The Hyatt Center

In 2004, The Hyatt Center tenants moved to their new home at 71 S. Wacker in downtown Chicago. Along with the Hyatt Corporation, a number of Pritzker companies and several other large tenants established their presence in this new building. The Hyatt Center faced an issue at this location, that most businesses in large metro areas face – inadequate or non-existent cellular coverage. With thousands of tenant employees working in various businesses, wireless communication would prove to be difficult without properly functioning cellular phones and blackberry/data devices.

Challenges

The Hyatt Center anticipated the problem they were certain they would face at their new location. Hyatt Center tenants had not moved in to their new location, but wanted to make sure the problem was alleviated before they moved in. It was crucial from an operations stand point to ensure proper functioning of their wireless devices when business resumed operations at the new location. During construction of their new building, The Hyatt Center faced the following challenges:

• Analyze current coverage at new location, while planning for ubiquitous RF propagation as a result of furniture and build-outs at final time of move.
• Necessity to find a company which specializes in complete RF engineering and turn-key wireless communication solutions. It was important for the Hyatt Corp. to have one company to guide them through the RF engineering and implementation process, explaining all new technological concepts, project manage every aspect of the project and provide them with impeccable service.
• The new building was a work of art, and therefore required specialized design services to plan the enhanced cellular network inside. The building was elongated in shape (shape of a football), surrounded by other high rise buildings, and consisted of a large amount of RF obstructive construction material.
• The network had to support multiple carriers. As a large corporation that operates one of the largest hotel chains in the world, the Hyatt Corp. was not limited to one single carrier. It was crucial that multiple carrier's services were available. In addition, it was critically important to Hyatt to be able to offer a carrier neutral and vendor neutral solution to their tenants!
• Room for growth without investing new capital was important. The system had to be capable of accommodating new technologies without having to spend considerable amounts on upgrades.
• Single point of contact for service and support. With various vendors, carriers and companies involved in installation, implementation and service, it was necessary to have a single company to call when service/support was needed.

Solution

WIN was chosen by The Hyatt Center to design and implement our ubiquitous Enhanced In-Building Cellular (EIBC™) system. With unmatched prowess in RF engineering and Project Management, WIN was able to plan, design and oversee the installation of a system tailored to fit the needs of Hyatt and their tenants.

As with all deployments, WIN performed an extensive site-survey at the new location to understand the existing RF environment. This site survey showed the current signal levels of all carriers. Due to the fact that the floors were unfinished, WIN used floor plans and wireless design software to predict the propagation of the RF signals based on the final built out space. Each detail was meticulously examined to ensure that the final walls, furniture and construction materials were factored into the final signal propagation analysis and design.

Due to the large number of floors and office space, WIN's EIBC™ system utilized a fiber optic solution to deliver the wireless signals to each floor. A customized Distributed Antenna System (DAS) consisting of strictly passive components was installed for each of the building’s floors. Each floor's IDF was equipped with a remote unit which converted the fiber optic signal into an RF signal.

To ensure future upgrades, spare fiber optic strands were made available to add in remote units for future carrier upgrades. The DAS system utilized high quality coaxial cable and multi-band antennas which would not need to be replaced in the case of future technologies.

The EIBC™ system by WIN features remote monitoring and alarm trap features to ensure that any disruption of service is immediately flagged. WIN provides the Hyatt Corp. and other building tenants with a single point of contact for support. WIN will diagnose any issues hampering cellular service and contact the appropriate parties to have the problem fixed.

Conclusion

With the EIBC™ system designed and installed prior to tenant occupancy at The Hyatt Center, tenants were able to enjoy ubiquitous wireless coverage for laptops, cellular phones and blackberry/data devices from day one. This resulted in immediate increase of productivity and communication between all employees and their clients. This proved to be crucial in a new environment. With unfamiliar spaces and new occupation issues, constant communication provided a means to alleviating any problems quickly. Without having to worry about missing calls or emails, employees were able to roam around freely conducting business and providing operations support.

The resulting signal propagation coverage blanketed the entire floors without excessive leak of RF to the outside. Conclusion testing showed that the enhanced signal was present throughout all areas of each floor. In addition, stair wells, bathrooms and elevators were also covered. Due to WIN’s extensive RF experience, we were able to control signal propagation and insure to the wireless carriers that the internal signaling would have no affect with their signal outside the facility. The cellular carriers were very satisfied with the WIN design and function and have approved all of our infrastructure designs of the EIBC™ system.

In summary, the EIBC™ solution by WIN provided The Hyatt Center tenants access to critical corporate business tools and eased the transition into a new working environment. Hyatt Center tenants wer able to focus on other re-location issues as WIN and Hyatt Center Management, managed all aspects of the project and resulting Enhanced In-Building Cellular infrastructure.