A UK company that has developed a way of sending RF signals down multi-mode fibre says its distributed antenna system, which is scheduled to be available as a product later in 2006, will answer in-building cellular and WiFi coverage problems in a more flexible and cost-effective way than current solutions.
The Zinwave system is a broadband system capable of transparently carrying RF signals in the range 370-2500MHz without the need for RF signal processing. As no pre-configuration of the system with band specific components is required, the Zinwave system is inherently future proof.
If installed initially to support one service in the supported frequency range then later other services can be added without the need for major hardware re-configuration.
A distributed antenna system hooks up mini-antennas around a campus or site, all of which receive a signal from a “home” base station. To date, providers of such systems have had to send the RF waves down single-mode fibre, rather than the more commonly installed multi-mode fibre, or employ complex RF signal processing techniques, Mike Baker, ceo of Zinwave said.
Zinwave, a UK start up backed by private equity and based on research developed by Cambridge University and University College London, has developed a system that combines multi-band antennas that can deliver WiFi, 2G and 3G RF coverage, with the ability break out the RF signals from a pico or micro cellular base station.
As such, Zinwave says it can deliver in-building coverage more efficiently over existing infrastructure, without having to install either more base stations for additional coverage or alternative cabling to support a distributed antenna architecture.
Issues of in-building coverage are going to become more of a problem in two ways, Mike Baker, ceo of Zinwave, says. First off is the issue of management, as IT managers, building owners and operators try to service more types of signal (Digital PMR, WiFi, 2G, 3G, WiMax etc). Second, as many of these step up the frequency wave bands to 2GHz and above, attenuation increases. Added to these factors is the increasing tendency to build big, steel encased and concrete buildings.
Advocates of a distributed antenna system say it means the building manager can keep power levels down, manage frequencies in the building more efficiently, and cost–effectively cover large buildings in excess, say, of 25,000 square feet.
“Up to this point distributed antenna systems that transparently carry the RF signals have had to be supported by single mode fibre, as signal losses over multi-mode fibre have been too high in the frequency range of interest – but buildings with fibre tend to have multi-mode fibre. So the advantage of our approach is we can extend that signal, but over multi-mode fibre,” Baker says.
Beneficiaries of a major funding round in February 2005, Zinwave is looking for partners among systems integrators, OEMs and mobile operators. It expects to have a shippable product in mid-2006.
American company LGC Wireless said that in fact using multi-mode fibre to carry RF signals to a distrubuted antenna system is in fact not a new technology.
John Spindler, vice president of marketing at LGC Wireless, said,“LGC Wireless, who is the leading supplier of active in-building DAS systems in the world, has offered DAS solutions which use multi-mode fibre since 1996. We have installed over 5500 DAS systems worldwide, the majority of them using multi-mode fibre as a distribution medium,” he said.
Sindler said he has sent a letter to Zinwave requesting that it refrains from describing as unique its ability to use multi-mode fibre. Zinwave pointed out that its differentiator is that is using broadband fibre without the need for signal processing (down converting).