In a world of 5G, the vision for future wireless network architectures is built on centralized baseband processing and virtualized network functions for more efficient and flexible operation.
At Mobile World Congress 2018, CommScope will make that future vision a reality for in-building wireless by introducing a next generation platform, CommScope Era™.
CommScope Era is an all-digital C-RAN antenna system that leverages wireless operators’ initiatives to centralize and virtualize baseband radio assets, a foundational design concept for 5G networks.
Era enables operators to deploy a centralized headend that serves multiple buildings, or even to tap capacity from the operator’s existing centralized radio access network (C-RAN) hubs.
“We have invested heavily to create an all-digital platform architecture that upends the economics of in-building wireless and ushers in a new era and standard for distributed antenna systems,” notes Matt Melester, Senior VP, Distributed Coverage and Capacity Solutions, CommScope.
Era’s Wide-area Integration Node (WIN) resides in the C-RAN hub and routes baseband capacity to a distribution point within the served building or campus. Era allocates baseband capacity where it is needed while reducing the amount of onsite head-end equipment and the amount of fiber needed for signal transport by up to 90 percent.
Era features a new family of access points that are available in a range of power levels, with copper and fiber connectivity and outdoor and plenum ratings, to serve a wide variety of venue types. It supports interleaved MIMO (multiple input/multiple output) using patented technology that can offer up to 80% of collocated MIMO speeds over a SISO (single input/single output) infrastructure.
Era uses IT-standard copper and fiber-optic infrastructure-- and allows for the sharing of existing fiber networks, significantly reducing fiber costs.
CommScope holds 164 patent families for the technological innovations incorporated in Era:
- CommScope Era’s all-digital architecture enables capabilities that analog DAS simply cannot.
- Capacity re-allocation, soft re-sectorization, system setup and diagnostics are all software functions in Era, capable of being changed with a few clicks of a mouse.
- Era also transports Gigabit Ethernet backhaul to each remote node, which can be used for separate Wi-Fi networks, IP security systems or to support a small cell overlay needed for future network expansion.
