Although 3G technology serves more than 1.5 billion subscribers worldwide, industrial operators still face obstacles when implementing 3G cellular networks on the plant floor. These barriers include the high price of 3G products, a lack of industrial standards suitable for harsh environments, unstable signal connections over long distances, difficulty deploying different interfaces, and problems managing multiple devices over a cellular network.
Moxa, a leading manufacturing of industrial networkingand communication products, has found a solution to these obstacles with its OnCell G3111-HSPA IP Gateway, a cost-effective 3G communication solution suitable for mission-critical wireless applications.
"Our newest IP gateway can conveniently and transparently connect existing Ethernet and serial devices to a 3G cellular network, such as PLCs, flow computers, vision systems, RFID readers or encoders," said Ariana Drivdahl, Product Marketing Manager. "With Moxa's design, higher EMS levels are tested to ensure reliability when operating in any harsh industrial environment."
The OnCell G3111-HSPA offers best price-to-performance ratio compared with similar products. Designed to meet industrial-grade standards, it features Moxa's cutting edge GuaranLink technology and OnCell Central Manager Software for stable cellular connectivity and to make it easy to configure, manage, and monitor remote devices on a private network over the Internet. It supports universal quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and five-band UMTS/HSPA 850/800, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz.
Exceptionally compact, the OnCell G3111-HSPA can be used on a desktop or mounted on a DIN-rail. It comes with a 12 to 48 VDC power input and has 2 KV EFT/Surge protection to allow the use of different types of field power sources. Serial ports are protected by 15 KV ESD line protection to keep the system safe from unexpected electrical discharges.
The release of the OnCell G3111-HSPA is particularly timely, according to Drivdahl, since 2G users on the AT&T network will be required to upgrade or migrate their existing hardware. The nationwide carrier has announced plans to sunset their 2G support, with complete shutdown of the network scheduled for January 1, 2017. To support 2G customers during this transition, Moxa is offering a special rate for 3G devices including the entire OnCell product line.
