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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MAY/JUNE 2014 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 19 Furthermore, the Shard is a mixed- use building that contains ofce space, luxury apartments, restaurants and a hotel. Tis means that the building experiences a number of trafc spikes throughout the day and also needs to support a wide range of communications technologies. It therefore required a future-proofed communications system that combined high capacity, uniform coverage and compatibility with a variety of wireless technologies. Te system needed to be multiband and have the ability to support a complete range of modern and legacy services running alongside one another. To minimize infrastructure costs, these technologies needed to be combined into a single ecosystem that made the best possible use of available spectrum. Furthermore, network communications needed to be robust and reliable enough to meet the needs of emergency services – a key consideration in tall buildings such as the Shard. BREAKING DOWN THE CHALLENGE Axell Wireless supplied a distributed antenna system (DAS) to provide full radio coverage within every level of the building and over a short coverage range on the outside of the building. Using DAS enables communications infrastructure providers to channel multiple mobile operators' networks into buildings and other inherently difcult locations. DAS was selected because of its distinct advantages over other technologies. Unlike Wi-Fi, DAS can supply the whole spectrum of wireless communications services rather than just data, and it also provides much greater fexibility than small cells, which are limited to a single operator. DAS brings wireless signals inside a building and distributes them to a variety of antennas that serve diferent sectors. Te technology has continued to grow in sophistication, and now supports every major wireless technology, including GSM, WCDMA and LTE. It is now also capable of Once a defantly low-rise city, London is now sprouting skyscrapers. BBC_May14.indd 19 5/29/14 9:15 AM