| Raveon manufactures a line of GPS devices to protect the lives and safety of peple in remote and dangerous areas. Firefighters have a very difficult and dangerous job, and deserve the best communication possible. Voice communications is often a huge challenge in wild-fire fighting, and Raveon’s Atlas GPS transponder can provide an additional level of safety and security to the brave men and women who respond to the challenge of wild-fire fighting.
Here is an article about why not to rely soley on a two-way voice radio for safety and GPS tracking. See all of Raveon’s GPS tracking products on our GPS Tracking website here: www.ravtrack.com. |
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Atlas PTThe Atlas PT is a military grade personal GPS transponder that provides command and control with immediate situantional awareness of firefighter’s movement while adding additional security and safety through an emergency-distress button. Using the internal position sensor, position transmissions and man-down alerts may be triggered by position, motion, impact or lack-of motion. The ATLAS PT is completely self-contained and portable. Meant to be worn by personnel in a variety of activities, it weighs just 16 ounces even with the built-in rechargeable batteries. Simple to operate, just “turn it on and go”. Furthermore, the ATLAS PT has some of the lowest power-consumption in the industry. If configured for fast 10-second updates, it will still run 24 hours on its internal battery pack. The transponder features flexible reporting options, while a remote controlled sleep mode allows it to be active and consume almost no power at all. An optional external battery pack allows oprating times of more than 45 days (at GPS report rates of 15 Minutes). |
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Remote Alert Wireless Command Center (RAWC).RAWC is portable base-station that accommodates a laptop computer running RavTrack PC tracking software or alternative tracking solutions to create a lightweight, Easily carried on-site to track personnel in remote areas, or setup at a command and control center. Remote Alert Wireless Command Center (RAWC). Together with Raveon’s personnel tracker ATLAS PT and M7-GX GPS tracking radios creates a powerful independent tracking system that any emergency response unit should have available for disaster prepardness and/or when access to other wireless systems is not available. The RAWC communication subsystem is a portable base station in a transit case configured to be rapidly deployed from a vehicle. It has a VHF or UHF radio modem integrated inside the case which connects to a computer via included USB cable (running serial protocol). The unit also has a backup battery for temporary mobile use. The RF signals (GPS and VHF) are cabled to connectors on the outside of the case to provide the option of hooking up external components to the system. For details see datasheet.
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Solutions by Industry
- Smart Grid
- Mining and Geoexploration
- Oil and Gas Telemetry
- Wilfire fighting
- AVL and Asset Tracking
- Remote Irrigation Solutions
- SCADA and Telemetry
- Custom Wireless Design
- Utilities Management
- Weather Monitoring
Firefighter GPS Devices
Oil and Gas Telemetry and SCADA
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Raveon’s data radio products are well-suited for wireless process control, wireless SCADA and wireless telemetry applications. With the fastest Transmit / Receive turn around time in the VHF/UHF radio modem business, your polled telemetry system will operate fast and efficient.
See this example of a pipeline-monitor using Raveon’s data radio. |
Raveon’s Wireless Telemetry Product Features
- RS232, RS422, and RS485 serial interfaces
- Easy to use with built-in smart radio modem. Data In = Data Out.
- Works with MODBUS, DNP, and most serial SCADA protocols.
- 1/2-5 watts of RF output in the 450-480MHz (other bands available)
- Range of 5-50 miles
- Ultra-fast T-R switching time of 3mS
- Store-and-forward repeater capability
- Exceeding all FCC part 22 and 90 requirements
- Remote “Ping” capability
Products for the Oil and Gas Industry
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M7s Series Wireless ModemsIdeal for SCADA and Telemetry applications, the M7 series of products features: 1/2-5 watts of RF output in the 450-480MHz (other bands available), range of 5-50 miles, ultra-fast T-R switching time of 3mS, store-and-forward repeater capability, remote “Ping” capability, voltage, temperature, and current monitoring, and RS232/422/485 interfaces available. Perfect for SCADA, remote control, telemetry, mobile-data, and AVL applications. |
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Raveon’s RV-M5 FireLine series of data radio modems are a high-speed FCC refarming compliant data radio designed for telemetry, wireless data, GPS, and remote control applications. |
Mine Radio Underground Communications: Leaky Feeder Radio System
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Raveon’s M7 series radios are well-suited for underground mine radio data communications. With the fastest Transmit / Receive turn around time in the VHF/UHF radio modem business, your polled telemetry system will operate fast and efficient within an underground data system using a pair of cables one of which is a radiating cable the other a “receiving cable”. – a setup commonly referred to as a “leaky feeder system“. “Radiating Cable” implies that the cable is designed to radiate or asborb RF signals: something that coaxial cable is not generally supposed to do.
A leaky feeder system is used for underground mining or tunnel environments where line-of-sight radio communication is difficult or impossible to achieve. Radios are connected with a coaxial cable with a receiver (Rx) port on one end and a transmitter port (Tx) on the other side of the radio. |
Raveon’s Mine Radio Solutions Feature
- RS232, RS422, and RS485 serial interfaces
- Easy to use with built-in smart radio modem. Data In = Data Out.
- Works with MODBUS, DNP, and most serial SCADA protocols.
- 1/2-5 watts of RF output in the 450-480MHz (other bands available)
- Ultra-fast T-R switching time of 3mS
- Store-and-forward repeater capability
- Exceeding all FCC part 22 and 90 requirements
- Remote “Ping” capability
Raveon has a complete line of real-time GPS tracking products for open-pit min tracking, monitoring, and safety.
See all of Raveon’s GPS tracking products on our GPS Tracking website here: www.ravtrack.com
Smart Grid Wireless Solutions
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Raveon’s data radio products are well-suited for wireless meter reading, wireless SCADA and power grid management. VHF and UHF radio frequencies over very long range communication ability, and with the fastest transmit / receive turn around time in its class, hundreds of thousands of meters may be polled or report-in every day on a single radio channel. |
Features of Raveon’s Wireless Data Modems for the Smart Grid
- RS232, RS422, digita, USB, and RS485 serial interface options.
- Very economical solutions. Raveon has narrow-band radio modems for under $190.
- Easy to use with built-in smart radio modem. Data In = Data Out.
- Works with MODBUS, DNP, and most serial SCADA protocols.
- Tech Series Enclosures have General Purpose IO (GPIO) to control with MODBUS.
- Internal ARM processor with spare resources to run custom applications and protocols.
- 1/2-5 watts of RF output in the VHF(136-174MHz) and UHF(402-512MHz) bands. Other bands available.
- Range of 1-10 miles urban, 5-50 miles rural, 10-120miles line-of-site.
- Ultra-fast T-R switching time of 3mS
- Store-and-forward repeater capability
- Exceeding all FCC part 22 and 90 requirements.
- Remote “Ping” capability
Private Networks or Internet Cloud uses Long Range RF
Data Radio Modems can link your Slaves to your Master. If you have a large system, and need multiple base stations, use Raveon’s data radio modems with a Cigorn Gateway to route data exactly like you want it to go. Cigorn is free open-source code. Raveon is welcome to configure it for you.
And save money by using our modems with GPIO, so you don’t have to buy Slave devices and buy radios, just buy our Tech Series radios with the GPIO interface to read your sensors and control your things.
Products for the Wireless Smart Grid
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M7s Series UHF Wireless ModemsIdeal for data collection applications, the M7 series of products features: 1/2-5 watts of RF output in the 450-480MHz (other bands available), range of 5-50 miles, ultra-fast T-R switching time of 3mS, store-and-forward repeater capability, remote “Ping” capability, voltage, temperature, and current monitoring, and RS232/422/485 interfaces available. Perfect for SCADA, remote control, telemetry, mobile-data, and AVL applications. |
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M7s Series VHF Wireless ModemsWith similar features as the UHF M7 series, the VHF M7 operate in the 136-174MHz band, providing even longer-range communications. The power-efficient design uses less power than any other brand radio modem in its class. It powers on/of very quickly, for very low-power sleep applications. |
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Low-cost Embedded Wireless modems.
Raveon has a number of VHF and UHF radio modules that are well suited for monitoring and controlling the smart grid. Let us customize one of our designs to meet your system and cost goals. |
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Cigorn Wireless GatewayRaveon’sCigorn Gateway is an easy to manage gateway/router. It is simple to deploy, data centric, and very bandwidth efficient. It dynamically assigns wireless bandwidth to operate even when 100% of the subscriber devices need to communicate. It provides a single interface to a wide-area network of radio modems.
Cigorn is optimized for applications such as meter-reading, utility-monitoring, and GPS tracking. The Cigorn Gateway is built using powerful computing hardware, feature-rich software, and sophisticated communication protocols. But because Giga-bytes of RAM are cheap, GHz processors are cheap, and Open Source Linux software is free and reliable, the Cigorn Gatway is more sophisticated than comparable systems, and yet costs very little to deploy. Use Cigorn Gateways to consolidate all your wireless interfaces, modems, protocols, and links into one manageable device. |
Low Latency Streaming
Overview
Low-Latency Streaming provides a continuous data feed from one modem to another, with less than 8 millisecond delay between the data entering one M7 and leaving the other. This mode is ideal for control of UAVs and other robotics as it provides a real-time response to control commands.
The M7’s low-latency streaming mode can provide a transparent, continuous 9600 baud stream from one modem to another.
Low-Latency Streaming Mode is available in M7 model radios via a firmware option specified at order time.
Differences from Other Modem Modes
In data modems, including the M7, data coming in to the modem for transmission is packetized before sending over-the-air. Packetizing data has a number of benefits, the two largest being that metainformation can be added to the data and checksums can be calculated. Packetizing data increases the overall range and reliability of the data modem substantially, while adding the necessary information to the packet to create diverse and complex networks. Packetizing data has two tradeoff costs: data bandwidth and latency. Streaming mode optimizes the data transmission for these.
The airtime used for the packetizing such as preambles, packet headers and checksums reduce the usable data bandwidth a little, depending on the ratios of packet length to headers. To provide a continuous stream, low-latency streaming mode removes these packet features and provides more useable data bandwidth.
Removing packetization provides an extremely large latency reduction. In packet mode, the latency of a piece of data within a packet is the length of time it takes to receive the entire packet into the modem, plus the time to transmit the packet over-the-air. The modem must receive the entire packet before it can begin transmission of the data, then the receiving modem must receive the entire packet to verify its integrity before it can begin outputting the data. In low-latency streaming mode, each data byte is transmitted immediately:
Example comparison between packet mode and streaming mode for a 60-byte piece of data with a 9600 baud serial link and 9600 baud over-the-air rate.
In general, most systems will want to use sync loss filtering, since it reduces the occurrence of bad data output. However, some systems may want to turn this off entirely, which instructs the receiver to output a constant stream of data, even if no sync can be detected. This is beneficial if the system design already includes a packet format with checksums or other measures of transmission success. In this case, the system’s packet format can be used to determine if the data has been received correctly or not, allowing the modem to output data that might have otherwise been dropped due to sync loss.Low Latency Streaming is only available as a custom firmware installation on the M7. Modems will be available with part number –SMR for stream receivers and –SMT for stream transmitters (e.g. RV-M7-UC-SMR).
Streaming mode is designed and optimized for a 9600 baud link over a narrow or wideband channel.
The follow sections detail the configuration decisions and settings that must be set for a low-latency streaming system.
Sync Loss Filtering
Sync Loss Filtering at the receiver allows the modem to suppress stream data output if it has determined that it lost the stream lock.
To enable sync loss filtering, issue the following command:
ATSS 1
Timeout Time
There are a few configuration options to consider when setting up streaming mode. The first is the timeout time. In streaming mode, the transmitter sends a continuous transmission that the receiver locks onto. If no data is available to send over the channel, an idle pattern is generated to allow the receiver to stay locked and ready to receive any real data that is transmitted.
There is a tradeoff here between the transmitter being keyed during the idle period (generating excess heat) and the receiver having to lock on a freshly started stream (creating a startup delay). This tradeoff is adjusted using
TXTOT x (Set x from 1-60 to configure how long transmitter will stay keyed if no data is present)
When a character is input at the transmitter and it is unkeyed, the stream is started and the timeout timer begins. Every time a new character is input at the transmitter, the timer restarts. Note that stream synchronization at the receiver usually takes a few hundred milliseconds, so it is likely that the first characters sent during this time are lost.
Other Required Settings
Streaming mode is a special protocol, set separately on the transmitter and the receiver. To enable streaming mode
ATMT 5 (to set to a stream transmitter)
ATMT 6 (to set to a stream receiver)
Finally, the baud rate must be set:
ATR2 8 (Over-the-air modulation set to 9600bps 4L)
It is recommended to set the serial port to 9600 baud as well. This will ensure more data cannot be provided to the modem than the stream allows. However, if this is not a concern, then setting the serial baud faster can further reduce latency delays (in a pulsed-data scenario).
ATBD 9600
ATMT 5 or ATMT 6 (Set as a transmitter or a receiver, respectively)
ATSS 1 (Optional. Require streaming sync to receive)
leaky feeder info
Leaky Feeder Radio Systems (using a radiating cable)
All Raveon data radios can be equipped with a radiating coaxial cable as an antenna for use as a leaky feeder system in areas such as, underground mines and railways, inside industrial buildings, and any other enclosed area where direct line of contact may be difficult to produce with a standard antenna. Leaky Feeder systems are the best way of communication in underground mines currently available.
Leaky Feeder systems work by using a specially made coaxial cable, radiating cable, as an antenna, which is designed specifically with slots cut into the outer shielding to let the radio waves it would normally carry to a standard antenna, in and out along the length of the cable. Doing this turns the entire cable into one long antenna emitting and receiving along the entire length. This process makes the signal weaker over the distance of the cable and eventually gets to a point where the radio waves transmitted are to weak to be of use. Because of this problem, the use of line amplifiers is required at points between 350-500 meters, to boost the signal back up to a receivable level by your other points of contact.
RSSI and Communication Range
Radio Signal Strength Indication (RSSI)
All Raveon data radio modems have a built in RSSI indicator to help determine the signal strength of a received radio modem signal. Raveon GPS tracking products also include location (latitude/Longitude) with the RSSI information which makes RF propagation analysis very simple.
RSSI is usually expressed in dBm which is decibels relative to milliwatts of received power. 0dBm = 1 mW. Every time the received power drops in half, the RSSI will change by 3dB. .5mW = -3dBm. .25mW = -6dBm and so on. Everytime the received power drops by 1/10th, the RSSI will drop by 10dB. 1/10 of a mW is -10dBm. 1/100th of a mW is -20dBm, 1/1000th of a mW is -30dBm and so on.
Radio Signal Strength (RSSI) will drop the further away a receiver is from the transmitter it is receiving. This is a square-law phenemoena, so the received signal will drop by at least 1/4 every time the distance from the transmitter doubles. 1/4power is a 6dB drop in RSSI, so when a receiver with a given RSSI moves twice the distance from a transmitter, the RSSI will drop at least 6dB. For quick range calculations, assume 6-10dB drop for every doubling of distance.
For example, in the above image, if the center dark-blue circle were 1/2 mile across at -70dBm signal, the -80dBm range would be about 1 mile, the -90dBm circle 2 miles and the -100dBm circle 4 miles across.
But, remember that most all communication systems on earth are limited by terrain not line-of-sight distance. A 5 watt radio modem transmitting 5 watts of RF can be received thousands of miles away in free-space. On earth, it may only be 1 to 100 miles. Terrain, antenna heights, foliage, buildings, interference, and antenna gains play a huge role in determining how far a radio can communicate. Also due to multipath, moving objects, and varying antenna positions, the RSSI at a typical location in the fringe area of reception will often vary 10dB – 20dB over a short amount of time (seconds). This may cause sporadic reception, but with a good communication protocol, the 20dB drop-outs will not be noticed.
Signal strengths near a base station are typically in the -30 to -60dBm range. Most Raveon radios can measure an RSSI as large as -60dBm. Above that, they will report some maximum value such as -58. The upper limit varies by model. Here is a rough summary of RSSI signal implications.
RSSI Level |
Comments |
| -30 to -60 |
Very strong. The receiver is very near the transmitter or base station. |
| -60 to -90 | Excellent signal strength. Usually the close to 100% coverage and reception. |
| -90 to -105 | Good reception, but occasional missed data. |
| -105 to -115 | Reception can be 100% but often will have drop-outs/blind spots when the average signal is this weak. |
| -105 to -120 | Signal reception will be sporadic. Don’t design a reliable system to work with this weak of a signal unless you utilize an error-correcting and lost-message protocol. |
Product Engineer (Electrical)
Purpose: Develop network software for deployment in large-scale distributed
systems
Raveon Technologies is an expanding organization, focused on the wireless industrial and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication markets.
Raveon is growing its engineering team to support the expansion of a contract to build the nation’s first nationwide data network tailor-made for M2M communication.
Position Responsibilities
- Electrical Design of Baseband and Digital Systems. Drive development from simple concept to a feature-rich finished product. Suggest additions to product requirements, then design and implement from block diagram to PCB bring-up, debug and optimization.
- Mechanical Concept Design and Implementation. Develop product packaging concepts and manage product packaging development. Highly-qualified candidates will develop mechanical designs for simpler products and work closely with mechanical engineers to create rugged, reliable products.
- Prototype Bring-up and Debug. Follow product design with hands-on bring-up and detail-oriented test and optimization of design. Highly-qualified candidates will write firmware for straightforward products and will work alongside Raveon’s embedded software engineers when need dictates.
- Transfer to Manufacturing. Design with the appropriate production quantity in mind, tailoring process to suit both small concept products and large overseas production runs. Design and create documentation to support test and transfer to manufacturing. Train production personnel as needed and periodically receive feedback on improvements to speed manufacturing.
- System Design. Suggest the use of Raveon products in larger systems. Detail how specific existing or adjacent possible designs can be used in innovative ways.
- Ongoing Design Support. Continue engagement with all Raveon designs through improvements based on field testing and customer feedback.
Skillset
Digital Circuit Design, Power Supply Design, Baseband Audio Circuit Design, Schematic Capture, Design for Manufacturing, Manufacturing Documentation, Project Management
Beneficial Skills
Layout, Embedded C, Mechanical CAD, Waterproof and Mil-Spec product design, Sub-GHz RF design
If this opportunity is of interest to you, please send an introduction and your resume to our dedicated recruitment e-mail.
Networking Systems Software Engineer
Purpose: Develop network software for deployment in large-scale distributed
systems
Raveon Technologies is an expanding organization, focused on the wireless industrial and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication markets.
Raveon is growing its engineering team to support the expansion of a contract to build the nation’s first nationwide data network tailor-made for M2M communication.
Position Responsibilities
- Server Software Development. Design, develop and debug software to drive large scale wireless networks and interconnection of cellularized data networks. Create reliable, long-running communication platforms and interfaces. Develop distributed algorithms for intelligent routing of customer data while maintaining integrity and secure compartmentalization of data.
- Protocol Design Support. Suggest improvements to custom networking protocols and low-layer designs. Create simulations and test implementations of protocol designs and implement final protocol design in portable libraries.
- OS Configuration and Embedded System Design. Create software that will run on purpose-built hardware. Design installation procedures and OS images to support continuous software operation and error recovery without operator intervention.
- Transfer to Operations. Ensure software can be operated and debugged by multiple levels of users. Create software with reliable logging capabilities, command-line interfaces, web GUIs and developer APIs. Train operations personnel on software operation.
- System Design. Suggest the use of Raveon products in larger systems. Detail how specific existing or adjacent possible designs can be used in innovative ways.
- Ongoing Design Support. Continue engagement with all Raveon designs through improvements based on field testing and customer feedback.
Skillset
C++, C, Linux, TCP/IP System Design, Operating System Theory, Distributed System Design, Network Security
Beneficial Skills
Embedded C, Wireless Network Design, Communication Theory, Digital Electronics
If this opportunity is of interest to you, please send an introduction and your resume to our dedicated recruitment e-mail.
DART Dynamic Automatic Radio Transmission overview
1 Overview
DART (for Dynamic Automatic Radio Transceiver) is Raveon Technologies Corporation’s wide-area wireless networking technology. Unlike most all other radio trunking systems, DART is optimized for data, M2M, telemetry, GPS tracking, and meter reading instead of two-way land-mobile voice. The DART trunking system builds on many of Raveon’s existing, proven technologies to create a new class of user devices and base stations.
DART is a combination of wireless protocols and technologies that together can make a very versatile wide-area radio network on narrow-band data radio channels. It is designed to be the ideal M2M platform.
2. Wireless Device Classes
DART is provisioned to communicate to a number of different “Wireless Device (WD)Classes”. The protocol interacts differently with the different classes, allowing manufacturers to provide devices that are optimized for various applications. Most wireless protocols are optimized for a particular voice application, but DART accommodates many different use cases, optimized for data communications and GPS tracking.
A list of the initial Wireless Device (WD) classes a DART system supports is shown below.
Data Modem: (Very interactive communications with the base station) Used for one- and two-way data communications, M2M, SCADA, radio telemetry, text messaging, and remote control. Communications to/from WD is via the base station and other WDs.
GPS Transponder: (Timed information reporting with light base station interaction) Used for GPS tracking of vehicles and personal locators. Tracking information and alerts are available to the end user either via connection to DART distribution network, or directly received over-the-air.
Meter Reading and SCADA: (Very infrequent interaction with base station) Used for communications to/from low-power radio modems that infrequently communicate with the system.
| DART Feature | Wireless Device Class | ||
| Data Modem | GPS Tracker | Meter Reading /SCADA | |
| Dynamic Configuration of groups, frequencies, power management, report rate, and authorization. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dynamic Data Bandwidth | Yes | ||
| Roaming and Base Hand-Off | Yes | Yes | |
| Autonomous Reporting | Yes | Yes | |
| Bandwidth Priority by Net, Group | Yes | ||
| Reporting Rate Priority by Net, Group | Yes | ||
| Local communication without base | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Group, Net, and ID data broadcasts |
Yes |
Yes | Yes |
| Group, Net, and ID Range Mass-Poll | Yes | Yes | |
| Small-slot compression using slot assignments by ID and delta position reporting |
Yes |
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3. DART M2M Platform Features
1. Quickly deploy new radios into complex systems
2. Configures radio modems dynamically, based upon current system needs and settings.
a. Over-the-air channel/frequency assignments
b. Data transmission bandwidth allocation
c. Reporting rate
d. Priority levels and group membership
e. Base Station to associate with
f. Uses local IDs (LIDs) to communicate with WD’s, shortening the OTA packet size.
g. Many other parameters based on radio model and user needs
h. Delivers data packets reliably over the wireless network, fragmenting, retransmitting, and reconstructing them as needed.
3. Assigns channel bandwidth dynamically to devices needing to communicate
a. Retry interval and duration is managed by local base station based on loading and QOS
b. WDs automatically find the a local base station to link-up to when they power on.
4. Balance the data communication loads based upon device priorities, system configuration and minimum QOS.
5. Utilize additional RF channels when available and as needed. Assign channels dynamically.
6. Timed configuration assignments for remote and out-of-comms continuous operation.
7. It has the capability of handling voice traffic, particularly VOIP sourced voice.
8. Very flexible ID scheme allowing for up to 4 trillion nodes.
9. End users can to assign their own IDs to their own nodes and configure message routing and deliver based on device ID, the ID they assigned, or groups the WD is a member of.
10. WDs may be assigned to groups. Single messages may be sent to groups of WDs. Messages may be routed to/from groups.
4. System Overview
A DART wireless network can support millions of Wireless Devices (WDs) such as radio modems and GPS trackers. Using one to hundreds or base stations, each with one to dozens of RF channels, a DART network can span a city or a country.
DART Network
WD: A Wireless Device used for SCADA, meter reading, telemetry, GPS tracking, …
BSC: Base Station Controller that controls one more more transceivers at one or more base sites.
Master Gateway. A Linux base data router that handles routing data, deviced authentication, security, and logging.
The first generation of WDs Raveon has incorporated DART technology into is the M8 series of OEM data radio modems: http://www.raveon.com/RV-M8S.html
DART is a trademark of Raveon Technologies Corporation. Contact Raveon Technologies Corporation for more information.
