RF over Fiber Chosen for New Ice Hockey Arena

A brand new sports stadium in Detroit is to use ViaLite RF over fiber links in its satellite communications for broadcasting live events.  The Little Caesars Arena is set to replace the Joe Louis Arena and become the new home of the Detroit Red Wings ice hockey team.

Fiber optic links were chosen by Diversified, the company providing the stadium’s audiovisual technology, since the distance between the antenna and broadcast control room would have meant the use of coaxial cable was both costly and ineffective.

Using ViaLite’s RF over fiber links in this installation reduced the overall cost of implementation, while increasing reliability, performance and ease of installation.

“ViaLite products were chosen for this high profile application due to their proven high performance, reliability, small size and cost effectiveness,” said ViaLite Director of Sales, Craig Somach. “In particular, Diversified was impressed by the compact size of our 1U chassis and the mobility of the small form factor L-Band Blue Link modules.”

The eight-story multi-purpose stadium, previously named the Detroit Events Center (working name), is being built as a bowl, with its floor 12 m below street level. It has projected seating capacities of 20,000 for ice hockey and 21,000 for basketball. It will become home to both the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

New Jersey-based Diversified specializes in the design and integration of audiovisual technology for complex and scalable broadcast, corporate communications and digital signage networks.

• RF over fiber cost of ownership
• Benefits of RF over fiber compared to coaxial cable