Ericsson is to launch a cellular radio small enough to fit in a person’s hand that provides enough indoor network coverage for a crowd of people.
Known as the Ericsson Radio Dot System, the disk-shaped solution addresses a broad range of scenarios for providing high-quality access to mobile broadband and voice services indoors.
An in-building environment presents a special set of challenges for mobile operators, concerning complexity, scalability and service continuity. Current indoor solutions are built mainly for voice coverage and do not meet the growing capacity demands of apps.
Additionally, covering major parts of buildings has been challenging, for reasons such as high costs and limited scalability.
Johan Wibergh, head of Ericsson Business Unit Networks, said: “With the Radio Dot System we lower the threshold to building indoor coverage. The dot is the most cost-effective, no-compromise solution to the indoor coverage challenges expressed by our customers.
“It is ultra-small but can scale to virtually unlimited capacity; it is easy to install, future proof and it is 100 percent integrated with existing mobile networks.”
The Ericsson Radio Dot System is compact and offers flexible mounting, with research and development having taken two years. The device weighs 300 grams and incorporates 14 patents.
Its antenna element, or “dot”, delivers mobile broadband access to users.
Dots are connected and powered via standard internet LAN cables (Category 5/6/7) to indoor radio units that link to a base station. The Radio Dot System leverages the same industry-leading features found in Ericsson’s macro base stations.
The system supports integration with Ericsson’s carrier Wi-Fi portfolio enabling features such as real-time traffic steering to ensure the best user experience across both Wi-Fi and 3GPP networks.
