5G FUTUREPROOFING FOR FLEET MANAGERS

5G

FUTUREPROOFING

FOR FLEET MANAGERS

BY BRAD BREWER

Currently, the implementation of the 5G wireless service across North America is underway. This improvement delivers the speed of a wired broadband network to wireless devices. The term “5G” simply means that this is the fth version (Generation) of the wireless transmission standard being deployed, just as 4G was the fourth generation. In fact, many major cities already have 5G coverage in place, and carriers are busy rolling it out to smaller markets. e big selling point for 5G is speed, since 4G tops out at a theoretical 100 megabits per second (Mbps), and 5G tops out at 10 gigabits per second (GPS). Essentially 5G is a hundred times faster than the current 4G technology. 5G is typically deployed between 6GHZ and 615 MHZ spectrum. 5G will allow law enforcement o cers to access every aspect of their department’s data resources on their wirelessly connected smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers. is e ectively eliminates the data access dividing line between the o ce and the eld. O cers will no longer need to wait for information in the eld; they will have the same instant access and ability to deliver and receive mission-critical information. 5G services will also make it easier for o cers to prepare and submit multimedia reports from anywhere, including photos, videos, and completed documentation. is increase in e ciency will likely be welcomed with open arms but with that comes an increase in data. ink for a moment how large video les are, especially if every o cer working a 12-hour shift is wearing a body camera and that video is uploaded to a server for storage. Does your agency have the infrastructure in place to service and support the increased storage, let alone does your current wireless provider have the bandwidth to allow the increase in data? e bene ts of digital technology on the road have provided eet management with e ciencies, visibility, and control that have bolstered safety and strengthened missioncritical communications like never before. Police o cers who interact via ComputerAided Dispatch Systems, Records Management Systems, or Fingerprint and Mugshot systems can have greater exibility when these systems are accessed outside the vehicle on their smartphones because 5G networks will be incredibly fast, even in areas with considerable demand and high concentrations of users.

Fleet Managers can also expect networks to be up to ve times more responsive, which translates to minimal network delays and much less frustration. Pulling eet data from a large eet of vehicles will be immediate and without delay. Bandwidth will likely allow for even more vehicle information to be pulled from the vehicles and delivered in real-time. 5G also opens the door for Over the Air (OTA) software/ rmware updates that previously might have been too big for cellular to handle.

Police Fleet Managers are beginning to understand that there is a whole new digital world beyond what our 4G networks have provided, and they are preparing to embrace the technology that comes along with 5G capacity. With current technologies paving the way for arti cial intelligence (AI) vehicles, smart infrastructure, and products, many in Public Safety believe that 5G networks could be the impetus for unprecedented transformation. 5G is a complete redesign of network infrastructure with antenna ranges much smaller than current 4G antennas and towers. is is accounted for by using “Microcells” mounted on buildings, telephone poles, and any other existing infrastructure. is makes the up tting of police vehicles very important moving forward over the next few years. High-quality, wellgrounded antennas will a ect the future of 5G for eets because of the need to “hit” all these microcells. Careful selection must be undertaken to ensure you have the besttuned antenna for your data needs and as well as the wireless networks in your area.

Agencies with primarily urban responsibility require di erent antennas compared to rural agencies that might not have the same density of 5G microcells for coverage. en you must consider antennas with maximum range or range doubling capability. Power loss with 5G is also something you need to be aware of, as shortening distances between antennas and modems is now more important than ever.

Having a heads-up as to what the networks in your area are moving to over the next few years will pay dividends even for your vehicles being up tted now. Vehicles being built up today should be futureproofed with 5G capability, ensuring all pos-

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sible spectrum is covered in case things change with wireless carriers in your area. Anything being installed today should also be backward compatible with 4G and 3G.

You also need to consider proper ground plane; the roof is always better than the trunk, but what other electronics are broadcasting on your vehicle’s roof? Another consideration is keeping everything in one place, drill one hole in the roof, not three or four. A good multipurpose low-pro le antenna allows for everything through one hole in the roof. e Public Safety vehicle antenna market has advanced tremendously over the past few years. e major players in the antenna business all make very good products, so you just need to pick the one that covers all your current and future 5G requirements.

AIRGAIN www.airgain.com

Airgain o ers a broad and expanding portfolio of Automotive, Fleet, Public Safety, and M2M antennas. eir high-performance, low-pro le antennas are designed for many wireless standards and frequencies, including LTE and 5G cellular with MIMO, WiFi 6, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), and GPS/GNSS. Designed for all environments, their broad range of highly integrated and multi-band products support a variety of applications from kiosk and ATM connectivity to government and public safety vehicular applications. Airgain has over 26 years of experience designing mission-critical automotive eet and mobile antenna applications. As the original inventor of the low-pro le cellular antenna, they are known for their market-leading performance, quality, and long product life. eir antennas build on the best-in-class RF performance, leading design features, and extended operational life of our highly successful eet and public safety antenna products connecting to almost any vehicular router or modem.

Airgain believes the adoption of 5G will ramp up signi cantly on a global basis, including in Public Safety networks in the United States. According to ABI Research, 25 percent of network tra c will be 5G by 2023. 5G antenna systems are more complex and highly integrated since they need to support complex active architectures for new con gurations, and new frequency block allocations. is shift in antenna complexity and integration enables Airgain to leverage their expertise and antenna performance, including integration between the antenna and the RF front end, to enhance the performance of their 5G antenna solutions.

In 2020, Airgain launched CENTURION™ Next, the rst of the 5G family with WiFi 6 support, as part of the 5G refresh of their Antenna Plus eet antenna product lines. For international markets, Airgain obtained their rst European compliance quali cation in 2020, opening the door to the distribution of their 5G-capable eet and M2M antenna products.

At the start of this year in January 2021, Airgain announced the release of MULTIMAX® Next 5G antennas for the eet vehicle market. is product is designed with both 6-in-1 and 5-in-1 con gurations to deliver the best-in-class performance supporting dual MIMO LTE and 5G bands (includes Band 14, CBRS, and Band 71), 2x2 MIMO WiFi 6E, multi-constellation GNSS, and external whip connector for applications including LMR and Tetra, all in a sleek and compact enclosure. is antenna checks all the boxes for public safety organizations wanting to invest in a 5G antenna designed to address the next generation of cellular and WiFi technology. ese antennas come in either black or white and are available in custom con gurations and with optional accessories, supporting North American and international market applications.

Also in January of 2021, Airgain released AirgainConnect® AC-HPUE for FirstNet® and the public safety market. is agship platform is a game-changer for public safety eets and plays a pivotal role in Airgain’s automotive o ering for next-generation WiFi 6 and 5G. e rst product from the AirgainConnect platform is the FirstNet Ready™ HPUE antenna-modem, targeting vehicles used by rst responders like Police, Fire, EMS, and Public Safety support vehicles.

e AirgainConnect AC-HPUE antenna-modem includes an integrated high-power LTE modem supporting the 3GPP band, 14 High Power User Equipment output power functionality. is compact vehicle antenna-modem solution tightly couples essential LTE radio components with the antenna system to provide improved connectivity for public safety and eet vehicles certi ed for use on FirstNet, built with AT&T. e Airgain Connect AC-HPUE more than doubles the range of existing solutions, a result of its ability to transmit 10 times the power of existing solutions today. e incremental power improves the ability to communicate reliably in challenging environments including dense urban areas, underground garages and tunnels, and it provides a signi cant advantage for rst responders in poor signal coverage areas like rural areas or mountain ranges. is high-power device bundles the modem and antennas into a compact housing that is placed on the roof of Public Safety vehicles. e patented design eliminates the coax cables between the modem in the vehicle and the antenna on the roof that is typical of a conventional con guration. is elimination of power loss, plus the added power of HPUE, results in the greatest coverage possible for First Responders. e natural evolution for this product is to add 5G capability in 2021.

PANORAMA ANTENNAS www.panorama-antennas.com

Panorama Antennas Ltd., a leading designer and manufacturer of highperformance RF antennas, is located in London, UK. Founded in 1947 and a family business now in its third generation. Based in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, Panorama Antennas Inc. has been the United States subsidiary to Panorama Antennas since 2010.

Panorama Antennas o er a comprehensive range of high-performance antenna solutions designed with First Responders in mind that support all cellular bands including 600MHz LTE Band 71 and FirstNet LTE Band 14.

In 2020, Panorama Antennas unveiled two brand-new 6006000MHz wideband antenna series: Great White® 5G and Mako® 5G. e Great White® 5G and MAKO® 5G are designed to provide 2x2 MiMo 4G/5G LTE performance from 617-960/1710-6000MHz in a robust low-pro le package, the Great White®5G o ers increased reliability, throughput, and capability. e MAKO® 5G range has been designed to provide 4x4 MiMo 4G/5G LTE performance from 617-960/17106000MHz in a new distinctive designed, robust, low-pro le housing. e exible platform of both antenna series allows the main cellular elements to be combined with a number of other functions including GPS/GNSS and up to 6x6 MiMo WiFi 2.4/5.8/7.1GHz. e GPS module, which also supports Glonass, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou with 26dB LNA gain and advanced ltering for LTE B13/14 designed to minimize potential in-band interference, making it an ideal solution for today’s high-tech Public Safety and Fleet environments. e Great White® 5G and e MAKO® 5G are available in black or white housings, which meet IK10 for vandal resistance and IP69K for ingress protection. Delivering reliable and robust performance with enhanced aesthetics, both series allow for single hole mounting and reduce vehicle damage, installation time, and cost.

Supplied with integrated ame-retardant cables (compliant to UNECE 118.01 and EN45545-2) and a halogen-free ame-retardant housing, the Great White® 5G and MAKO® 5G are versatile products suitable for many environments and applications.

Panorama also announced that they will be releasing their brandnew MiMo Sharkee® 5G in Q1 2021, the latest generation of Panorama’s highly popular SharkFin automotive-style combination antenna range. e MiMo Sharkee® 5G o ers 2x ultra-wideband 617-960 / 17106000MHz cellular antenna elements thus covering all 4G/5G LTE spectrum frequencies worldwide, including LTE Bands 42 and 71. Alongside this, the MiMo Sharkee® 5G adopts up to 4x dual-band WiFi covering 2.4GHz and 5.0-7.1GHz bands and the latest in GPS/ GNSS technology with advanced band noise ltering. Similar to e Great White® 5G and MAKO ®5G, e MiMo Sharkee®5G enables all the communication functions to be performed by a single product installation with a single hole mount on the vehicle roof. e MiMo Sharkee® 5G is designed to t within the roof rib lines on certain major vehicle manufacturers or can be swapped out on most vehicles with the existing roof antenna. Within the product family is a version that allows for an external whip too – therefore accommodating VHF or UHF voice radio to be used through the single antenna or AM/ FM radio function. e MiMo Sharkee® 5G housing accommodates a boot mount gasket for better sealing, uses heavy-duty plastic for resilient use, conductive pads on the underside of the antenna for a better grounding, and it also holds the stringent test certi cate of IP66. e wideband cellular antenna elements are highly e cient with >12dB isolation and o er between 5-9dBi peak gain, the GPS / GNSS module has advanced ltering for LTE Band 13/14 operations while allowing for connectivity to GPS, Glonass, BeiDou, and Galileo satellite systems. e WiFi elements are also WiFi 6 ready for the latest technology. e MiMoSharkee® 5G also features UN118 compliant cable assemblies, which are demanded by the automotive vehicle sector.

LAIRD CONNECTIVITY www.lairdconnect.com

One of the main complexities and costs for Fleet Managers in catering for additional or new frequencies is not the purchase but the initial installation of antennas and equipment required. In addition, the time out of service for the vehicle in question is an expense. With this in mind, Laird Connectivity has developed a wide range of multi-port antenna products designed to reduce the complexity and time required at the installation stage. e Gar and Barracuda family of antennas has excellent symmetrical omnidirectional patterns for optimum ‘Around-the-Car’ coverage from an extremely low-pro le and aerodynamic antenna. ese antennas are con gured for Multiple-In-Multiple-Out (MIMO) operations but are also capable of up to six SingleIn-Single-Out (SISO) configurations or a combination of both MIMO and SISO operations. is makes them a very versatile tool for reducing the overall number of antennas required on a eet vehicle.

Gar antennas are available in 5, 4, 3, and 2 port con gurations with a variety of port types to support the speci c needs of customers. e models include: • e Gar 5-port with 2 cellular ports, 2

WiFi ports, and 1 GNSS port (Model #

VFP69383x22JN) • e Gar 4-port with 2 cellular ports, 1

WiFi port, and 1 GNSS port (Model #

VFQ69383x21JN) • e Gar 3-port with 2 cellular port and 1

GNSS port (Model # VFT69383x2NJN) • e Gar 3-port with 1 cellular port, 1

WiFi port, and 1 GNSS port (Model #

VFT69383x11JN) • e Gar 2-port with 1 cellular port and 1

GNSS port (Model # VFD69383x1NJN) e Barracuda family has the same form factor as the Gar but adds a Whip, antenna enabling either a third port for WiFi (operating over the low-/high-frequency WiFi bands) or UHF. Barracuda models are available in 6 and 4 port con gurations: • e Barracuda 6-port with 2 cellular ports, 3 WiFi ports, and 1 GNSS port (Model #VFH69383B23JW) • e Barracuda 6-port with 1 UHF port, 2 cellular ports, 2 WiFi ports, and 1 GNSS port (Model #VFH69383x22JU) • e Barracuda 4-port with 1 UHF port, 2 cellular ports, and 1 GNSS port (Model # VFQ69383x2NJU-518S) is multi-port approach means that a single low-pro le antenna, requiring a single thru-hole for installation, can cater up to six channels on the vehicle’s router, allowing for both communication and tracking/location of a vehicle.

For larger vehicles or purely for tracking, Laird Connectivity has developed a range of GNSS antennas including 3, 4, and 5 multiport puck antennas. e low pro le and rugged range of antennas can be used for SISO or multi-port MIMO applications and are available with a range of port and connector options: • GNS1559MPF – 1 Port: GNSS • VHP69273x22J – 5 Port: 3G/4G LTE x 2, WiFi x 2, GNSS x 1 • VLQ69273x21J – 4 Port: 3G/4G LTE x 2, WiFi x 1, GNSS x 1 • VLT69273x2NJ – 3 Port: 3G/4G LTE x 2, GNSS x 1 • VMJ24493x – 3 Port: WiFi x 2, GNSS x 1 • VLT69273x11J – 3 Port: 3G/4G LTE x 1,

WiFi x 1, GNSS x 1

All of the antennas listed above are IP67 rated, low-pro le, high-performance, and designed for a single-hole mount. Along with Laird Connectivity’s unique 5-year product warranty, they o er reliable performance in the harshest of environments.

As well as reducing installation time and expense the multi-port antenna approach also reduces the ‘real estate’ required on a vehicle’s roof or trunk. With a single antenna replacing up to six individual antennas the likelihood of damage to multiple antennas and therefore future maintenance or repair work is vastly reduced. is o ers Fleet Operators’ signi cant advantages for both retro t of the existing eet and in the initial t-out of new eet vehicles. is large range of multi-port antennas complements the comprehensive portfolio of industry-leading, rugged, and reliable two-way radio antennas for critical public safety applications including: • Patented low-pro le Phantom™ Series

Solutions • Full-spectrum VHF, UHF, 700/800/900

MHz, and multiband vehicular antennas • High-performance omnidirectional whip antennas • Permanent, magnetic, and shock-absorbing mounting options

One of the nal and most important considerations when upgrading or replacing your antennas and routers is to engage with your suppliers. e placement or siting of an antenna on a vehicle, for example, can drastically a ect performance for the better or worse. Laird Connectivity has decades of experience and dedicated

support teams who will be able to advise Fleet Operators on the correct placement of antennas for a particular vehicle. Even small di erences such as the thickness of the metal to which the antenna is being xed can a ect antenna performance, both inside the car and outside for bodyworn or portable communication devices that depend on the vehicle as a communications hub.

Laird Connectivity simpli es wireless connectivity with market-leading modules, antennas, IoT devices, and customer-specific wireless solutions. Laird is the Antenna Authority, whose products are trusted by companies around the world for their performance and reliability. With best-in-class support and comprehensive product development services, Laird can reduce your risk and improve your time-to-market. When you need unmatched wireless performance to connect your applications with security and confidence, Laird Connectivity delivers.

PCTEL 5G READY ANTENNA SOLUTIONS www.pctel.com

5G is here to transform industries. PCTEL o ers high-performance antenna solutions that provide you with the reliable connectivity needed in the 5G transformation of multiple cellular carriers and WiFi networks. We o er a variety of antennas that feature two 5G elements compatible with the world’s leading cellular routers supporting 600 MHz to 6 GHz frequencies. Our 5Gready combination antennas help you increase e ciency and coverage.

TRP-20INT Platform

PCTEL’s purpose-designed footprint antenna platform allows seamless installation on leading public-safety sports utility vehicles with narrow ridged rooftops, supporting the high-speed requirements of complex RF communication systems used for critical communications in FirstNet® public safety and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

BMLPV5000

The BMLPV5000 low-profile vertical antenna supports the high-speed requirements of complex RF communication systems used for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), and IIoT applications. is antenna supports the world’s leading 5G NR devices supporting frequencies from 600 MHz to 6 GHz frequencies. It features an attractive, compact housing that makes the antenna ideal for indoor or outdoor applications requiring minimum visibility to the antenna. PCTEL’s high-e ciency permanent mount is recommended for the most e cient performance.

GL7X1-IOTCM-5FT

PCTEL’s cabinet mount combination antenna o ers optimal cellular, WiFi, and GNSS coverage. It is a multi-band, multi-port combination antenna in a single impact-resistant housing. Its design includes proprietary high-rejection GNSS technology for optimal performance and support of multi-carrier voice and data networks.

Coach™ II Platform

e Coach™ II advanced 5G FRI antenna platform supports the high-speed requirements of RF communication systems used for ITS and Industrial IoT. e platform incorporates WiFi MIMO, four dual-band WiFi elements, and proprietary high-rejection multiGNSS technology.

Solving Complex Wireless Challenges

PCTEL is a leading global provider of wireless technology, including purposebuilt Industrial IoT devices, antenna systems, and test and measurement solutions. Trusted by customers for over 25 years, they solve complex wireless challenges to help organizations stay connected, transform, and grow.

Sergeant Brad Brewer is a 30-year member of the Vancouver Police Department. He was an eight-year member of the Ford Police Advisory Board and regularly gives presentations at law enforcement conferences on mobile computing, wireless technology and police vehicle ergonomics. He can be reached at sgt1411@gmail.com.