PCTEL Announces Spectrum Monitoring and Uplink Testing Solution for Critical Communications Networks

August 01, 2022 at 08:50 AM EDT

New products support first responders and help them keep their teams and communities safe

PCTEL, Inc. (Nasdaq: PCTI), a leading global provider of wireless technology solutions, today announced the launch of SeeHawk™ Monitor, an automated spectrum monitoring system for P25 public safety radio and other critical communications networks. SeeHawk Monitor also enables automatic testing of the uplink signal, which is the signal from a handset to the radio site, for the purpose of determining that in-building coverage complies with fire code standards.

First responders rely on radio communications to protect their teams and the communities they support. Interference on the radio network can have life threatening consequences if public safety personnel can’t communicate with incident command or with each other. The SeeHawk Monitor system automatically detects and helps users to identify interference from sources such as other communications networks, bidirectional amplifiers (BDAs), and high-powered industrial systems, so radio network managers can mitigate these sources of interferences to ensure reliable critical communications for first responders.

SeeHawk Monitor users can:

Continuously monitor spectrum across multiple radio sites
Rapidly detect and characterize service impacting noise and interference
Investigate problems with spectrum analysis in real-time or event replay modes
Automatically test the uplink signal during in-building coverage testing

“SeeHawk Monitor resolves key pain points repeatedly mentioned in our conversations with public safety industry professionals,” said James Zik, PCTEL’s Vice President, Test & Measurement Product Management. “It’s more than just public safety, as public and private wireless networks can also benefit from quickly and efficiently identifying service-impacting issues such as interference and poor in-building coverage.”

The SeeHawk™ Monitor system is easy to install and is scalable to the needs of any network. It is composed of multiple Remote Test Units (RTUs), which monitor spectrum and measure radio signals at each radio site, and the SeeHawk Monitor Platform Manager, which monitors and configures all RTUs in the system.

SeeHawk Monitor’s uplink testing feature makes it easier to ensure high-quality indoor coverage that complies with National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) and International Fire Code (IFC) standards. The SeeHawk Monitor Platform Manager remotely manages automated uplink data collection on RTUs throughout the network. This enables a tester using a single PCTEL® public safety network testing solution to automatically collect uplink and downlink measurements in one survey of a building.

Customers can contact PCTEL now to place an order for SeeHawk™ Monitor, expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2022.

PCTEL will demonstrate SeeHawk Monitor along with its other solutions for the critical communications industry at the National Association of State Fire Marshals’ NASFM Fire Prevention & Safety Symposium in Las Vegas, August 2 at booth #303.

About PCTEL

PCTEL is a leading global provider of wireless connectivity solutions, including purpose-built Industrial IoT devices, antenna systems, and test and measurement products. Trusted by our customers for over 25 years, we solve complex wireless challenges to help organizations stay connected, transform, and grow.

For more information, please visit our website at https://www.pctel.com/.