Spread spectrum applications mushroom

Despite the generally poor trading conditions in the areas of wireless and communications, AeroComm reports a strong growth in the industrial sector for its wireless products.

Despite the generally poor trading conditions in the areas of wireless and communications, AeroComm reports a strong growth in the industrial sector for its wireless products.

For AeroComm that means the use of RF communication in commercial or industrial applications such as fleet telemetry.

The company reports a number of companies have integrated a local area radio on board for several uses.

Jim O'Callaghan, AeroComm's Vice President OEM Sales and Marketing takes up the story: "Onboard computers monitor the performance of increasingly expensive trucks.

When the truck returns to home base, the radio communicates important maintenance data alerting mechanics to problems, preventing breakdowns and expensive repairs.

This same data can also be used to identify bad drivers, enabling insurance savings".

Another application is monitoring sensitive or valuable cargo.

For example, how do you know that the food inside a refrigerated truck stays cold throughout its journey? Temperature sensors operate throughout the trailer, and the data is stored on a data logger.

Again, when the trailer returns to the depot, reference data is uploaded alerting operators to maintenance, fuel levels, and out of tolerance conditions.

This prevents spoilage of the food, health concerns, and saves money.

You can also track GPS data to see if trucks have travelled only where they were supposed to, or unauthorized door openings.

Another prominent application is the use of RF in signs.

Increasingly, signs contain interactive data.

Examples include hotel rates and vacancies, sports scoreboards, traffic alerts, car parking information, weather and time.

An airport may have a dozen signs directing passengers to vacant car parks; to run cables to each sign is expensive, invasive and time consuming.

Alternatives such as cell phones require individual phone numbers, and monthly expense.

Local radios provide excellent coverage from the central location, without monthly charges.

Or maybe a sports ground wants to upgrade its scoreboard to provide information about a player or provide more detailed statistics.

Equally, running cables to scoreboards on several locations at a horse track is costly.

2.4 GHz RF is an enabling technology to get the job done simply.

Another burgeoning growth area is point-of-sale and credit card authorisation.

For example, a handheld credit card terminal allows a waiter to charge a customer and process the card at the table, saving time, avoiding walking back and forth to the cash register.

Importantly, the customer also keeps the credit card in view.

A 2.4GHz radio - especially proprietary, spread spectrum radios - are much more secure than wires.

Says O'Callaghan: "What has enabled this explosion is the introduction of cost effective, 2.4GHz frequency hopping, spread spectrum (FHSS) devices.

2.4GHz is approved virtually worldwide, and so industrial OEMs can integrate one product and know they can ship globally.

We're talking about RF modules that are pre-approved by global agencies such as the FCC (USA) Industry Canada and ETSI for Europe.

This saves the OEM time, money and the expertise to gain these approvals.

Our OEM modules have the embedded software to enable reliable RF communication, speeding integration, and simplifying the OEMs' task".

"Spread spectrum has historically been expensive due to its complexity.

However, it has the benefits of being very secure.

Proprietary radios do not suffer from the security breaches of 802.11 style radios.

Additionally, because SS radios hop around the spectrum, regulatory agencies allow them in higher power output versions enabling longer ranges and more functionality.

2.4GHz radios enable higher datarates, suited to point-to-multipoint applications".

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