Start grant finances wireless project

The platform will be complete within 18 months and form the basis of the company’s next-generation microwave radio communications products for both carrier- and non-carrier markets, such as emergency services and mining, according to LongReach Wireless chief technical officer Andrew Cain.

“The platform also represents a specific opportunity to facilitate a capacity upgrade in regional Australia,” Cain told Electronics News. “New products to be developed on the platform have the efficiency to double or more the existing capacity using the same frequency band, which means all the existing microwave communications infrastructure can be re-used.”

Cain says the platform has been designed as a replacement for fibre, satellite, ADSL and SDSL transmission systems, and is equipped to flexibly apportion bandwidth between TDM- and IP-based systems. It supports an RF range between 1.5 and 38 GHz and data rates between 2 and 200 Mbit/s.

“We’re still deciding whether to release the new products early during development [of the platform] or at the end,” Cain comments. “At this stage, the first products should be released in the third quarter but will feature a lower capacity up to 40 Mbit/s over the same frequency range.”

Cain also expects the products to be integrated into cellular devices and to provide a bridge between ADSL and fibre-based broadband services.

While the majority of R&D will be conducted onsite in North Ryde, LongReach will also utilise skills from Adelaide-based Inspiration Technology and NSW-based Cybertec, another company to have spun out of AWA Communications. “Both are looking to put on staff,” business development director John Clay says. LongReach will utilise existing engineering resources for the project.

LongReach is also working with Cybertec to develop a Network Element Processor that provides a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface for existing and new LongReach radios.