• Wireless "Triple Play" Systems
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• Wideband Triple Play Systems

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• System Description
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System Description - BWA-4000 Platform

All Broadband Wireless Access Systems are made up of three functional sub-systems.

• The RF System - the high-capacity, wireless pipeline for transmitting communications to and receiving communications from each subscriber.
• The Access System - packages the information for transport and manages the relationship between the subscriber and the operator.
• The Network Interface - represents the communication infrastructure, through which the provider connects to the application content; and the subscriber network infrastructure, through which the subscriber connects to the system. The Network Interface equipment is not included in the BWA-4000 platform.

RF System

The The RF System consists of one or more transceivers, and antenna(s) at the base station and an integrated transceiver/antenna connected (in a number of different configurations) to the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) at each subscriber site.

Base Station

At the base station, the transmitter and receiver modules of the transceiver are connected on one side to the base station access equipment and on the other side to a sector antenna providing 180, 90, or 45 degrees of coverage (depending on system requirements). The transceiver is sized and configured to handle both downstream and upstream channel loading requirements as determined by system analysis.

Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)

At the customer premises, a CPE transceiver receives the downstream signal from the base station and passes it on to the application gateways at the subscriber site. These can be DOCSIS modems, point-to-point modems, and/or set-top-boxes for video. The CPE transceiver simultaneously receives upstream traffic from the two-way application gateways and transmits it to the base station.

The CPE transceiver is integrated with the antenna into a single weatherproof package designed for easy outdoor installation and alignment. A single coaxial cable connects the transceiver to a splitting/combining network. This cable carries:

• the downstream signal from the CPE transceiver,
• the upstream signals to the CPE transceiver,
• and feeds DC power to the outdoor transceiver.

The most significant expense of any BWA deployment is the customer premises equipment. Systems configured to allow sharing of customer premises equipment will reduce deployment costs substantially, therefore, choosing the right subscriber configuration is an important decision. The three general categories of subscriber configuration options that apply to the BWA-2000 platform apply to the BWA-4000 as well.

Access System

The Access System is the communications interface between the application points of presence (e.g., video programming source, dedicated networks, Internet/ISP/Servers) at the base station and any application gateways installed at subscribers' homes or offices. It is responsible for formatting and managing the signal traffic transported in either direction via the RF System.

Each application is assigned its own dedicated carrier making it independent of the other applications. Each application is allowed its own equipment, its own network management tools, and its own set of operation protocols.

The Access System equipment depends upon the applications to be used. At the base station, the list can include point-to-point modems for dedicated IP links, video sources for all channels of video, telephony gateways for either POTS or VoIP, and DOCSIS base station modems for Internet Access. Access System equipment at the subscriber site will include the application gateways required for each application selected by the subscriber. This can include DOCSIS modems for internet access, point-to-point modems for dedicated networks, and set top boxes for video applications.

Network Interface

The Network Interface represents the connection to the different sources of video, voice, and data services that the BWA-4000 is able to provide. At the Base Station, the network interface is specific to the type of service.

• For video applications, the network interface includes video servers, video satellite links, or off-air receivers with encoders configured to deliver packetized MPEG2 data streams to the Access System layer. 

• For voice applications, the network interface includes components such as a VoIP Gateway and Call Management Server to interface with voice traffic from Internet/PSTN to the Access System devices.   

• The data application network interface usually consists of an edge router that converts and routes data packets from the Internet backbone data pipe to the Access System equipment. 

At the customer premises, the network interface consists of data modems for Internet access, MTAs (Media Terminal Adapters) for connection to standard telephone handsets and an STB (Set Top Box) for video equipment,.

Because each BWA-4000 application is unique, and since virtually all network protocols are supported by the BWA-4000, the Network Interface section is completely customizable, where the service provider has the total freedom to design the service applications based on the business model.