TE Connectivity focusing on smarter small cells at CTIA

At CTIA Wireless 2013 in Las Vegas this week, TE Connectivity (NYSE: TEL) will display a range of distributed antenna systems (DAS) and optical infrastructure platforms designed to help create smarter small cell networks. TE notes that its fiber-fed digital DAS products offer both high- and low-power antennas on the same host unit with unified system management for both indoor and outdoor networks.

At the show, TE will introduce its new active integration panel, which provides a structured component interface between the RF source and DAS host units. A single active DAS integration panel supports inputs from up to eight base stations and contains all required RF components, thus reducing installation complexity and labor costs. The active DAS integration panel is compatible with TE’s InterReach Fusion, InterReach Spectrum and FlexWave Prism products as well as other DAS products.

Related: Intelligent wireless transport device makes for fiber-equivalent small cell backhaul

In addition, TE will showcase several newly introduced products at CTIA, including the company's:

-- Direct CPRI interface to mobile operator base stations (designed to eliminate the cost, space and cooling required for RF attenuators).
-- Serial link combiner that multiplexes three fibers into a 10-Gigabit link.
-- Rapid Fiber panel, which slashes small cell solution deployment costs by simplifying construction and expansion of small cell networks.
-- FullAXS ruggedized fiber-to-the-antenna sealing solution that simplifies cell site connectivity.

Also, TE's director of product management, Tony Lefebvre, will be speaking in a panel discussion as part of the Mobile Backhaul Conference at CTIA. The session, entitled “Network Transport Strategies for Addressing the LTE & Mobile Internet Application Traffic Data Surge,” will be held on Tuesday, May 21 from 12:45 to 2:00 PM.

“TE engineers continue to lead the industry in creating products that advance small cell efficiency, performance, and scalability, and we are pleased to be presenting many of these products at CTIA,” comments Peter Wraight, vice president and general manager of Wireless at TE Connectivity. “With our end-to-end management, digital fiber transport, and flexible antenna power options, we offer solutions nobody else can match.”

More: White paper explores DAS and small cell technologies