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RFS: a world of
microwave
communications
The equipment specified in the WSCA
purchasing agreement represent a small
part of the complete RFS microwave
product suite. The full range of RFS
microwave antennas is the most
comprehensive in the industry, available in
all common frequency bands up to 40 GHz.
The microwave product range includes:
Solid parabolic microwave antennas—
point-to-point antennas in four performance
classes—Standard, Improved,
High and Ultra High—offering complete
flexibility when designing a network.
This range includes the popular RFS
SlimLine and CompactLine series antennas.
RFS SlimLine and CompactLine antennas—
cost-effective microwave solutions for
mobile operators and private microwave
users. The SlimLine series antennas utilize
a conventional feed system and are
available in Standard, High and Ultra High
performance versions. The CompactLine
series antennas use a special feed system,
which results in a reduced shroud length
and consequently a lower antenna profile.
This CompactLine range is extending with
the release of the three-foot diameter
SB3 series, the new two-foot diameter,
10-GHz SB2-105 antenna (see What’s New
pages), and the new four-foot diameter,
7.1-GHz SB4-W71 antenna products.
Microwave grid antennas—heavy-duty
antennas in four basic types for
low capacity rural telephony, Spread
Spectrum/ISM band and wireless local loop
(WLL) applications.
Broadband wireless antennas—a wide
variety of point to multipoint antennas for
WLL, local multipoint distribution system
(LMDS) and multipoint microwave
distribution system (MMDS) applications.
RFS FLEXWELL waveguides and accessories—in
support of the microwave
antenna, the corrugated elliptical waveguide
provides the highest quality
transmission medium for the radio-toantenna
microwave link.
US public safety radio
contract awarded to RFS
The signing of a new purchasing agreement for RFS microwave equipment
provides a number of US states with a cost-effective means of improving
public safety infrastructure.
The Western States Contracting Alliance
(WSCA) has finalized its contract for the
purchase of public safety communications
equipment. The development enables
government agencies, sub-agencies and
political non-profit organizations, within
the WSCA member states, to purchase
microwave antennas, waveguide, and
related accessories directly from the
competitively awarded contract. Wireless
technology group Radio Frequency Systems
was the sole awardee for the two phases of
the US$10 million contract, signed in
November 2003, which pertain to existing
and new microwave networks respectively.
According to RFS District Sales Manager
Tim Twiford, the purchasing agreement
comes at a time of major investment in
public safety radio networks in the US. The
need for greater infrastructure to support
more communities and roads is one factor
behind this. The federal government’s drive
for a reliable communications backbone
across the country—especially in the wake
of national security threats—is another.
“They don’t want the equipment to fail.
So, while every state has these networks in
place already, many of them need to be
upgraded to newer digital systems,”
said Twiford.
One of the key issues that the WSCA
contract will, in part, address is the issue of
interoperability. The public safety radio
networks, be they for police, fire-fighting or
transport, have traditionally used a variety
of vendor systems, supporting different
communications formats and frequencies
from VHF 150 MHz to PCS 1900 MHz.
By enabling the states to obtain highperformance
microwave components
directly from RFS, without the administrative
burden of having to manage multiple
MICROWAVE
bids, the contract takes a step towards
equipment standardization. Twiford believes
that the impact will be
increasing inter-working between public
safety radio systems across the region, “By
using equipment that is standardized,
or that can work together and talk to
each other, they will be able to handle
emergencies that go across counties
or jurisdictions.”
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