Zetifi launches world-first location-aware smart antennas

With the federal government shutting down the 3G network very shortly, many who venture out of the major cities are wondering whether mobile coverage blackspots will grow.

Thankfully Wagga Wagga-based connectivity company Zetifi has launched the world’s first location-aware smart antennas, revolutionising a product segment stifled by innovation for decades.

This patent-pending invention transforms traditional passive vehicle antennas into active self-optimising devices that are set to play a big role in improving phone coverage, a high priority for people in rural areas as they prepare for the closure of the Telstra 3G network on June 30.

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"The 3G shutdown has been on the radar for years and it's something we need to take seriously,” said Dan Winson, Zetifi CEO. “There are a lot of people who will need to upgrade their cellular boosters and antennas to make them work with 4G and 5G.

"From the day we started talking to regional and rural communities about connectivity, the thing we heard most often is they just want their phones to work. There are hundreds of thousands of vehicles in Australia with cellular boosters and our smart antennas provide a better experience for people using them."

Terrain makes a difference when it comes to antenna performance. The flat radiation pattern of a high gain antenna is ideal in open country but is less suited to hilly areas where the wider beamwidth of a low gain antenna is more effective. With traditional antennas, you have to compromise on performance or deal with the inconvenience of swapping antenna whips as you move from flat to hilly country.

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Zetifi’s revolutionary smart antennas are the first vehicle antennas engineered with an integrated GPS and gyroscope detect antenna, reconfigurable antenna element, and data processor, allowing them to adapt to the surrounding terrain by automatically switching between high and low gain modes.

An accompanying phone app that connects to the smart antenna via Bluetooth is used to load terrain maps to the antenna’s onboard processor and also allows users to select between automatic switching or manual selection of high or low gain mode.

Pricing

Designed and manufactured in Wagga, Zetifi’s Smart Antennas are available now from $549.