Oct 17 2013
Taoglas USA, Inc., the leading provider of antenna solutions to the M2M and connected device market, is first to provide an entire product line that contains an antenna diagnostic compatibility feature within its cellular antennas for M2M devices.
Called AntD©, this solution enables M2M device manufacturers to detect if an antenna is connected or not and informs device owners if an antenna or transmission line has been damaged or is no longer working. This is critical for M2M devices in remote areas, devices in danger of being vandalized or for customer-care, trouble-shooting situations. Taoglas’ Antenna Diagnostics capability, AntD will initially be featured on cellular antennas, the Triton TG.10R.0113, the FXP14R Flexible Antenna and the PC104R from The Stripe series. The feature is also being added to many external antennas including the Pantheon and Spartan series.
Taoglas’ antenna diagnostics is implemented at the product or radio module level to sense if an antenna is attached and if the basic transmission path is sound. It can detect shorts or open circuits in the transmission line, which are consistent with cables being severed or crushed. AntD can work on any passive antenna including cellular, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Iridium, ISM band and licensed narrowband antennas.
AntD works by measuring the voltage drop across a resistor embedded in an antenna. This detects if an antenna is present or not. The circuitry implementation is open to M2M product designers but requires that each antenna provides a consistent and known DC resistance. Taoglas’ AntD compatible antenna products include this DC resistance to enable these features.
“The ability to detect lost or malfunctioning antennas means that M2M vendors can now save time and money identifying M2M device failure in the field,” said Dermot O’Shea, Joint Managing Director, Taoglas. “Taoglas is the only M2M antenna manufacturer to currently offer an entire product range with this cellular solution in the market. The functionality is present now in the module and antenna and using AntD means the customer can avail of this added benefit without changing or modifying anything on their end.
Antennas with the AntD capability are available for purchase directly from Taoglas at [email protected] and online in the coming months through its distributors.