Distributed Antenna Systems: Shands Hospital at the University of Florida
Last month I was looking into the use of Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), and specifically I wanted to get a first-hand account. Luckily, I came across a post from an anesthesiologist who had experience with this system, so I asked for his comments and permission to post them on this blog.
Briefly, a DAS is meant to enhance the cellular service of different carriers within a building. Airports, casinos and now hospitals are using this system to improve voice and data services for their cell phone (or smartphone) uses.
About Shands Hospital, Dr. Chris Swinney said, Supposedly, the entire hospital was
systematically searched for "dead spots" which were then eliminated with the addition of antennas.
He adds, The coverage is pretty much seamless, including below ground, where NO other phones have service. The downside of this system only supports Nextel users, which means that people who subscribe to other carriers can't roam on this system. From what I hear, there are installations where multiple carriers are represented.
Chris talks about another installation: I contrast this [the Shands DAS]
with North Florida Regional, where I'll be working after July, which has an Alltel tower on the roof of the main building. In areas where I have no Sprint service, I can roam easily on their CDMA system.
Finally, he makes this point: The other caveat of the Nextel network is that, like
any other cell phone system, it can and does get overloaded and fail. Not that pager systems are
immune to this, but pager usage doesn't skyrocket to the system's breaking point during Gator football games--cell phone usage often does.
8:17:13 AM 
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