Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT


Heavy-duty antennas for positioning and cellular comms

6 August 2014 Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT

Taoglas has launched two new heavy-duty, fully IP67 waterproof external M2M antennas for use in telematics, transportation and remote monitoring applications.

The Spartan MA.600 combines a 3-in-1 GPS/GLONASS, cellular (2G and 3G) and Wi-Fi support in a compact format. It screws down permanently onto a roof or metal panel and can be pole- or wall-mounted with a metal bracket, even in extreme environments.

Maintaining 20 dB isolation between antennas, it uses highly shielded, PTFE dielectric, ultra-low-loss cables that maintain low atten-uation across all frequency bands, with an average 0,3 dB per metre, compared to 0,7 dB for RG58 and 1,2 dB for RG174.

Because of this, the Spartan maximises the chances of passing PTCRB and network approvals first time. It also exhibits good GPS/GLONASS reception without the need to attach to an external groundplane, due to coupling to its unique own metal base.

Local Taoglas distributor, RF Design,­ recently leveraged the capabilities of the Spartan MA.600 antenna to successfully have it certified for use on the MyCiti feeder and mainline ­ busses. Following extensive testing in and around the city of Cape Town, more than 200 of these antennas have been supplied and installed for use with the onboard network video recording systems and bus/driver management systems, and are considered as the preferred device for proposed IRT (integrated rapid transit) bus systems throughout South Africa, as evidenced by its specification for the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality’s new IRT bus system.

The MA.750.W Pantheon is an omni­directional model delivering powerful MIMO antenna technology for cellular/LTE and Wi-Fi 802.11n and emerging 802.11ac standards, plus GPS/GLONASS for next-generation wireless systems such as telematics.

Target applications include new fleet management and real-time video applications that demand high-speed video uplink and downlink. MIMO antennas with high efficiency and high gain are necessary to achieve the required signal-to-noise ratio and throughput required to solve these challenges.

Five high-performance antennas are integrated into a robust IP67 direct/permanent mount antenna package with isolation of 20 dB.

The antenna has its own front end SAW filter and groundplane, and can radiate on any mounting environment without affecting performance. Low-loss cables allow for lengths of up to 10 metres – particularly beneficial for buses, trains and other commercial transport.

For more information contact Andrew Hutton, RF Design, +27 (0)21 555 8400, [email protected], www.rfdesign.co.za



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