Ohio Firm Constructs Cellular Network in Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Terminals

[Rich]

Friday June 7 12:00am
The Dallas Morning News

Travelers using cellphones inside Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's terminals may soon be able to get a clear signal without having to go outside or lean against the windows.

Ohio-based MIKOM US is building the first cellular network inside D/FW's five terminals, and Sprint PCS on Thursday became the first phone carrier to sign on. Others are expected to follow suit soon.

"This will greatly improve the signal for cellphones at D/FW," airport spokesman Ken Capps said.

Cellphone reception can be spotty at the airport. Although Sprint and other carriers have multiple towers on D/FW's grounds, antenna height limits and location restrictions interfere with signals at many airport buildings.

D/FW Airport, which is spread over 18,000 acres, is about the same size as Manhattan, "but we can't put as many towers in," said Dwayne Baker, Sprint's manager for site development.

The MIKOM system will fill those gaps by installing a centralized radio signal distribution system and placing antennas, the size of smoke detectors, throughout the passenger terminals. The system includes 28 miles of fiber-optic cable.

MIKOM plans to begin construction by month's end and have the system running by December's end.

Shared systems are a relatively new concept in the United States. The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans installed one this year.

The system allows the center to reduce the amount of space devoted to telecom equipment and provides better service, said Sabrina Written, a convention center spokeswoman. It accommodates public radio and emergency systems.

"If the fire department needs to come in here on an emergency, we know their radios will work," Ms. Written said. "That kind of technology is priceless."

The D/FW board also approved spending $ 17 million to fortify the walls, floors and beams of its new $ 1.1 billion terminal against bomb blasts.

Thicker concrete walls including a 2-foot-thick blast wall, reinforced flooring and metal-jacketed columns will be among the items placed in Terminal D, which is under construction and scheduled to open in 2005.

Money left over from other parts of the terminal that were completed under budget will be used to fund the blast renovations, said Clay Paslay, executive vice president of D/FW Airport development.

Once completed, the alterations will make the terminal strong enough to sustain a blast equal to the one that struck the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

The changes in the airport design will be virtually invisible to passengers' eyes.

But the alterations were necessary to keep an 8,100-space parking garage from being relocated. The terminal will cover 1.9 million square feet and will be the first new terminal since the airport's 1974 opening.

The board Thursday also:

-- Approved a slate of artists who will produce artwork for the new terminal. Of the 26 artists selected for the $ 4.8 million art project, 17 are from North Texas.

-- Approved two contracts worth $ 1.7 million to trace deicing fluid and fuel that runs off the runway areas.

-- Heard from airport staff that the airport is facing a $ 2.4 million shortfall by year's end. The airport, which receives no tax money, is funded through rents and landing fees charged to the airlines that use the terminals. The airport's financial structure allows it to go to the airlines for any shortfall at year's end

[Jack]

Good

Jack