Distributed Antenna System (DAS) and Cell Amplification
Keeping You Connected
With a distributed antenna system (DAS) from RealCom Solutions, visitors, personnel, and customers don’t have to be disappointed by a lack of connectivity at your facility. Our experts provide self-performing services to deliver cellular connectivity and mobility solutions right where you need them.
What Is DAS?
A distributed antenna system from RealCom Solutions provides an infrastructure solution for facilities where cellular signals are weak or cell towers are prone to overload. They’re most often deployed in facilities where the user base may surpass the capacity of standard cell towers or where cell tower signals can’t effectively reach.
The structure of many buildings often weakens or blocks cell signals, so you may be able to connect outside the building, but once inside, your connection may be lost or weakened. When this occurs, a DAS receives the signal from the outside and disperses that signal throughout the interior of the building. These amplified signals allow users to continue using all their mobile devices throughout the building.
How DAS Works
Distributed antenna systems (DAS) provide cellular services via strategically placed transceiver antennas throughout your building. Cellular services can be brought in via an antenna, an array of antennas outside the building, or a network link to a dedicated provider. A single system can provide reliable cellular services across 5,000 or 100,000 square feet.
Since we can scale a solution to your needs, DAS offers a cost-effective opportunity to boost productivity and visitor satisfaction at your facility.
Common Applications for DAS
DAS is commonly deployed at facilities such as:
- Hotels and conference centers
- Hospitals and other healthcare facilities
- Large office buildings
- Convention centers
- Schools
- Stadiums
Complete Project Management
While we specialize in a full range of IT and telecom solutions, distributed antenna systems and cell amplification projects are one of our favorites to tackle. We begin with a free building assessment to understand precisely where you need to amplify signal strength. From there, we start designing a system while leveraging a national network of equipment vendors to deliver a high-performance, cost-effective solution for your facility.
After you’ve selected the ideal DAS package for your needs and budget, our project managers and installers oversee every aspect of the project, from installation to deployment.
Active DAS vs. Passive DAS
One of the critical decisions you have to make when designing a distributed antenna system is choosing between active and passive DAS. Passive DAS is suitable for the majority of applications like office buildings, hotels, and conference centers. That’s because passive DAS is up to 75% less expensive to deploy while covering multi-level facilities up to 100,000 square feet. However, passive DAS is not ideal when you need to run long cables throughout the building, since the signal degrades over long cable runs.
While more expensive, active DAS is better suited to larger buildings such as stadiums and convention centers. Active DAS “actively” converts radio frequencies to optical signals that can be sent through long cable runs with no signal loss. You also can monitor active DAS remotely via a simple network management protocol (SMNP). One of the downsides of an active system, however, is it will only work on one carrier’s frequency. If you want to take advantage of signals from multiple carriers, additional equipment needs to be installed.
Let’s Talk
Share your project goals or pain points, and we’ll help you find the right solution the first time around.
