenum in place or re resistant, but not the inverse
Riser loca5ons are olen near elevator or stairs, usually closets and usually stacked,
some5mes labeled Comm, Data or Elect.

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Does the building actually look like the original plans provided?
Then we see if the public safety signal is good enough in some areas
Aler all, the building code says that if the signal inside a building falls below
the threshold (usually -95) then a BDA system must be installed. So if the signal is
already strong in the upper oors, leave them alone unless you somehow feel
commi;ed to the original design (choose your wording carefully in your proposal).
This is a good 5me to bring up an edge that you may have over the compe55on when
you bid. If there is a building to take measurements in then do so at the 5me of the
bid. You might win the job by installing the DAS only where its needed, while all the
others are bidding the whole building.
Compare cable rou5ng in design with actual in building
Verify donor antenna and cable
Take a roolop measurement of the donor signal
Conrm where the BDA will be mounted
If anything above changed, review these changes with the designer. Changes to
cable rou5ng, oor-to-oor penetra5ons and BDA loca5on may change the design
substan5ally. Changes to the donor signal can also have a big impact, good or bad!

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A CW test is one of the most overlooked tools of the trade. Trying to troubleshoot a
problem with live signal s5nks! CW tes5ng allows you to measure everything without
the variables of live signal.
Why 8l? Because its easy to see the length of 2 ceiling 5les

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Be sure to lter out unwanted signals, Examples
Do your own walk test before the inspector gets there
Have you ever done a grid test? Divide the oor plan into 20 equal grid squares.
Inspector can test signal from anywhere within each square. If they want to be
dicult theyll nd the farthest corner. Or perhaps if they trust that you do good
work they

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The actual requirements will be wri;en into the citys building codes. But inspector
has the la5tude to determine cri5cal coverage areas.
Cellular systems with 3G or 4G technology were now designing to a -75, 100 5mes
more signal than public safety!

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What are cri5cal areas? Usually dened as exit pathways, places of public gathering
in an emergency, pump and re control rooms.

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Much more is involved in boos5ng cellular services, especially if mul5ple carriers are
involved.

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