Strategic patent adds to in-building coverage leader's IP portfolio
Ottawa, Ontario – June 12, 2006 – Spotwave Wireless today announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted the company a patent for its Coverage Area Signature (CAS) technique. This is a critical competitive differentiator in the in-building wireless coverage space, and key to the company’s claims of unconditional product stability. As the in-building wireless market continues to expand, the use of rogue repeaters and amplifiers creating interference on carrier networks becomes a growing and pressing issue. Through this latest patent, “Monitoring stability of an on-frequency repeater,” Spotwave has solved the problem of repeater stability.
As more and more enterprises and wireless subscribers begin looking for solutions to extend coverage into their homes and offices, the proliferation of potentially harmful repeaters will grow. Spotwave has long asserted that their products, which use this unique coverage area signature technique to ensure constant stability, are the only viable solution to a scalable deployment of off-air repeaters on wireless networks.
The CAS technique imprints a unique, low level signature on the repeated signal, and then senses the same signature received back at the input of the product, giving an accurate measurement of the isolation path between the system’s donor and coverage units. This technique ensures that the product will always remain stable, and never oscillate, regardless of the changing environment.
With CAS, Spotwave’s products can sense the changes in isolation and adapt their operating parameters, long before the point where oscillation occurs, thus providing a constant margin of stability. This is important, not only for preventing oscillation, but also to prevent the network signals from being distorted, as is the case when a repeater has a poor stability margin. This distortion can lead to poor network performance, increasing the probability of dropped calls and reducing data throughput. Conventional repeater products do not have a robust method of sensing isolation and must be carefully engineered and installed to avoid oscillation. However, they remain static products operating in a dynamic wireless environment, and when isolation changes, a conventional product can either distort the network signals or oscillate. Repeater oscillation can act as a jammer within the network, blocking a channel or a number of channels on the base station within a network; leading to costly trouble-shooting for the carrier, and unusable services for subscribers.
“While isolation is constantly changing in any building, it presents the greatest challenge in smaller buildings, and particularly in a residential environment, where isolation can be changed dramatically by people moving near the antennas, or simply rearranging furniture,” said Mike Roper, Chief Technology Officer, Spotwave. “A repeater without intelligence and automation leaves the carrier network’s integrity and performance completely reliant on the safety margin provided during initial installation. We’ve long asserted that this is inadequate for in-building coverage solutions to scale, given that there are thousands and thousands of smaller spaces in need of enhanced coverage. This patent now demonstrates that Spotwave has solved the problem.”
Spotwave has automated the operation and installation of their products by implementing advanced adaptive techniques such as CAS, allowing their products to be installed by subscribers without any special tools or RF background. This type of solution, allowing simple installation while protecting the wireless carrier’s networks, is imperative as the small office / home office (SOHO) market segment becomes an increasingly important one for in-building wireless coverage solutions.
Used by wireless carriers, enterprise and SOHO customers around the world, Spotwave products can be deployed quickly without elaborate engineering design or specialized instrumentation, and require no ongoing maintenance, unlike conventional in-building systems. Once installed, Spotwave products automatically adapt to changes in the wireless environment, maintain stability, and provide consistent coverage conditions.
Spotwave Wireless provides carrier-approved, intelligent indoor coverage solutions that seamlessly bring the outdoor signal inside – ensuring that cell phones and wireless devices work reliably indoors. Changing the economics of in-building wireless coverage, Spotwave's solutions are cost-effective, quick and easy to install, and require no maintenance. Spotwave solutions are also backed by a range of comprehensive installation services and support and are now the preferred coverage solution in networks operated by the top North American cellular and PCS carriers. The company website is www.spotwave.com.
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Spotwave, Spotwave Wireless and SpotCell are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Spotwave Wireless Inc.
Jamie Crawford
Tel: (613) 591-1662 ext. 298
Email: jamie.crawford@spotwave.com
