Fractal’s New Antenna Solution Enables 5G in Stadiums and Beyond

The Fractal Symphony-SP is tailor-made for sector coverage, delivering 2X2 MIMO across the entire sub-6GHz spectrum. Pictured above, “The one-man install”, made possible by the smaller, simpler, lighter Symphony-SP. (Photo: Business Wire)

BEDFORD, Mass.--()--Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc. (FRACTAL) today announced its first sales for the “Symphony-SP” – a new and innovative directional antenna solution for sub-6GHz 5G sector coverage in stadiums and high capacity venues. The Symphony-SP represents a material improvement to existing solutions, delivering wideband coverage in a highly reduced size and weight.

The adoption of 5G presents major antenna challenges due to the need for wider band coverage and increasing orders of MIMO. Traditional antenna solutions require many narrow band antennas to be crammed under a single cover. This leads to increased size, complexity, interactions, and cost. As bandwidth and MIMO levels increase, it drives traditional designs headlong towards an “antennapocalypse” as FRACTAL’s CEO Dr. Nathan Cohen puts it. By using proprietary wideband antenna designs, FRACTAL significantly reduces the complexity, size, and number of sub-6GHz antennas, freeing up space for more eye-pleasing solutions and/or higher performance.

Stadiums and high capacity venues are the testbed of the latest antenna and RF technologies. With thousands of people crowded together streaming videos and photos, these venues present an RF design nightmare. Carriers, 3POs, Integrators and Facility owners are deploying everything they have to help alleviate this throughput pressure. FRACTAL’s Symphony-SP offers an elegant antenna solution to these increasing demands.

The Symphony-SP provides broadband MIMO coverage from 617MHz to 6GHz, with coverage of all key licensed and unlicensed bands – including GSM, LTE, 5G, CBRS, WiFi, C-Band, and LAA. And this coverage comes in a surprisingly small package. The Symphony-SP weighs in at less than 10 lbs and wields a footprint of less than 13”x13” – a radical reduction relative to alternative directional sector coverage solutions. Given the size advantage, some RF designers are opting to put two Symphony-SPs in the same footprint as the one antenna being replaced, for additional MIMO coverage.

“While millimeter wave is getting a lot of attention in 5G, the reality is that sub-6GHz will continue to be the anchor and primary vehicle for ubiquitous high throughput connectivity,” said FRACTAL’s VP of Strategy and Product Management Petersen Bolvig. “We are not going to get away from the ‘antennapocalypse’ problem without a radical new approach to sub 6GHz antenna design. This is where our technology provides major benefits, with the Symphony-SP as one example.” The Symphony-SP represents FRACTAL’s spearhead product for high capacity venues. Currently the company is also applying its technology to a range of additional DAS, small cell, and macrocell antenna applications. By using FRACTAL technology, the increasing bandwidth and MIMO requirements are met without the form factor compromises of traditional designs.

Beyond cellular infrastructure, Fractal Antenna Systems provides off-the-shelf and custom antenna solutions to a wide range of end markets and applications. FRACTAL has deployed tens of thousands of high-performance antennas for public safety, aviation, IoT, medical, and government/military applications, among others. Currently FRACTAL antennas are deployed on the majority of the US commercial aircraft fleet. FRACTAL is also actively creating antennas to enable satellite communications with both on-satellite and terrestrial solutions in development. For questions about FRACTAL’s capabilities, products, or custom solutions – visit FRACTAL’s website at www.fractenna.com or contact directly at sales@fractenna.com.

Contacts

Valerie Smith
sales@fractenna.com
781-275-2300

Contacts

Valerie Smith
sales@fractenna.com
781-275-2300