Dos and donts of WLAN and DAS

Scott Thompson, Oberon

Recently I attended a large trade show at an exhibit hall in the nations capital. There were several
thousand people in the hall, and within the facility there were popular, actively sought locales
wherein people were dipping and turning, holding their heads sideways, looking upward, rotating,
stooping and thrusting upward. Then, inevitably, the person would look at the device in their hand in
frustration.
And those were the few spots in the hall that actually had a cellular signal.
Most people have had the experience of poor cellular service inside buildings, and often these
buildings are large public facilities. In addition to the user inconvenience caused by the poor
connection, the carriers lose minutes and the buildings utilitywhether as a mall, public hall or other
venueis compromised. Everybody loses.
DAS emerges

Fortunately there is a reasonable solution for an in-building wireless solution called a distributed
antenna system (DAS). DAS is a method for re-creating the coverage of primarily outdoor cellular
services, indoors. The purpose of the DAS is to overcome the severe attenuation caused by the
walls and structure of a building. Even the newly auctioned 700-MHz band, with its preferred
propagation characteristics, will be challenged to provide the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
required for pervasive high-speed data services envisioned for the emerging 4G network.

Distributed antenna systems

have migrated inside facilities to
prevent this familiar scene, a
wireless device user frustrated
over the lack of a signal
indoors.

Clearly, as people become more dependent on mobile voice and data services, there is a growing
expectation for network connectivity everywhereindoors and outdoors. DAS and related in-building
wireless systems provide a means to match this expectation, even in the most challenging indoor
environments.
The DAS may be as simple as an outdoor pickup antenna with bidirectional amplifiers and indoor
antennas; or it may be a much more sophisticated base-station with fiber-optic distribution to remote
access radio frequency (RF) converters and antennas. In any case, as the name implies, the
antennas are distributed throughout the facility, and the active equipment, whether a micro-base
station, repeater or other cellular equipment, is safely locked in the telecommunications room.
This, of course, is a different architecture than the standard 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN)
architecture, which comprises distributed access points (with connected antennas), versus
distributed antennas.
In the past, the difference in architecture was not important. The wireless LAN is a private network,
commissioned by the premises network administrator, whereas DAS systems may have multiple
stakeholders including building owners/operators, carriers, third-party integrators and premises
network administrators.
WLAN over DAS?

As DAS solutions emerge, one might be compelled to include private wireless LAN traffic over the
DAS, the argument being, Why build two wireless infrastructures? The answer to that question is
that most vendors 802.11 wireless networking products are designed for a distributed access point
approach, not a distributed antenna (DAS) approach. Generally speaking, when you use something
in a way for which it was not intended, you do not get the results you want.

Those tempted to run wireless

LAN traffic over a DAS out of
concern for the physical
security of access points should
consider using devices like this
ceiling-mount enclosure.

Cisco recently released a positioning statement indicating that Cisco does not certify, endorse or
provide RF support for Wi-Fi deployments over any distributed antenna system. The statement can
be found at http://bit.ly/d7uynU.
Although not specifically precluding the use of Cisco wireless LAN products in a DAS, the statement
recommends special consideration of signal coverage, client-to-access-point density, client roaming,
location-based services and the impact of the multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) antennas used
by 802.11n access points. Ciscos positioning statement goes on to recommend an appropriate
design and deployment if a DAS approach is used, because the DAS vendor and/or systems
integrator is solely responsible for the support of the DAS products and for providing adequate RF
coverage and supporting any RF-related issues.
Other options

Why would you operate the wireless LAN over the DAS in the first place? If the answer is physical
security of the wireless LAN access points (and thats the only security at stake with correctly
deployed access points), then you should plan to secure the APs in locking ceiling or wall
enclosures. These enclosures provide a degree of physical security commensurate with the value of
the access point. Sometimes the concern is not so much malicious theft or vandalism of the access
points, but just accidental displacement, disconnection or blockage from the desired location. Again,
the locking ceiling or wall-mount enclosure is the answer.
If the answer is to reduce installation and cabling cost by combining the DAS and wireless LAN, then
consider coordinating design and installation of conventional but distinct wireless LAN and DAS
infrastructures, including shared infrastructure, pathways and spaces where appropriate. This is an
overlay design and can include shared workspace telecommunications enclosures for access points,
remote access units, bidirectional amplifiers, converters, repeaters and antennas.

Another emerging technology may truly converge public cellular services onto private wireless LANs,
but that is a topic for a future article.
In the meantime, the wireless LAN and DAS designer should consider vendor recommendations,
risk and cost-saving potential when deploying wireless LAN over DAS, versus an overlay design
comprising wireless LAN and DAS components..