Rakon products can be found over land, under the sea, above Earth and beyond.
The telecommunications market is undergoing a massive transformation. New technology and applications drive the need for precise timing requirements. 5G offers so much more than the current technologies available, including better reliability, faster speeds and wider bandwidth.
5G will enable critical and highly reliable infrastructure capability. It will enable applications like tele-surgery, based on remote robotic operation capabilities; and intelligent transportation, based on autonomous driving vehicles. 5G will enable next generation industrial automation of essential infrastructure, for resources like energy and water. The architecture of 5G also supports the ability to connect anything to the Internet – enabling the evolution of emerging new markets like the IoT. Broadband connectivity within homes using copper and fibre lines will also be replaced by the high speed wireless connection capability of 5G.
Indoor location identification will become a reality, for instance, identifying a person’s location within metres while inside a multi-storey shopping mall. Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR & AR) will also be possible. For example, super imposing physical and digital views to identify things like underground pipes and cables embedded beneath roads.
Most of the world’s existing networks need to be upgraded to receive the best of what 5G can offer, and Rakon has a product for almost every type of network equipment needed.
Have you ever needed to activate an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) or a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) to alert search and rescue to your remote location? In an emergency it can be a life saver. A system of satellites receives the distress transmissions when these beacons are activated and relays them to a control centre for action. Deep inside the beacons is a TCXO from Rakon. Today Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology can be found everywhere. Applications include location based services, in-dash navigation, agriculture and surveying, autonomous vehicles and drones.
For Rakon’s space and defence products, reliability and performance are vital. Rakon’s solutions can be found within many international programmes. Applications include instrumentation, aircraft radar systems, remote sensing satellites, launch vehicles (rockets), deep-space probes and many more.
Do you want to monitor your pet’s activity? That’s exactly what Xavier Burger, a fourteen year old from New Zealand, wanted to do after his pet bird died. To spare a new bird from the same fate he used a Sigfox device to develop a solution. After some tweaking and programming support from the Thinxtra* team, the solution went live. Suspecting the bird had died from either heat or falling off his perch, he now has a temperature sensor installed to make sure the cage is not too hot and a 3D accelerometer sensor to detect if the bird falls. This is just one example of the plethora of emerging possibilities available with the IoT. Rakon’s products are able to provide the frequency references for IoT applications.
*Rakon has a 21.4% shareholding in Thinxtra as at 30 September 2018.
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This article was first published in Rakon's Annual Review Document in June 2018.
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Louise Howe (Media Liaison)
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About Rakon
Rakon is a global high technology company and a world leader in its field. The company designs and manufactures advanced frequency control and timing solutions that provide the heartbeat of much of today’s communications and positioning technology. Rakon was founded in Auckland in 1967 and is listed on the New Zealand stock exchange. For more information visit
www.rakon.com
