Why bother with a InBuilding Solution?
Cellular signal is everywhere right? Wrong. We’ve all had those moments of being on a hike or on a beach and we don’t have signal and we seem to generally accept this, however why wouldn’t you have signal while watching a football game in a stadium in London? The main reason for this is lack of capacity, the eternal base stations just don’t have enough capacity to support the amount of people all trying to connect. One of the other reasons is building materials, concrete and reinforced glass make it tough for the signal to penetrate and therefore becomes saturated and weak. Basement and high levels also can reduce the strength of the external cellular coverage. Only with a dedicated InBuilding solution will users in an airport, for example, have a seamless, fast connection.
Our Virtua design team are capable of designing multi-operator, single-operator, Cellular and Wi-Fi solutions. We can deploy these throughout numerous locations, from a high-rise London office to a university campus. We already have extensive experience working at prestigious buildings such as 20 Fenchurch St, Dumfries and Galloway Hospital, Heathrow and multiple stadiums throughout the UK.
Designing 5G
It is vital that our team keep up with the latest industry technology, as such we have recently invested in leading software – iBwave to enable our team of skilled and experienced RF designers the capability to propagate and optimise 5GNR InBuilding solutions.
Currently our team are working on 12 5G designs, with 2 already at the build stage. One of our 5G build’s is currently being used as a test site for SOLiD equipment located in a stadium in London. By being able to test out different equipment gives our RF Designers and Engineers the knowledge and experience to only deploy the best solutions.
How it works
All InBuilding projects go through various stages:
Survey/Test – The site is surveyed and/or walk tested to help create the iBwave model
The model is then built using the information from the survey and floorplans. We use industry standard software iBwave
After approval from our client the model can then be handed over to ours or their build team to install the solution
Once complete the newly installed solution is then walk tested to ensure all is working correctly
Challenges
One of the current 5G designs we have been working on is for a football club in London. The building is fairly old now and our team have had to undertake several weight tests on the roof. There is a lot of existing equipment on the roof – lights, old antennas – which meant placement of our new antennas was also an issue. To overcome this we have had to fabricate brand new steelwork, helping to reinforce the structure and ensure space for the 5G antennas.
The benefit of 5G
5G is ultra fast, it will enable people to access download speeds of 20Gb/s (gigabits per second), 5G also comes with a higher capacity then 4G. Cellular signal is now taken for granted in places like shopping centres, universities, hospitals, airports, offices – the list is endless. For businesses to stay ahead they must offer their clients a seamless ultrafast connection.
Can we help?
By employing accurate modelling, calibration, collection and optimisation modules, we have the tools and skillsets at our disposal to ensure your next multi operator solution meets the growing demands, challenges and expectations of any InBuilding venue. If you would like more information please feel free to contact us.