Application For Fiber To The Antenna (FTTA) Cable
FTTA (Fibre To The Antenna) is the method of connecting fibres to antennas. Unlike traditional cellular networks, the optical fibre solution reduces installation costs by using less amplifiers and taking up less space for installation.
In the case of FTTA, all of the equipment, i.e. frequency electronics and power electronics, is located in a radio head near the antenna, and not in the base station. The head is connected to the base station by means of optical fibre. An optical fibre connection made in the FTTA system can be single- or multimode and can operate on two uplink and downlink frequencies. The low optical transmission distances currently in use decrease system costs by eliminating the need to install amplifying devices.
The biggest challenge for the FTTA technology is efficiency in difficult environmental conditions, and consequently enabling the use of a radio head in extreme temperatures between -40°C and +60°C with the option to reach 85°C with the cooling system inactive. The water and corrosion resistant, IP68 dedicated ODC optical fibre connections for FTTA networks were developed in response to these requirements.
The FTTA system is based on a surface mounted radio base station, a remote antenna head and a radio antenna. All elements of the system are interconnected with bundles of dedicated optical fibre cables, bundles of copper cables and power cables.
FTTA can be used where access to existing optical fibre networks is hindered, as well as in dense clusters of multi-storey buildings. All new 3G systems, including TD-SCDMA and WiMax, are based on the use of FTTA systems.