Nextivity today announced the expansion of its CEL-FI Public Safety portfolio at the IWCE In-Building Forum. The CEL-FI QUATRA RED Active Server Antenna makes it possible to monitor the system all the way to remote antennas as part of the CEL-FI QUATRA RED ERCES (Emergency Responder Communications Enhancement System) solution. This Active Antenna features a Power Inserter that can retrieve location information and monitor remotes to meet the advanced local code requirements for in-building ERCES solutions.
In recent years there has been increased demand for the vertical backbone and horizontal distribution, cabling, and antenna infrastructure to be consistently monitored for failure and system performance. There are two key building codes focus on this area: the NFPA 1221, section nine six; and section 510 of the International fire code. These are two important standards for ERCES. Renovation, installation of new systems, high power, low power, plumbing, IT, and telecommunications infrastructure, and sometimes vandalism, can lead to inadvertently disabling a system, antennas being removed or damaged, and cables being disconnected. Unfortunately, with no indication of these issues until an incident at the property, the first responders notice the lack of coverage in areas. This has driven some Authorities Having Jurisdictions (AHJ) to require monitoring systems capable of identifying a failure at the passive component level. Nextivity is now providing a solution in the form of an active server antenna.
An active component in an ERCES typically needs an external power source to function; however, donor and server antennas usually don’t require DC power to operate. Due to current requirements to monitor the status of donor antennas – and in some cases, server antennas — for in-building ERCES, Nextivity developed the DC-powered CEL-FI QUATRA RED Active Server Antenna.
”Our new CEL-FI QUATRA RED Active Server Antenna is an important innovation in the public safety world. Antennas are typically “dumb” devices, but the Power Inserter makes this antenna “active” and able to provide location information and monitor antennas remote to it,” says Victor Mejia, Senior Product Manager at Nextivity. “Our approach to server-side antenna monitoring is unique because it was designed as an integral part of our public safety product DNA; it’s something that we thought about from day one. It’s not an add-on.”
The CEL-FI QUATRA RED Active Server Antenna uses the electric current flowing in a coaxial cable to power up a circuit in the antenna body. This then generates a signal that is constantly monitored by the CEL-FI QUATRA RED system, and is used to report the health status of the antenna, and all other active antennas connected in the system, in the CEL-FI WAVE portal and CEL-FI WAVE PRO app.
Key Benefits
- Monitoring: Antenna health status is reported via the CEL-FI WAVE PRO app and CEL-FI WAVE platform.
- All-in-one: Unlike other antenna monitoring solutions in the market, everything that is needed to operate each CEL-FI QUATRA RED Active Server Antenna is included in the box.
- Scalability: Up to 32 active antennas can be connected simultaneously to a single CEL-FI QUATRA RED Coverage Unit (CU)
- Versatility: The antenna can be mounted in floating and hard ceilings. Mounting brackets are also included.
Availability
The Antenna is immediately available as part of the CEL-FI QUATRA RED’s Class A and Class B solutions to Nextivity’s network of authorized installation partners. Learn more about the CEL-FI QUATRA RED Active Server Antenna.
