With Many of today’s doctors, and certainly the next generation of medical practitioners will be working in the hospitals of the future. These hospitals will be built largely around technology, with AI, telehealth and connected care being the norm, and advanced computers and algorithms taking over administrative and routine tasks.

To prepare for this future, reliable connectivity is more critical than ever. There’s a pressing need to connect doctors, nurses, patients and equipment as they move quickly throughout hospitals. Today, with the developments of technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and the number of devices used within a hospital on the rise, hospitals will need more bandwidth and cellular connectivity. This type of innovation drives digitisation of the industry and will enable medical professionals to better meet the needs of patients.

Given its focus on installing wireless connectivity to healthcare clients, Koning & Hartman has selected CommScope’s OneCell C-RAN small cell, designed for flexibility across building environments and deployment models. For example, configuration, ongoing monitoring and management functions can be partitioned between the neutral host and each individual operator according to the requirements of each party.

In close collaboration between Koning & Hartman and its partners CommScope and Druid Software, CommScope’s OneCell C-RAN small cell solution has successfully been tested and validated for application in Koning & Hartman’s mission critical PrivateLTE ECO-system. OneCell is a cost efficient, reliable and robust small cell based LTE radio access solution which is unique in its kind. With OneCell Koning & Hartman is targeting medium and large sized buildings and locations in healthcare, logistics and industry verticals.

As the name already suggests, multiple installed OneCell Radio points (small cells) in a specific location act as “one large cell”. And this is quite unique! It reduces network complexity, avoids excessive mobility (handovers) of users between small cells and therefore reduces excessive signalling and in turn enabling seamless and reliable mobility for the users. This results in a better, more reliable network performance which is essential in mission critical radio networks. Smart features like physical channel re-use drastically improves radio network capacity. This ensures greater efficiencies through optimum use of the spectrum bandwidth available. In the Dutch market for example there is only 5 MHz of bandwidth available in 1800Mhz spectrum (band 3) for private networks. OneCell is also VoLTE compatible and has a clear roadmap towards 5G.

The tests performed over the past few months focused on interoperability between the OneCell solution and Druid’s Raemis virtualised ePC (Evolved Packet Core) and system introduction of OneCell into Koning & Hartman’s PrivateLTE ECO-system. Basic system functionality and efficient application of the small cell solution were ensured by the tests and a confirmation for application in a live PrivateLTE network. The tests were performed in a technology lab of Koning & Hartman in Delft. Apart from accomplishing the tests, this enabled the network experts to gain maximum experience and confidence with the new solution. The 24/7 Remote Service Center of Koning & Hartman will monitor the KPIs of the deployed OneCell & Druid systems in the field ensuring up-time of the mission critical LTE radio network.

Danny Hoogewerff (Product Manager at Koning & Hartman):
”We are very happy to include this unique technology into our PrivateLTE ECO-system. For Koning & Hartman, OneCell provides us a flexible, solid, cost efficient solution us mission critical LTE connectivity for personnel and devices in healthcare. Due to our partnership, technical support is guaranteed when required. Extensive testing and introducing new technical solutions like OneCell in close collaboration with our partners CommScope and Druid enables us to efficiently design, implement, and operate our PrivateLTE networks afterwards with direct technical support from both partners when required. We are very happy with the test results and are looking forward to serve many of our customers in the near future.”

Stuart Holyoak (Small Cell Business Development Europe of CommScope):
“With the emergence of telemedicine and telehealth, as well as greater reliance on mobile communication within the hospital campus, it is becoming an imperative that hospitals have reliable, high speed indoor coverage,” said Stuart Holyoak, director of small cells business development, CommScope. “We continue to invest in smart indoor technology while relying on our ecosystem of partners, system integrators and installers to deliver high-quality cellular services in places that need even more bandwidth as the wireless industry evolves.”

Liam Kenny (CEO of Druid Software):
“The recent successful interoperability tests between Druid and Commscope is a very important step for private LTE evolution in the Benelux market and also for the recent developments in US with OnGo and CBRS spectrum in Band 48, 3.5 GHz (3550 MHz to 3700 MHz).”