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Federated Wireless launches new DAS initiative for CBRS Federated Wireless hopes to stoke mobile operators' interest in the Ci zens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) with the launch of its Ac ve Distributed Antenna System (Ac ve DAS), providing carriers with a new way to expand indoor 5G capacity without using their precious licensed spectrum. Why is Ac ve DAS such a big deal? According to Federated Wireless CTO Kurt Schaubach, CBRS requires that every radia ng element be registered, authen cated and ac vely managed by a Spectrum Access System (SAS), a service that Federated provides. That process is rela vely straigh orward when antennas are directly connected to a collocated base sta on node (gNB), but it becomes far more complex in a DAS, where RF is generated and distributed across many remote nodes within a building, he said. "To make CBRS work in Ac ve DAS environments, we had to develop new methods to model and manage these devices within the SAS, cer fy the individual system components and create installer training and compliance programs," he told Fierce. "All of this required formal FCC approval, which we successfully obtained late last year, clearing the path for today's product launch." Ac ve vs. passive DAS There's a good reason for calling it out as "Ac ve DAS." That's because Ac ve DAS uses fiber to distribute digi zed baseband signals to remote radio nodes, which then convert those signals into RF emissions at the point of transmission. Because it relies on fiber, Ac ve DAS can cover large, complex indoor environments efficiently, which is why it has become the dominant architecture for in-building wireless, he said. Passive DAS, by contrast, distributes RF signals directly over coaxial cable, an approach that suffers from higher signal loss and limited reach, making it far less suitable for large or dense indoor deployments, Schaubach explained. Target market Broadly speaking, the target market for Ac ve DAS includes mobile network operators, large enterprises, tower companies and system integrators. DAS deployments today are typically funded by one of three par es: the carrier, the enterprise itself or an intermediary such as a tower company. "Our focus is on enabling CBRS for whichever party is funding or upgrading the DAS infrastructure," Schaubach said. He isn't ready to name specific customers, but Federated worked closely with DAS OEMs, including ADRF, Andrew, Airspan-Corning and SOLiD to enable this new Ac ve DAS capability. A dedicated working group also was recently launched within the OnGo Alliance and it's focused on CBRS Ac ve DAS deployment models and ecosystem readiness, he noted. According to Schaubach, they're already seeing "meaningful interest" from mobile operators, although he didn't name any names. Verizon bought CBRS Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in 2020 and has tapped CBRS in part to enhance coverage and capacity inside stadiums, but T-Mobile and par cularly AT&T have been less enthusias c, saying higher power levels would make CBRS more useful. That said, CBRS was carved out in part to free up spectrum for non-tradi onal users and it's found success in the private network sector, as well as with smaller Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), cable companies and various ver cals. Currently there is a proposal before the FCC to raise CBRS power levels that all three big wireless carriers have endorsed. But Dave Wright, policy director for Spectrum for the Future (SFTF), which represents cable interests among others, told Fierce that it's not so much a "wireless vs. cable" fight as a "wireless carriers versus everyone else" kind of ba le, with the big wireless carriers as the primary proponents of higher power levels. It remains to be seen how successful Ac ve DAS will be in ge ng the mobile operators to jump on the CBRS train to expand indoor capacity. Airspan Director of Product Management Isaac Nissan said many organiza ons see the benefits of CBRS but struggle with the cost of building dedicated networks. "Extending CBRS over shared Ac ve DAS infrastructure drama cally reduces that barrier – allowing operators and venues to introduce CBRS without duplica ng infrastructure," he said in a statement. Ar cle Credit: h ps://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/ federated-wireless-launches-new-das-ini a ve-cbrs Talleycom.com SHEET QUARTER 1 2026

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