Custom Antenna Development

Xertex offers both the design experience and manufacturing facilities to quickly deliver innovative yet cost effective antennas customized to your application's precise requirements. Our team's experience spans the antenna spectrum from television antennas to mission critical antennas deployed in outer space.

While the Xertex team has varied experience to draw upon, Xertex focuses its antenna development efforts on designing small microstrip antennas that solve performance related problems and/or aesthetic/space (or lack thereof) problems. The projects listed on this sheet represent the kinds of development projects Xertex has completed or has in process.

	APPLICATION: A Mobile Voice Communications (PCS/Cellular) microcellular base station. THE CHALLENGE: The application required a microstrip antenna with wide-angle coverage, medium transmit gain (3+ dBi) and two slant 45º receive antennas; all with a height requirement not to exceed 0.44". The antennas had to meet Bellcore specifications, yet be small enough to fit into a convection cooled microcell and not block air-flow. SOLUTION: Xertex designed two receive and one transmit 130º (3 dB) horizontal beamwidth, 5 dBi antennas in environmentally rugged cases that measure less than 4.25"x2.5"x.44" each. Xertex designed the antennas to exceed very rigid temperature cycling, shock, vibration, salt fog, humidity, and altitude specifications.
	APPLICATION: Wireless fleet management solutions that combine wireless communications, global positioning systems (GPS), digitized mapping, and on-board computer intelligence. The system helps manage mobile assets such as rental cars fleets, taxicabs, tractor-trailers, and delivery trucks. It uses a GPS system for locating the mobile asset, and a cellular system that transfers data to a home mapping base. THE CHALLENGE: The application required an omnidirectional cellular (824-896 MHz) antenna with greater than 3 dBi of gain, combined with a circularly polarized GPS (1.5GHz) antenna with over 25 dBi of gain. The antenna had to be easily installable inside a luxury rental car without damage to the interior, yet also be able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions present when installed on top of a tractor-trailer. SOLUTION: Xertex invented a patent-pending, broadband (covering 800 to 960 MHz), single element microstrip antenna. This cellular antenna is total power omnidirectional with a peak gain of 3 dBi, combined with a 30 dBi, active GPS antenna in a robust rubberized package that is easily hidden in the dash of a car or on the roof of a tractor-trailer. This totally enclosed and environmentally tested antenna performs better than a dipole/GPS combination and on average provides an additional 2 dB in the overall link budget for transmit and receive.
	APPLICATION: A Ruggedized radio enabled portable computer for hostile wireless LAN environments including warehouse and manufacturing environments. THE CHALLENGE: The customer had not designed the portable computer to be a wireless unit. Further, the unit was already in production, making it nearly impossible to retool the form factor. Xertex had to design an antenna that performed as well as or better than a "whip" antenna, and could be imbedded into the housing of the computer. The antenna also needed to be able to survive the perils of use in a manufacturing environment. SOLUTION: Xertex engineers modified one of our patented microstrip patch antennas and placed it in an obscure site underneath the housing. The antenna, on average, provides over 100 feet of better coverage than a whip without modifying the aesthetics or the design of the computer.
	APPLICATION: WLAN point-of-sale terminal in a retail wireless environment. THE CHALLENGE: The POS application required a spatial diversity 2.4 GHz omnidirectional antenna to be contained under one sleek, ultra thin radome. The antenna had to match the aesthetic lines and colors of the POS unit. The application demanded an antenna with an omnidirectional horizontal plane pattern, a hemispherical elevation pattern, and 3 dBi of peak gain. To satisfy the customer's requirements, Xertex needed to go from concept to delivery of 600 antennas in four days. SOLUTION: Xertex designed a 3 dBi omnidirectional, spatial diversity antenna with a very sleek radome, and then built and delivered 600 antennas, all in four days. Not only did Xertex accomplish the timeline objectives, but the Xertex antenna outperforms a dipole antenna configuration in a package measuring only 2"x7"x0.75".
	APPLICATION: A Laptop computer resembling a kitchen appliance that incorporates wireless LAN technology to "surf" the web and execute e-mail. THE CHALLENGE: The application required a 2.4 GHz antenna with an omnidirectional pattern and better performance than a dipole (2.1 dBi of gain). Xertex's customer designed the unit to be sturdy and was concerned that a protruding "whip" antenna could break if dropped. The computer had a well defined footprint which could not be altered, yet the customer required an antenna that was embedded onto the PC board. SOLUTION: Xertex invented an antenna measuring 1.5"x 1"x.5" that has an omnidirectional pattern and over 3 dBi of gain. The antenna connects directly to the PC board and fits within the computer's existing footprint without altering its aesthetics.
	APPLICATION: An inexpensive wireless PBX for small business and residential use. THE CHALLENGE: The application required a 1900 MHz omnidirectional antenna with a 20º downtilt from horizon that would provide maximum coverage in retail/office environments. The antenna had to provide broad azimuth coverage similar to a monopole antenna, yet have an elevation pattern such that the antenna could be hidden in the ceiling and continue to cover the open space. To operate most efficiently, the WPBX used a diversity radio and required a spatial diversity antenna housed in a single low-profile case. The antenna had to blend into office environments as well as not upset the aesthetics of nice residential sites. SOLUTION: Xertex designed a 3 dBi omnidirectional, spatial diversity antenna in an off-white radome that measures 2.5"x7"x0.85". The antenna has a 360º azimuth pattern, and the required 20º downtilt. The antenna's small size and sleek radome blends nicely into any office, retail, or residential environment.
	APPLICATION: A wireless infrastructure for cruise ships, and wireless connectivity for embarcation. THE CHALLENGE: One application required a family of antennas to fully cover both the interior and immediate area surrounding the cruise ship. The interior antennas had to offer 5 dBi of gain, spatial diversity, and a low profile so as to not affect the ship's carefully designed interior. The embarcation antennas had to have high gain for ship to shore communications over one mile while not impacting the exterior aesthetics, yet also meet rigid marine environmental specifications. SOLUTION: Xertex designed a family of antennas to mount on the bow, stern, and interior hallways throughout the ship. The Xertex antennas exceeded the application's requirements, and blend nicely into the ship's aesthetics.

 

 

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