An ATEX-Compliant White Space Communications System is Debuted by Neul

Neul is a company that was started in 2010 in Cambridge, UK. The goal of Neul is to transform wireless data communications by slashing the cost of the spectrum, base stations and the terminals needed to set up a wide area wireless network and build the “Internet of everything.”

Neul's technology uses white space radio to access the high quality spectrum needed for a truly omnipresent wide area network (the Internet of everything). White space radio takes advantage of TV channels that are no longer used since the switch was made from analogue TV to digital TV. This frees up to 150MHz of high quality spectrum. Typical nationwide 3G networks have to make do with only 30MHz of spectrum.

Today, April 9, 2013, Neul announced that they are releasing an ATEX-compliant NeulNet white space communications system. It is designed and has been approved for use in hazardous environments. The ATEX directive consists of two European Union (EU) directives describing what equipment and work environment is allowed in an environment with an explosive atmosphere. Basically ATEX from a French term ATmospheres EXplosives.

Neul’s system consists of their NeulNET 3010 base station, NeulNET base station controller and multiple NeulNET 401 Zone 2 customer premises equipment (CPE). These units can provide long range, non-line-of-sight communications networking in potentially explosive, harsh, wet and corrosive environments.

Vice president of marketing at Neul, Ben Peters, stated “We’re pleased to expand our range of NeulNET while space communications products with this ATX-compliant CPE. Providing effective communications technology for hazardous environments is critical for many of our clients. With a wide range of applications in varying sectors, from oil and gas to chemical plants, NeulNET communications systems help deliver safety and efficiency improvements by connecting with that which was previously unreachable and delivering resilience with existing communications technologies.”

High quality sub-GHz UHF frequencies are how the NeulNET systems communicate. According to Neul, the NeulNET system is able to make use of all of these newly available radio channels, adapting modulation and forward error correction (FEC) automatically. This provides the best possible throughput for a given communications link. Unlike existing unlicensed systems, NeulNET is capable of long-range, non-line-of-sight (NLOS), omnipresent wide area connectivity. By deploying or using a Neul cellular network, customers benefit from unrivalled geographic coverage, increased network capacity and dramatically reduced costs.

The NeulNET system uses state of the art technology to filter out interference from powerful TV transmitters. At the same time, it eliminates unwanted emissions that could cause problems for existing licensed users of the band. This gives NeulNET the ability to take advantage of the entire UHF TV white space while complying with stringent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations.

The really important thing here is the fact that the products are ATEX-compliant. The wide range of non-line-of-sight communications, supplemented with the fact that that they are ATEX-compliant makes the NeulNET a great product to use within a gas or oil company and keeping that environment completely safe from explosions or other catastrophes.