The Challenge
A name brand beverage company provided 40 managers with mobile devices to increase productivity inside its 376,000 ft2 manufacturing plant. However, the plant’s rural location and metal roof prevented cellular signals from penetrating, causing dead zones and making it nearly impossible for the managers to call, text, or use data when inside the building.
The system integrator contracted to resolve the problem said:
“The cellular signal from the nearby carrier towers have a really hard time penetrating a metal building. In a lot of rural areas, manufacturing plants are nearly all metal – metal walls and metal roofs.”
The Solution
Solving the plant’s coverage challenges, the system integrator installed a CEL-FI QUATRA solution. QUATRA is a carrier agnostic, active DAS hybrid that uses off-air technology to bring the power of the macro network indoors and deliver uniform, in-building cellular coverage. It specifically addresses the challenges of poor voice quality, dropped calls, and dead zones in large buildings and offers a coverage footprint up to 3x larger than traditional wideband repeaters. QUATRA uses category cabling with Power over Ethernet, eliminating the need to install additional power outlets for the internal remote antennas.
Installation
The system integrator said providing coverage to all parts of the building wouldn’t have been possible with another solution. In addition to using the Nextivity WAVE cloud-based management platform to view signal performance data across the site, the coverage footprint of the CEL-FI QUATRA remote units allowed the system integrator to perform the installation and deliver coverage in hard-to-reach places without using a scissor lift or maneuvering around the facility’s high ceilings. The integrator said the ease of installation was a huge relief and that they deployed the system faster than they imagined possible.
The Results
Delivering improved cellular coverage across the plant, CEL-FI QUATRA enabled the managers to take full advantage of their mobile workstation essentials and perform business operations without connectivity challenges throughout the facility. The system also offers real-time remote monitoring and management capabilities, allowing the beverage company and system integrator to access system performance data at any time. The beverage company was so impressed by the performance of the system, they equipped two more manufacturing plants with QUATRA solutions.
