Wi-Fi with Distributed Antenna Systems

Distributing Wi-Fi, cellular, telemetry, public safety, and paging over commonly shared infrastructure

It’s common today to find a Wi-Fi network operating in the same building or large venue as other wireless systems – cellular, two-way radio, telemetry, and public-safety communication systems. To reduce the cost of deploying these various wireless systems, a hybrid distributed antenna system (DAS) can be used to combine and transport all of the systems over one common backbone.

Unlike last-generation DAS systems that carried analog waveforms and literally acted like a remote antenna, hybrid DAS systems digitize any analog signals, bundle them with natively digital packets such as IP, transport them over the DAS backbone, and then reconstruct the analog signals (such a cellular) or deliver packets to a local Ethernet data port. Leveraging one common digital infrastructure substantially lowers installation costs, simplifies system management, and overcomes the many performance issues associated with older analog DAS systems.

Hybrid DAS solutions, such as those from TE Connectivity, represent the state-of-the-art in DAS technology. Best of all, they allow Aruba access points to be distributed throughout the facility, as they were designed to be, to provide the best throughput and ideal coverage. Used in conjunction with a hybrid DAS, Aruba Wi-Fi networks retain all of their performance-oriented features including full-speed 802.11n MIMO, Adaptive Radio Management, and locationing – something older analog DAS systems simply can’t do.

Aruba’s 802.11n solutions are fully interoperable with hybrid DAS solutions – which range from small sites to the very largest campuses, hospitals, and venues – and non-analog DAS solutions in which access points are field mounted.

Wi-Fi and hybrid DAS – used together they meet the needs of service providers, neutral hosts, and IT departments serving healthcare, education, government, and large venue markets worldwide.