Link-fault tolerance in a distributed antenna system

A unit of a distributed antenna system, comprising:

• a processing device;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code stored thereon, wherein the program code is executable for performing operations comprising:
• detecting a control field of a first communication frame of one or more communication frames received by the unit of the distributed antenna system, the one or more communication frames associated with a frame repetition rate;
• extracting a payload of the first communication frame of the one or more communication frames based on the detected control field of the first communication frame;
• determining, after a period of time corresponding to the frame repetition rate, whether an additional control field included in an additional communication frame of the one or more communication frames is detected;
• in response to determining that the additional control field is not detected, predicting a location of the additional control field included in the additional communication frame of the one or more communication frames;
• and
• extracting an additional payload from the additional communication frame based on the predicted location of the additional control field.

A distributed antenna system, comprising:

• a first unit configured to transmit one or more communication frames, each of the one or more communication frames including a control field, the one or more communication frames associated with a frame repetition rate;
• and
• a second unit communicatively coupled to the first unit and located remotely from the first unit, the second unit configured to:
• receive a first communication frame of the one or more communication frames transmitted by the first unit,
• detect a control field included in the first communication frame,
• extract a payload of the first communication frame based on the detected control field included in the first communication frame,
• determine, after a period of time corresponding to the frame repetition rate, whether an additional control field included in an additional communication frame of the one or more communication frames is detected,
• in response to determining that the additional control field is not detected, predict a location of the additional control field included in the additional communication frame of the one or more communication frames, and
• extract an additional payload from the additional communication frame based on the predicted location of the additional control field.