BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 27 BACKHAULING THE DATA To support the DAS, AT&T; installed nearly 34 miles of fber optic cable and nearly 37 miles of copper cable. For the Wi-Fi system, the company used more than 12 miles of fber optic cable and more than 13 miles of coaxial cable. "We use copper where we have to," says Townes. For example, the DAS uses fber to the remote radio, where optical signals are converted to radio frequencies and sent over copper to the antenna. Te system has nearly 250 cellular antennas and 1,100 Wi-Fi access points. Townes refers to the cellular antennas as "stealth antennas" because AT&T; takes care to make them blend in with other stadium infrastructure. "Tere are creative ways to place them in plain view, but they're painted the same color" as their surroundings, Townes explains. In some stadiums, AT&T; placed antennas inside specially constructed boxes that also serve to indicate section and row numbers. In a few cases, venues have had insufcient room to house the communications infrastructure required to support the type of connectivity available at Sun Life. At Chicago's vintage Wrigley Field, for example, antennas are inside the ball park, but other equipment is in a building across the street. Now that the Dolphins have a high- capacity Wi-Fi network inside their stadium, they also have the opportunity to create new capabilities available only to fans inside the stadium. "Tere will be a Dolphin-specifc app," comments Townes. Te team is looking at giving fans the ability to view live video instant replay and player stats and even to order food by using the app, Townes notes. v Joan Engebretson is a Chicago-based freelancer who has been writing about the telecom industry since 1993. She can be reached at joanengebretson@cs.com. Even while watching their favorite sports teams play, fans need to stay connected – and that takes a lot of fber. Devoted Dolphins fans cheer their team on at the Sun Life Stadium. BBC_Jan14.indd 27 1/27/14 1:43 PM