The jungle book

Curvalux to test long-range fixed wireless broadband technology in UK


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South Yorkshire-based Curvalux (AirspaceIX) is expected to conduct a new Proof of Concept (PoC) trial for its latest Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) Broadband FWA hardware, which will take place in the City of Sheffield and is designed to provide ultra-fast broadband speeds over a long range and with low power consumption.

The company recently signed a major multi-million pound contract to supply its new system to Globe Telecom in the Philippines, where it will be used to deliver faster broadband to rural communities on 7,000 islands. Richard Pak, CEO of Curvalux, said: “[We’re] capable of transforming the lives of families and businesses … by improving their Internet connectivity and enabling them to be part of the global digital economy. “

REMARK: Pictured Above – The Curvalux Edge Knots are those little rectangular boxes on the side of the mast.

The aforementioned deal follows an earlier commercial trial, which saw the company “last mileNetwork style kit ”used to connect 10 remote villages on Semirara Island. In this context, their Curvalux Peripheral Node was installed between 1 and 5km from users (this flat panel antenna system operates in the 5-6 GHz bands).

After that, the CPE Curvalux Devices (customer premises equipment) were then installed on an elevated base to provide a better line of sight to the tower and to clear thick vegetation that would otherwise dampen signals. Customers used an outdoor 5 GHz Wi-Fi CPE (it has a 2.4 GHz signal for indoor / LAN use) and received “Ultra fast”Speeds over 100 Mbps.

A separate trial of the same Edge Node, which harnessed its 16 beams, succeeded in connecting multiple trial sites at a distance of up to 2 km from the tower in the city of Manila. The total and concurrent cumulative throughput achieved was 2 Gbps, using Wi-Fi CPEs and smartphones to serve customers. But the total power consumed by the node was only 100 watts (it is rated up to 160 watts).

REMARK: Their node’s technical specifications suggest that a total throughput of 2 Gbps using Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) can be achieved with an LOS of up to 10 km (potentially 5 Gbps over Wi-Fi). Fi 6). The system would have been successfully tested up to 20 km in flat, remote field conditions without LOS obstruction, but at that distance it only achieved 20 Mbps using 20 MHz of channel bandwidth.

Curvalux would also be working on similar PoC projects and trials around the world, including one scheduled to take place in their hometown of Sheffield, but they haven’t given us any details on that yet. The company believes its kit could also help the UK government achieve its goals £ 5 billion Gigabit project objectives, and such a test can allow them to demonstrate if this is really the case.

Overall, the system they’ve developed looks like an improvement over some of the FWA solutions we’ve seen before, which is in part thanks to their patented multibeam multibeam beamforming technology. But to get the most out of this setup, they will likely need to connect a fair number of radios to their antenna. On this point, the site specifies that its node can “serve up to thousands of simultaneous Low Cost User Terminals (CPEs) using its advanced interference mitigation mechanism. “

The company currently employs 15 people at its Electric Works site on Sheaf Street in Sheffield, and is considering a £ 20million plant near the Advanced Manufacturing Research Center in Rotherham, which could create 200 jobs. This all follows last year’s deal, which saw them secure a £ 8million public grant under the Sheffield City Area program, which helps fund their growth in South Yorkshire.

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