PCTEL
Delivers Performance Critical Telecom Solutions for Public and Private Wireless Networks

Design and Development of Innovative Antennas

Marty Singer, Chairman and CEO of PCTEL remembers when he began his career in cellular, 95 percent of the cellular infrastructure or wireless infrastructure was built for outdoor voice communications. This is quite different from today where 90 percent of all communications has shifted indoors. In addition to the transition from outdoor to indoor, another incredible challenge driving most of the innovation within wireless relates to the densification of data traffic. “To meet these challenges, Cisco, the multinational technology company, has built high performance Wi-Fi base stations that complement cellular service to deliver heterogeneous networks,” says Singer. Headquartered in Bloomingdale, IL, PCTEL delivers Performance Critical Telecom solutions in the form of their antennas, engineering services, and test tools that support networks worldwide.

PCTEL's antennas and site solutions are vital network elements for SCADA, oil and gas, utilities, fleet management, health care, public safety, education, and other markets. In addition, PCTEL provides Wi-Fi, LTE, and GNSS antennas for small cell and network timing. Their high rejection GPS antennas are the standard for many infrastructure vendors and cellular operators. PCTEL is unique in that it applies its RF expertise to both private and public wireless networks. PCTEL’s leading RF Solutions product is the SeeGull IBflex® scanning receiver that increases the ease and efficiency of in-building wireless network testing and scans all major cellular technologies, bands, and Wi-Fi in a single walk test. “With respect to cellular networks, we focus on benchmarking, optimization and analysis of wireless networks. We are leaders in providing scanning receiver technology and in-building engineering services to the cellular market,” adds Singer.

PCTEL’s relationship with Cisco has positioned PCTEL to meet the standards for private wireless networks. PCTEL’s antenna product offering is divided into two broad categories which are important to Cisco: GNSS/GPS and broadband wireless including antennas for Wi-Fi and LTE. “Cisco has given us the great privilege of working directly with their product management and engineering team. This allows us to experiment with their leading edge products and improve our antenna designs for important vertical markets,” said Singer.

PCTEL’s antenna innovations include multi-element designs that support different technologies, 3D-printing of customer-specific radome designs for Cisco and other infrastructure suppliers, over-molding for harsh environmental conditions, and mechanical designs that impede theft, deal with high winds, and simplify installation.

PCTEL has accelerated life test labs (ALT) that test the resilience of their antennas by combining natural elements such as salt water, vibration, and extreme temperature conditions that can degrade antennas and their performance.

As the U.S. government regulations mandate the conversion of health records to electronic form (Electronic Health Records or EHR), PCTEL has helped with the wireless transition of the growing healthcare IT market. The increased use of mobile healthcare applications and wireless devices for medical applications (e.g., sensors and RF tags, wireless record access, in-building voice and data communication) has led to data densification in health care settings. A recent example of PCTEL’s commitment to the health care market is their low-profile wireless antennas and enclosures. These products address the specific requirements of medical networks. Their medical cart MIMO antenna enhances mobile communications throughout hospitals. The placement, location, and consistent signal characteristics of the new PCTEL antenna has resulted in significant gain in range and power for indoor communications, which has improved the user experience.

PCTEL’s relationship with Cisco has positioned PCTEL to meet the standards for private wireless networks

PCTEL has made 13 acquisitions and divested four (4) assets over the past 12 years to keep pace with technological and market changes in the wireless arena. For the near future, PCTEL plans to extend its solutions portfolio with its recent investments in cloud based analytics. The new Meridian™ suite of products, Network IQ™, Map IQ™ and Subscriber IQ™, utilize Hadoop platforms to cross-correlate terabytes of data to identify performance trends in wireless networks.