Axell Wireless & Airwave teaming up up to produce an enhanced TETRA repeater.

Axell Wireless, the worldwide provider of wireless coverage solutions, and Airwave, the operator for UK’s TETRA emergency service network, have teamed up to produce an enhanced TETRA repeater, which provides extra capacity, wider coverage and lower operating costs by cutting the number of base stations needed in the network, especially during Network rollout or technology refresh.

Axell Wireless has supplied the core technology for the enhanced repeater, while Airwave has brought its design and network operational experience to the product.

Ian Brown, CEO of Axell Wireless: ‘We are looking at how we can help lower the operating costs of PMR networks. One way to do that is to reduce the number of base stations by replacing them with repeaters. The repeaters are self-contained units, low on maintenance and power (180W); a fraction of that needed to maintain a fully functioning base station (650W). Repeaters are also resilient in very high temperatures and can run on alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power, making them the ideal solution for extending coverage to isolated locations.’

Richard Bobbett, CEO of Airwave: ‘The new product provides a great opportunity to extend network coverage at a lower price point than we have ever seen before. It takes fairly basic technology that has been around for a while and uses it to solve the problem of intersymbol interference. You can get more cover for the same price or the same coverage at a lower cost. You can also use it to extend in-building coverage.’

The enhanced repeater is vendor agnostic so it can be used with any network suppliers’ equipment and it is ready to go to market now. Axell and Airwave will be taking the product to market in partnership with one or other company in the lead depending on how well they are established in particular countries.

Source: IIR Telecoms