How Cellular Reception Works

Cell phone reception is the strength of the connection the cell phone has to its network.  There are a variety of factors that impact cellular signal, such as proximity to a tower.  Most mobile devices use a set of bars of varying heights to display the strength of the signal where the device is located. 

Bird on a Wire……

This blog is industry related folks but not what we typically blog about at Harris Communications.  My day started with the routine cup of coffee and logging onto my computer.  I went to the local online paper this morning and I had to laugh when I read an article that talks about birds using a cell tower as “home”.

Our engineers custom design wireless solutions for our clients to suit specific needs.  

In-Building Wireless Solution, Ace Hotel- New York, NY

Ace Hotel has several locations throughout the United States and is a thriving urban hotel chain.  They are known for their hip style, unique locations and are often called a boutique hotel.  The New York location is a 12-story building in the heart of midtown Manhattan.  There are 260 rooms and the hotel is located near the theater district.   The Ace Hotel concept reinvents historical buildings, creates a bohemian and organic design that is environmentally friendly and offers affordable rates along with luxury amenities.

Ace Hotel was preparing to open their newest location in New York, NY and they realized that the cellular reception was slim to non-existent in the building.  The hotel chain offers free Wi-Fi and operates under the premise that they offer luxury amenities in historical buildings in major metropolitan cities throughout the United States.  With this premise in mind, the proprietors wanted to ensure that guests have adequate cellular reception throughout the hotel.  Ace Hotel found Harris Communications online and quickly contracted with us to implement a custom designed, multiple carrier cellular repeater solution.

The Ace Hotel is situated in the former Breslin Hotel, originally built in 1904.  The building itself is 12 stories and is surrounded by newer and larger buildings from all directions.  The size of the building as well as the historical construction of the facility resulted in poor cellular signal throughout the hotel.  Ace Hotel incorporates green eco-friendly aspects as well as sustainable elements in the design.  In some instances green friendly design materials block cellular signals and prevent adequate in-building coverage.  The cellular signal was available outside of the building, Harris Communications designed a solution that would pull the outside signal into the building and repeat it throughout the newly remodeled hotel.

Harris Communications designed a multiple carrier Bi-Directional Amplifier (BDA) solution guaranteed that cellular signals would propagate throughout the building effectively and facilitate cellular reception throughout the building. The BDA solution has a Distributive Antenna Solution (DAS) backbone.  This system incorporates a non-invasive installation that was implemented without disrupting the progress of the Ace Hotel grand opening.  We were able to design a solution that delivered cellular service without compromising the historical integrity of the building.  This solution does not require upgrades and will serve the hotels needs for years to come.

Benefits

Ace Hotel can guarantee full cellular coverage throughout the hotel.  The solution implemented by Harris Communications has eliminated the possibility of dropped calls and poor cellular coverage in the hotel.  The greatest benefit is that the Ace Hotel can continue to deliver outstanding service in a hip environment without the concern of guests experiencing poor and/or non-existent cellular coverage.

About Harris Communications

Harris Communications is a national company based out of Charlotte, NC that specializes in wireless in building cellular signal enhancement and wireless solutions for commercial applications. They have over 17 years of experience and have implemented wireless enhancement solutions in facilities throughout the United States. Harris Communications is a turnkey company and handles every aspect from the design, installation and maintenance of their systems.

Cellular Repeater Solutions can be designed to suit any size facility and repeat as few or as many carriers that the building owner desires.  The outline below details how they work:

It is more and more common for first-responders, (Police/Fire/EMS), to demand reliable ubiquitous radio coverage to ensure the safety of the public, as well as their own.  In many instances poor in-building radio coverage has a negative impact on first responders ability to communicate effectively in a crisis situation.  The prevailing thought today is that “Mission-critical” coverage can no longer end at the hospital doorway, basement, or stairwell. 

DAS is the acronym we use in the wireless industry for DISTRIBUTIVE ANTENNA SYSTEM (DAS).

A Distributive Antenna Solutions can connect to a variety of wireless services and then rebroadcast those signals throughout the areas in which the system is installed. The applications can include cellular service from multiple wireless carriers, public safety radio frequencies, and Wi-Fi. Campus style environments can benefit greatly from DAS systems. In a medical clinic or hospital the special medical wireless systems it uses also can be supported with a DAS solution as well as cellular e, Wi-Fi and public safety.

To understand how a DAS operates, it helps to know some of the methods by which wireless signals are propagated. Nearly all of us know what a cell tower looks like; well, each of those towers carries antennas for one or more macrocells (multiple carriers when there are “layers” of antenna arrays). Wireless carriers use microcells to add capacity in areas with a high density of mobile wireless device users. In a DAS setup, any or all of these technologies may come into play.

Now that we know we’re “inserting” signals, the next logical step is to think about what we’re doing with them. Every DAS has a “head end” into which these source signals are combined for distribution. The signals are amplified and carefully “combed” together as needed, in the electronic equipment and filters at the head end. Intermediate amplifiers (usually referred to as bi-directional amplifiers or BDAs) are added to make up for signal losses due to the physical limitations in how far a cable can carry the signal. Cables then carry the signal out to passive antennas placed where more signal strength or coverage is needed. A DAS might use fiber from the head end to the remote BDAs, plus coaxial or shielded Category 5/6 cable from there. One of the selling points of a DAS is that a properly designed and installed system is able to support all your wireless traffic: Wi-Fi, cellular, PCS, paging, maintenance, and public safety. Just be aware that each of these technology types uses different radio frequencies, which directly affects the DAS design and the type of antennas to be installed in the buildings. It is best to decide in advance which wireless systems the DAS needs to support.

A cellular network is a radio network made up of a number of radio cells (or just cells) each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. These cells cover different land areas to provide radio coverage over a wider area than the area of one cell, so that a variable number of portable transceivers can be used in any one cell and moved through more than one cell during transmission.

Cellular networks offer a number of advantages over alternative solutions:

1. Increased capacity

2. Reduced power usage

3. Larger coverage area

4. Reduced interference from other signals

RF Engineering, also known as Radio Frequency Engineering, is a subset of electrical engineering. It applies to devices which are designed to operate in the Radio Frequency spectrum. RF Engineering is incorporated into almost everything that transmits or receives a radio wave which includes, but not limited to, Cell Phones, Wi-Fi and Public Safety Solutions.

RF Engineers are a part of a high;y specialized field and are an integral part of in-building wireless solutions. Their expertise is needed to design effective and reliable solutions. To produce quality results, an in-depth knowledge of mathematics, physics and general electronics theory is required. Even with this, the initial design of an RF Circuit usually bears very little resemblance to the final physical circuit produced, as revisions to the design are often required to achieve intended results.

RF Engineers are specialists in their respective field and assist in both the design, and maintenance of our solutions. Often, creative and collaborative solutions are required in the wireless industry, we work closely with our RF engineers to deliver quality solutions. The range of technologies used is vast due to the wide array of frequencies allocated for different radio services, and due to the range in age of equipment.

Each frequency range has a band designator and each range of frequencies behaves differently and performs different functions. The frequency spectrum is shared by civil, government, and military users of all nations according to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) radio regulations.

For communications purposes, the usable frequency spectrum now extends from about 3Hz to about 300GHz. There are also some experiments at about 100THz where research on laser communications is taking place but we won’t discuss this now. This range from 3Hz to 300GHz has been split into regions.