CAT M1 custom antenna for asset trackers

In the summer of 2018, Viatrax started a new LTE design project for their new GPS Tracker for LTE Cat 1M. Radientum was chosen to design the multiband antenna for the device. Despite the challenges, the product came out as a success.

The GPS tracker itself was designed by an engineering company Device Solutions based in Morrisville, North Carolina. 

Device Solutions and Radientum worked closely in liaison to deliver Viatrax with the best possible result.

When starting the project, Viatrax engineers were pondering whether they should locate the antenna on the circuit board itself or create a trace antenna. The latter was a better, but at the same time more difficult task.
– Everyone agreed it was going to be a challenge. We discussed with the folks at Radientum and they said they guarantee it will work. If not, they wouldn’t have charged us for the work, Viatrax Automation CEO Mike Webster says.
–  Radientum went back and forth with our design people to make adjustments. It turned out they did a really good job and the trace antenna solution will end up saving us a lot of money and parts.

Radientum created a small but powerful PCB trace antenna that ends up saving money and resources for Viatrax Automation.

A totally different kind of challenge was the restrictions set by the telecommunication companies as they have strict regulations on which devices get put up on their network.

This is to prevent interference with the telecommunication towers.

– Our new product has already passed the PTCRB certification tests. It also exceeds the testing requirements for AT&T so we’ll be putting it on their network right away, Webster reveals.