Magic Office - Setup

This article will Guide You through the installation, Setup and Troubleshooting regarding our new Magic Office Indoor Mobile Coverage Solution.

 

1. Instantly maximize indoor cellular signals and expand coverage.
2. Choosing a donor antenna
3. Outdoor panel antenna
4. Finding a feasible location for donor antenna installation
5. Identify service antenna location.
6. Mount the MagicOffice Repeater
7. Wiring the donor antenna
8. Install service antennas
9. Validate MagicOffice LED status and optimize antenna aiming if needed
10. Common Problems

 

 

Instantly maximize indoor cellular signals and expand coverage.

Donor antenna installation is crucial for a mobile repeater solution because donor signal strength and signal quality significantly impact indoor signal coverage, call quality, and data performance.
For the system integrators in the IBS field, donor signal measurement and antenna installation are fundamental tasks; for IT-based system integrators, the tasks could be complicated like art because the tasks typically require an RF specialist to proceed with a site survey for deployment.
Thanks to intelligent system design such as auto gain control (AGC), oscillation avoidance, and auto levelling, plus intuitive and clear LED indicators on thematic office Repeater, donor signal measurement and repeater installation now become easy as 1-2-3.
This document provides a step-by-step guideline for the MagicOfficeinstallation, including donor antenna selection, donor signal identification, donor antenna and service antenna installation and LED indicator recognition to get the MagicOffice Repeater online and ready for service instantly.

 

Choosing a donor antenna

Outdoor directional antenna (Yagi or Log-Periodic antenna)
The directional Yagi antenna transmits or receives signals coming from a specific direction. It is ideal as the donor antenna for communicating a base station(BTS) faraway or perfect for a very weak signal coverage area. On the other hand, the antenna gain is higher by its directional nature, and its transmission beam is
much narrower and more focused.
Hence, if the installation scenario is in a rural area with a very weak signal, e.g.1 bar signal only, or at a multi-carrier co-location deployment, one specific carrier delivering a weaker signal compared to other carriers:

In these scenarios, the directional antenna has advantages by aiming the directional antenna toward the BTS with a weaker signal.

However, if the outdoor donor signal has a good signal strength and quality, e.g. 3 bar signal or the signal gap among multiple carries is quite balanced, choosing a directional antenna as the donor antenna would be a downside for the installation. An outdoor panel antenna would be a better option.

 

 

 

Outdoor panel antenna

An outdoor panel antenna is also a type of directional antenna.

Still, different from a directional Yagi antenna that has a focused transmission beam(e.g. ZX plane has a narrower horizontal angle, and XY plane has a less vertical angle for transmitting and receiving signal) and requires carefully pointing the antenna direction for well receiving the BTS signal, the panel antenna has a wider beam for signal transmitting and receiving.

When an outdoor donor signal has good signal strength or a balanced signal gap among multiple carriers, choosing an outdoor panel antenna would save the time and effort for pointing the antenna direction.

 

 

Finding a feasible location for donor antenna installation

Option 1: Android App Network Cell Info

* Prepare 1 or 2 Android phones with dual SIM support and multiple operator's
SIM cards for a site survey.

 

 

* Walk around the building

* Signal gap among carriers
and find the best Donor shall be less than 20cB to
signal location with Android ensure balanced output
App Network Cell Info. Power.

 

 

Option 2: Spectrum Analyzer (e.g. Seeed Studio's RF Explorer) plus the website "Spectrummonitoring.com"

When working on signal measurement, please use a directional antenna connecting to the spectrum analyzer, and adjust the target frequency range for observing. For repeater installation, focus on the "downlink" frequency.

There is no need to focus on the "uplink" because the repeaters software's will automatically handle the uplink frequency.
In the following example, B1 2100MHz is illustrated.

FarEasTone signal is at the left-hand side of the frequency range, and on the spectrum chart, it showsFarEasTone signal is lower at that position.

 

 

* Walk around the building and

* Signal gap among carriers shall
find the best donor signal be less than 20aB to ensure
location with the Spectrum balanced output power.
Analyzer.

 

 

Identify service antenna location.

A rule of thumb for service antenna installation is to identify the location where cellular coverage improvement is needed, try to maximize the distance as far as possible between the Donor and the service antenna, or create more isolation between the donor and service antennas, e.g. leverage substantial the material between the antennas, or antenna pattern toward the opposite direction.

The MagicOffice can maximize its system gain, and mobile users can benefit from the service antenna's larger indoor coverage area.

 

 

Mount the MagicOffice Repeater

Identify the cable lengths of service antennas that are balanced and install the repeater near a power outlet.

Do not power on the repeater at this moment.

 

 

Wiring the donor antenna

While installing a donor antenna, the right-fit height for the donor antenna locations 5th-floor height or lower and shall be free of obstructions if possible.

BTS antennas have about 6~8 degree down-tilt angle, and when the signal propagates and is reflected by buildings, the signal would locate around ~ 4th floor.

Consequently, the best donor antenna height for a well-receiving donor signal shall not be higher than the 5th floor.

 

 

Install service antennas

Use coaxial cables with 50Ohm impedance as possible to mitigate cable loss.

 

 

Validate MagicOffice LED status and optimize antenna aiming if needed

Power on the repeater; the repeater will automatically relay and boost the mobile signal.

The MagicOffice system is operating automatically and is detecting BTSsignal and system isolation.

After the LED turns to Steady Green, the system automatically relays and boosts the cellular signal.

 

 

Common Problems

 

The LED status shows BTS signal too weak or too strong; please fine-tune or adjust the Donor Antenna aiming till the LED1 of the Band shows steady green.

The BTS signal is too weak; if a directional Yagi antenna is used, please check if the directional antenna can be mounted higher and try to twist the antenna aiming by rotating the donor antenna horizontally, then check if the led turns to steady green.

For BTS signal too strong, please adjust the antenna direction to the opposite direction to reduce the signal strength or change to use a lower gain Omni-antenna as the donor antenna.
The LED status shows Oscillation Protection. It represents the DonorAntenna, and the Service Antenna is not far enough; there is not enough isolation for the MagicOffice system.

A possible option is to move the service antenna to a location where there are substantial materials, e.g. a concrete wall in between the service and the Donor Antenna, or to use an indoor panel antenna facing toward the opposite direction of the Donorantenna.