Infrastructure and in-building coverage specialist SOLiD recently introduced Fiber2Antenna, a new class of wireless solutions aimed at solving the “middleprise” in-building coverage challenge, the firm said in a release.
The company said that the first new product in this family is the SOLiD ALLIANCE edgeROU, a compact active 5G antenna that was unveiled during the recent Mobile World Congress Los Angeles conference.
Built on SOLiD’s modular Alliance platform, the new Fiber2Antenna solutions deliver advanced fiber-to the-edge technology which provides a “Wi-Fi-like” mobile experience indoors, according to the company. The SOLiD Fiber2Antenna solutions are compatible with major mobile networks worldwide and support 5G New Radio specifications for future-proof investment protection, the company said.
“Leveraging our expertise in industry-leading, multi-operator DAS technology, SOLiD is driving cost and complexity out of middleprise solutions to solve coverage issues that otherwise can’t be addressed affordably,” said Ken Sandfeld, president of SOLiD Americas. “With the introduction of this new Fiber2Antenna class solution segment, SOLiD will change how enterprise buildings solve wireless coverage in 2020 just as 5G commercial services approach mass market adoption.”
The new SOLiD Alliance edgeROU offers a small size, active antenna for ease of installation and 15-25% more coverage per antenna point in buildings with more powerful amplifiers than available from the competition, SOLiD said.
Shipments of the Alliance edgeROU are set to begin in the first quarter of 2020, and SOLiD will begin taking orders before the end of this year.
The companyalso recently launched the launched the SOLiD RocketWAVE 5G off-air repeater platform. This new solution will provide millimeter wave (mmWave) signal distribution, 5G performance, speed and capacity indoors, and will offer a simple solution to assure seamless in-building service for mobile operators wishing to extend their mmWave networks indoors in the United States, SOLiD said. RocketWAVE mmWave products will support 24 GHz, 28 Ghz, and 39 GHz individually.
“The reliance on an outdoor-to-indoor strategy for 5G mmWave coverage depends on the assumption that small cell sites on lower height poles and structures are readily available. EJL Wireless Research has proven this strategy to be flawed, given the state of 5G mmWave networks across the U.S. currently,” said Earl J. Lum, founder and president, EJL Wireless Research. “The RocketWAVE solution bypasses the requirement for small cell sites to deploy 5G mmWave radios, and allows for the mobile operator to directly feed 5G mmWave signals indoors from off-air repeaters deployed on rooftops. This enables support for enterprise users without the need to try to beam the signals through Low-E Glass windows or require outdoor CPEs to be mounted below the tree line.”