Case Study: Airvana delivers exceptional wireless experience at University Coliseum
Leading small cells provider Airvana uses iBwave Design and its Optimization module to ensure an exceptional wireless experience for Gross Memorial Coliseum at Fort Hays State University.
Airvana is a leading provider of award-winning 4G LTE and 3G small cell solutions that significantly improve the experience of mobile subscribers in the most challenging venues: offices, public venues and in the home.
Founded in 2000, the Chelmsford, Massachusets Airvana has provided commercial wireless solutions to over 90 operators worldwide and is consistently ranked as a market leader in small cells. In 2015 Airvana became part of Commscope, a global leader in wireless networks.
QUICK FACTS
LOCATION
United States
BUILDING TYPE
University Coliseum
GOAL
Improve wireless experience for attendees
PRODUCTS USED
THE CHALLENGES WE SOLVED
To ensure that mobile subscribers attending events at Gross Coliseum have an exceptional wireless experience.
To enable Airvana to provide an accurate representation of how their OneCell™ solution will perform once deployed.
THE RESULTS
Explanation of Airvana’s OneCell™ Benefits
Two of the most impressive benefits of Airvana’s OneCell™ solution are the lack of inter-cell interference found in traditional small cell deployments and it’s simple low-cost deployment model, especially for large venue networks that are not typically considered for small cell deployments. Which was exactly the case for the Gross Coliseum deployment with Nex-Tech Wireless.
Airvana used iBwave Design + Optimization to very accurately model the coliseum network and visually show Nex-Tech Wireless exactly how the network would perform once deployed. This helped Nex-Tech Wireless determine OneCell™ was the right solution for delivering high-performance LTE service in Gross Coliseum
It takes more than signal strength
With the graduation ceremony at the coliseum coming up soon, Airvana and Nex-Tech Wireless needed to be sure the modeled network in iBwave Design was extremely accurate in its prediction results. There would be very little time post-deployment to tweak the network. And this is where the Optimization module’s ability to model the network – taking into consideration both macro interference from outside the stadium and interference from within the stadium – became very clear.
By using iBwave Design, and, in particular, the Optimization module, we were able to accurately model the network to predict both signal quality, and most importantly, the user’s experience. By knowing the signal quality before we deployed, we could be confident that all attendees at the coliseum would have an exceptional wireless experience” says Josh Adelson, Director of Product Marketing at Airvana.
Exceptional wireless experience
Thanks to the collaboration between Airvana and Nex-Tech Wireless, and their effective leveraging of iBwave Design + Optimization module, the wireless experience provided at the graduation ceremony exceeded all expectations.
The entire qualification process, from first lab tests to live commercial use took just nine weeks. As a demanding use case, the graduation event exceeded our expectations and validated for us the advantages of this technology” explained Nathan Sutter, director of network operations and engineering, Nex-Tech Wireless. And to that, we’ll flip our tassel and throw our hats.
TESTING RESULTS: PREDICTED VS. VALIDATED
Extensive live testing at the coliseum validated the accuracy of iBwave Design’s model predictions for signal quality and data rates.
THE COLISEUM
Coverage area: 322,000 square feet
Seating capacity: 7,600 attendees
SIGNAL QUALITY (SNIR)
100% > 28 dB
PREDICTED
99.7% > 28 dB
VALIDATED
DATA RATES
