CommScope Era CAP M 9 - Era System Overview; Central Area Node (CAN); Wide-Area Integration Node (WIN); Transport Expansion Node (TEN)

Era
™
Medium Power Carrier Access Point Installation Guide M0201AJB
Page 4 © October 2018 CommScope, Inc.
Era System Overview
ERA SYSTEM OVERVIEW
Era™coordinateswirelesscapacitythroughouttheentirecoverageareaviaasinglecentralizedhead-end
locationorfromanoperator’sexistingC-RANhub.BasedonION
®
-E,Eraoperatesonthesamecost-efficient
standardITcablingasION-EandiscompatiblewithION-Edeployments.Erasystemsbringtogetherlicensed
wirelessandpower,plusGigabitEthernetforWiFiintoonewirelesssystemthatcanscaletobuildingsizeand
istechnologyandspectrumagnosticandadaptive.AnErasystemcomprisesthecomponentslistedbelow.
• CentralAreaNode(CAN)—providesserver-levelcontrolandprimarysignaldistribution.Itcombines
thesignalsfrommultipleoperatorsanddistributesthosesignalswithinavenueormultiplevenues.
TherearetwoconfigurationmodesavailablefortheCAN:ClassicandSwitching.
– TheClassicCANconfigurationisappropriateforwhenalltheBTSandBasebandsourcesarelocated
inacentralizedspaceinthesamevenueastheClassicCAN.YouinstallRFDonor(RFD)Cardsand
CPRIDigitalDonor(CDD)CardsinaClassicCAN,whichdigitizestheanalogBTSsignalsfromtheRFD
CardsandcombinesthosewiththeBBUCPRIdigitalsignalsfromtheCDDCards,andthendistributes
theRFsignalstotheTENs.TheTENsthenprovidetheRFsignalstotheAccessPoints(APs).The
ClassicCANalsosupportsAPsthataredirectlyconnectedtoCATorOPTCardsinstalledintheClassic
CANchassis.Wide-areaIntegrationNodes(WINs)arenotsupportedbyaClassicCAN.Usershavefull
andflexiblecontrolofallsignalroutingviatheEraGUI.
– TheSwitchingCANconfigurationisappropriateforwhenWINsarerequiredtoallowoperatorsto
bringinbasebandsignalsfrommultipleremotelocationstofullyleveragetheC-RANarchitecturein
theirhubs.AlloperatorBasebandsignals(analogBTSandBBUCPRI)aresuppliedtotheSwitching
CANbytheWINs,sonoRFDorCDDCardscanbeinstalledintheSwitchingCAN.TheSwitchingCAN
thencombinesthesignalsfromallWINsanddistributesthosesignalstotheTENs,andtheTENs
providethesignalstotheAPs.APsarenotdirectlyconnectedtoaSwitchingCAN.Usershavefulland
flexiblecontrolofallsignalroutingviatheEraGUI.
• Wide-AreaIntegrationNode(WIN)—interfacesbetweenaSwitchingCANandRFsources,which
makesC-RANpossibleinErabyallowingoperatorstobringinsignalsfrommultipleremotelocations
kilometersaway.YouinstallRFDandCDDCardsintheWIN,whichtakestheanalogBTSsignalsfromthe
RFDCardsandcombinesthosewiththeBBUCPRIdigitalsignalsfromtheCDDCards,anddistributesthe
RFsourcestoaSwitchingCAN.
• TransportExpansionNode(TEN)—isanexpansionnodeconnectedtotheCANviafiberandcanbe
locatedthroughoutthevenuecoveragearea.AsingleTENcansupport,dependentontheAPtypeand
poweringmethod,12to32AccessPoints(APs),whichgreatlyreducesthenumberoffiberrunsbetween
thehead-endandeachAP.
• AccessPoint(AP)—connectsaClassicCANorTENtoantennasorotherwirelessdevices.Onthe
downlink,anAPconvertsdataarrivingattheAPtoanalogsignalsandsendsthemtoanantenna.Onthe
uplink,receivedsignalsaredigitizedandserializedintodatastreamswhicharesentbacktotheClassic
CANorTEN.APssupportGigabitEthernetpass-throughforWiFi,IPcameras,orotherdevicesinaddition
towirelessoveracommoncable.AnAPcanbeanyoftheUniversalAccessPointsorCarrierAccessPoints.
This guide uses “CAN” to collectively refer to Central Area Nodes. When information pertains to a specific
CAN mode, “Classic CAN” and “Switching CAN” will be used.
This guide uses “Access Point (AP)” to collectively refer to the Universal Access Points (UAPs) and the
Carrier Access Point (CAPs), and “Fiber APs” to collectively refer to Fiber CAP Ls and CAP Ms. When
information pertains to a specific AP type, that AP will be identified.