Mobile operators slash DAS installation time & costs

31st March 2015

Jordan Mulcare

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TE Connectivity is rapidly gaining traction with major US mobile operators, slashing DAS installation time, equipment costs and operating costs in key deployments. CPRI Digital Interface Unit (CDIU) establishes a direct digital connection between Alcatel-Lucent base stations and TE’s DAS host unit, eliminating remote radio heads, RF conversions and racks of attenuation panels in a DAS head-end.

Typically, deploying a direct digital base station-to-host connection with CDIU reduces physical equipment by more than 50% and cost of materials by 40%, plus it reduces energy costs by as much as $100,000 per year in large venues.

At the venues, CDIU has been deployed with TE’s FlexWave digital DAS platform using both high-power and low-power remote units. TE’s FlexWave DAS host units can drive both high- and low-power remote antennas from the same host unit, giving mobile operators and neutral host operators the flexibility to architect DAS uniquely and use CDIU at any site.

In addition to significant savings in capital and operating costs, CDIU delivers simplified installation and shorter deployment times. Rather than spending days cabling and installing racks of attenuators, the CDIU-to-DAS connection is a plug-and-play operation that takes minutes.

Finally, CDIU improves performance, testing and commissioning of a DAS. Rather than undertake expensive PIM testing on cables linking antennas and amplifiers, operators can use the CDIU to generate a carrier waveform tone that makes it easy to optimise and troubleshoot the system.

“CDIU is a great example of how TE works with mobile operators and base station manufacturers to lower costs and simplify DAS deployments,” said Peter Wraight, President, TE’s Wireless business unit. “With industry firsts like CDIU, we are continually pushing DAS evolution into the future and that’s why mobile operators prefer our solutions for their most demanding applications.”