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Wireless Repeater with Uninteruptible Power Supply (UPS) for Cellular Coverage in Rural Areas
The Problem
Due primarily to economic reasons, many geographic areas have not seen sufficient installation of cellular infrastructure, and hence, mobile coverage. The population density in these areas wouldn't sustain the cost of installing and operating the required infrastructure. This is especially true of America's rural settings.
WIN Enterprise helped design the UPS-capable small-cell transceiver for installation across rural areas.
WIN Enterprise's OEM customer developed an economical strategy and the technology required to make this both feasible and profitable. The Company would sell to service providers who would implement coverage through field-deployed small cells. Small cells are low-powered radio access nodes that operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum with a range of 10 meters to 1 or 2 kilometers. Because units are mounted on existing utility poles, this approach is much more economical and less controversial than the standard cellular, antennae-based coverage.
What the Company developed was a compact wireless device that could be deployed along rural roads and highways. Deployment would take advantage of the existing rights-of-way and leverage to work already done in what was often very rough terrain. The device would provide coverage in those areas where mobile service was weak or totally unavailable.
The resultant wireless service was to be made available to the cellular carriers through non-exclusive roaming agreements. Cellular subscribers would be able to roam onto an extended network using their existing handsets. Roaming data would be passed on to the various providers from remote communication nodes for end-user billing.
Heretofore, deployment of small cell technology has been slow in coming due to the formidable task of working with the relevant municipalities and negotiating the required regulatory permits. However, a project award was granted to the Company at the state government level. Although this was for partial funding, this went a long way in legitimizing the project. A major selling point for the governmental entities was that the small cell solution could be rolled out with virtually no disruption to existing wireline or wireless service. In addition, no expensive, and typically controversial, cell towers would be needed.
The central technology had been successfully designed and tested by the OEM customer. This central unit is a complete cellular base station in a sealed all-weather outdoor enclosure the size of a ream of paper. It is energy efficient and capable of supporting both CDMA and GSM technologies at the same time, using software defined radios and Internet Protocol. It is software upgradeable to future technologies, and it can use an Internet connection for backhaul to a central network.However, to be successful, more was required. Key features that were still required were an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), and the electronics to manage the unit's operation and communication to the centralized management point.
WIN Enterprises initially bid on producing just a single board computer (SBC) that would manage the unit's operation and communications. Recognizing the broader opportunity the technology represented, WIN also bid on the design of the overall unit. WIN would design a weather proof enclosure and layout for the device's components, including the customer's original mobile technology, the WIN-designed SBC, battery back-up to enable uninterruptible operation, as well as heaters and coolers to mitigate weather extremes.
The Result
The deployment of the small cell system has been particularly successful. The OEM customer is now installed in most of the original targeted state geography; and is now beginning deployment of the solution in another state. Credit for success goes to the team assembled by our OEM customer. Credit for dealing effectively in securing the required permits and approvals go to members of the assembled team. WIN Enterprises is assembling the UPS-capable units for field installation and looks forward to expanding its support to this OEM customer.
WIN Enterprises is ISO 9001 certified manufacturer.
