Antennas IRL Series: Getting the Most Out of a Cellular Router

This blog is the first post in our Antennas IRL series. We would like to share some of our experiences with our customers, highlight unique situations, and explain how we were able to help resolve any connectivity issues with our Antennas, Mounts and Cables.

We recently engaged with a customer within the video surveillance/security industry. This company's primary function is to set up security cameras in places such as parking lots, stores, construction sites, and more.

To provide data transfer for their cameras, they were utilizing the Cradlepoint IBR900 modem. We saw their product at a trade show, and noticed that there was an antenna attached. Here is a closer look at the product and the antenna that they were using:

Upon further inspection, it appeared they were not utilizing the full capacity of the modem. The incumbent antennas they were using only had 2 elements (1 LTE and 1 GNSS), yet the Cradlepoint IBR900 modem is set up to have 5 different lines connected.

As you can see below, the IBR900 has 5 different lines: 2 WiFi, 1 GNSS, 1 Main (Cellular) and 1 Aux/Div (Cellular). 

By using the incumbent antennas mentioned above, and only using 2 lines on the modem, they were losing out on a stronger connection and better performance. It's also important to note that surveillance video files are typically large files, so it's important to make sure your data transfer stream is as strong as possible.

Connecting to the AUX port (sometimes called Diversity) can help with stronger connectivity and more than double the speed of data transfer. Additionally, utilizing all 5 of the lines on the modem allows it to pick and choose which one is providing the strongest data stream and use it.

After sending the customer a sample and running some connectivity tests, we found that the best solution for them was the RFMAX Brick Antenna (Available in Black: RBDM-G55WW-2-SSSRR-B or White: RBDM-G55WW-2-SSSRR-W).

The Brick antenna is a MiMo cellular antenna with 5 elements: 2x MiMo 4G/LTE/5G, 2x MiMo WiFi, and 1 GNSS. By switching antennas, the cellular modem can now be properly utilized. Additionally, the Brick antenna is compatible with 5G (Band 71) and therefore it will be optimized for the new wave of cellular technology should they choose to upgrade to it.

Below you can see a close up of our Brick antenna, as well as where the antenna is place on their product: