A problem with installing Wi-Fi mesh and WiMAX systems outdoors on light poles, traffic lights, and building rooftops, is that they don’t penetrate signals inside buildings very well. This is also true about traditional cell phone systems. As a result, indoor wireless users must generally install indoor customer premise equipment (CPE) to provide reliable signal coverage indoors. A problem with installing Wi-Fi mesh and WiMAX systems outdoors on light poles, traffic lights, and building rooftops, is that they don’t penetrate signals inside buildings very well. This is also true about traditional cell phone systems. As a result, indoor wireless users must generally install indoor customer premise equipment (CPE) to provide reliable signal coverage indoors.
Sprint Nextel recognized this problem and has been revealing their plans of deploying indoor WiMAX radios to cover large facilities, such as shopping malls and conference centers. This makes sense, but it will be adding to existing indoor cell phone repeaters and Wi-Fi access points. With the addition of more radio equipment and antennas, it may get a bit crowded in communications closets. Also, a large number of antennas could be aesthetically displeasing. In this case, a distributed antenna system (DAS) can help reduce complexities and costs of deploying and supporting the systems. Companies such as Mobile Access Networks, Andrew Corporation, and LGC Wireless offer systems providing a common antenna solution that supports multiple radio systems.
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How will they solve the synchronization of the indoor system?