In-Building DAS Design Services
Draftech designs the indoor coverage model, equipment layout and distribution cabling together. Get a construction-ready package from one accountable, in-house engineering team.
A coordinated design for the building you operate
Draftech's in-building DAS design services deliver the engineering package behind a distributed antenna system inside your building. Our in-house team develops the indoor RF coverage and capacity model, equipment room design, antenna and remote-unit layout, and connecting cabling within Draftech's wireless engineering services. The result is a construction-ready drawing package that your building's installer can build from, with the equipment locations tied to the model that established them.
Steel, concrete and interior partitions can block the macro signal that reaches a building from outside. Occupant density adds demand precisely when service matters: a sold-out event, a hospital floor at capacity or a packed convention hall. A design based on the building's actual construction and expected use gives those conditions a place in the engineering from the start.
The coverage model, antenna and remote-unit layout, and riser cabling are often designed by different parties working from different assumptions. Equipment arrives that does not match the antenna layout. Remote units land where the planned cable pathway cannot accommodate them. The result is rework before turn-up, or the venue finds the dead zone during its first full-capacity event instead of before construction. Draftech designs all three from one model, giving the owner a single point of accountability.
What our in-building DAS design services include
The deliverables address the building as a connected indoor wireless system.
- Indoor RF coverage and capacity model. A model developed from the building's floor plans and construction type, accounting for interior walls, floor-to-floor attenuation and occupant loading. Coverage objectives and expected demand supplied for the project inform the design.
- Equipment room design inside the building. The equipment room location, with the power and space requirements associated with the proposed equipment.
- Antenna and remote-unit layout. Placement and mounting design across the building's floors and zones, developed from the indoor model.
- Backbone and riser cable distribution design. Connections from the equipment room to every antenna and remote-unit location, aligned with the equipment arrangement; our riser cable design guide provides additional depth on the cabling discipline.
- Carrier tenant requirements. For neutral-host projects, design coordination for the participating carriers that will use the shared in-building infrastructure.
- Construction-ready drawing package. A drawing set bringing the model-based equipment arrangement, mounting design and distribution design together for the building's installer, with every antenna, remote unit and cable route shown at its designed location.
Indoor modeling that reflects the structure
Our indoor DAS engineering services use a model built from the building's own floor plans and construction type, rather than an outdoor propagation model. The model determines where coverage falls off through interior wall and floor-to-floor attenuation. Occupant loading determines where capacity demand concentrates.
That matters when spaces within the same building have different demands. The indoor conditions include occupied floors separated by heavy construction in a hospital system, peak crowd demand in open halls at a convention center, and different floor arrangements across corporate and university campus buildings.
Coverage objectives are yours to set: the floors and zones that need service and the demand you expect in each. The model shows where the proposed antenna and remote-unit layout is expected to meet those objectives and where it falls short, so a weak area is corrected on the drawings, not discovered after the system is built.
Equipment locations with room to work
The proposed headend equipment needs space and power, and its location has consequences for the rest of the building design. Draftech includes those requirements in the equipment room design so the owner can evaluate the proposed location with the system it must accommodate.
The room's position also sets how far the backbone and riser cabling must travel to reach the most distant antennas and remote units. A room placed only for architectural convenience can leave the farthest floors and zones at the end of the longest cable runs in the building. We evaluate the proposed location with the distribution design in view, so the owner can see what the location means for the cabling as well as for the floor plan.
On each floor, antenna and remote-unit positions come from the coverage model, and each remote-unit location is placed in the design where the riser and horizontal cable pathway can reach it.
A room change or equipment relocation during design should not leave the owner guessing whether the model still describes the drawings. With Draftech responsible for the connected design, those questions return to the team that developed it.
Shared indoor infrastructure for multiple carriers
Neutral-host operators need an in-building design that accounts for several carrier tenants using the same infrastructure. A building owner also needs to understand what that shared arrangement requires from the available equipment space and the distributed layout. Requirements from one participant cannot be considered in isolation from the system the other participants will use.
Draftech provides neutral host DAS design services with multi-carrier coordination included in the engineering assignment. Our team brings participating carrier requirements into the indoor design alongside the building inputs. For each carrier tenant, the design accounts for the equipment that tenant needs in the shared equipment room and for where that equipment connects into the common distribution system serving the antennas and remote units.
Tell us which carrier tenants are committed and send whatever technical requirements they have issued.
From building information to design handoff
- Review the building's floor plans, construction type and coverage objectives.
- Build the indoor coverage and capacity model.
- Lay out the equipment room, antennas and remote units.
- Design the backbone and riser cabling.
- Coordinate carrier tenants on neutral-host projects.
- Issue the drawing package for the building's installer.
This service suits stadium and arena operators, convention centers, hospital systems, corporate and university campuses, and neutral-host operators seeking a defined indoor design package. For a deeper discussion of project methodology, read our guide to planning distributed coverage for event properties.
For coverage areas outside the building, see outdoor DAS design. Adding a carrier to an existing tower is handled through tower colocation engineering, and screening candidate sites before committing to one is handled through wireless site feasibility.
In-Building DAS Design Services FAQ
What information should we provide to scope an indoor DAS design?
Send the available floor plans, building construction information and the floors or zones that need coverage. Include your coverage objectives, expected occupant loading, available equipment room information and known carrier participation. These inputs help Draftech define the model and the associated drawing package around your building.
Can you design for an existing building as well as new construction?
Yes. In both cases the design starts with the building's floor plans and construction type. In an existing building, the available plans may not show later renovations, so we identify which floors or zones need updated information from your facility team before the model relies on them. For new construction, the model is built from the architectural drawing set issued for design.
Can you design an expansion of a DAS already in the building?
Yes. Our in-building DAS engineering services cover additions to an existing system as well as new designs. Send the drawings you have for the existing system with the floor plans for the areas being added. The added floors or zones are modeled the same way as a new design, and the equipment room and riser cabling are checked for the space, power and pathway the added antennas and remote units will need.
Does the indoor model account for occupied conditions?
Occupant loading is an input to the indoor coverage and capacity model. The model guides design decisions against the supplied objectives and assumptions; it is not a guarantee of measured coverage after installation.
Can Draftech also engineer the fiber that reaches the building?
Yes. Fiber routes outside the building, such as a lateral serving the DAS equipment room, are engineered through our OSP engineering service. When both are in one request, the outside route is designed to arrive where the in-building equipment room design expects it.
Start your in-building DAS design
Contact Draftech about your in-building design package. Bring the indoor model, equipment layout and distribution design under one accountable engineering team.