Andrew Solutions has completed a total TETRA (terrestrial trunked radio) coverage solution for a new casino and resort in the Cotai Strip of Macau.

Scheduled to begin operations in early 2011, the casino will showcase Andrew’s TETRA coverage system with optical repeaters, base station antennas and HELIAX FXL smoothwall cables.

“The new TETRA network will help ensure reliable and secure voice and data communications coverage in a complex venue such as a casino,” said Navin Vohra, vice president of wireless sales, Asia Pacific, Andrew Solutions. “Our extensive experience in wireless technologies has led us to understand the challenges of in-building communications very well and the new system features a scalable and future-proof network that is based on high quality products from CommScope’s Andrew. As a result, the casino now has a high performance communications infrastructure with outstanding flexibility and cost-effectiveness.”

TETRA is the modern digital trunking system used by private and public mobile radio communication (transport agencies, airports, energy companies) and security agencies (police, fire brigades, rescue services, military). Unlike public cellular networks, building a TETRA network is typically driven by coverage, rather than capacity. Maximum coverage at minimum cost is particularly important when building TETRA networks.

The five-star casino is a 550,000 square-meter complex that features a fully integrated destination resort with more than 2,200 rooms, suites and villas across three world-class hotels. The resort will be using Andrew ION-M optical repeaters, which extend coverage significantly. Typically, an antenna which has been installed outside the building receives the signal from the TETRA base station. The repeater boosts the signal and the indoor antenna or a distributed antenna system—consisting of several splitters and antennas—serves the TETRA signal to the desired “dark spots.” Similarly, the signal is forwarded from indoors to the TETRA base station.

In addition, Andrew’s HELIAX FXL smoothwall cables will be used as the transmission system for the network. Fast becoming the preferred solution for customers looking to maximize network performance without compromising electrical performance, FXL features lower attenuation, higher crush strength and reduced weight with the use of aluminum, which means lower and more stable raw material cost for increased cost-effectiveness.

“This project demonstrates the superior quality of Andrew’s products and services. We have cooperated with Andrew before in the 2005 East Asian Games and this is our second such project in Macau,” said Mike Lei, director of the Tai Neng and Cowson joint venture, Andrew’s local partner in Macau.

Since 2005, Andrew Solutions has expanded its customer support for notable coverage and capacity projects in the Asia-Pacific region, including the upgrading of Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway Corporation's (MTRC) territory-wide radio network to an 800 MHz TETRA system; upgrading the North East Line of the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit communications infrastructure to a 3G network; continued work on China’s high speed railways, wiring up part of the forthcoming Taiyuan-Zhongwei-Yinchuan line, and a digital train radio system for a metro network in Australia.