Ondas Holdings Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ondas Networks Inc., a developer of private licensed wireless data networks for mission-critical industrial markets, announced today the receipt and fulfillment of a purchase order in December 2019 from a North American Class 1 railroad for the deployment of its FullMAX software-defined radio (SDR) technology in the 900 MHz licensed frequency band.
This purchase order is the second significant engagement with a leading Class 1 rail operator for Ondas Networks, following the completed deployment of a multi-phase field trial with another major Class 1 Railroad in Q4 of 2019. That field trial is being performed over multiple locations and is producing significant improvements to frequency utilization of existing licensed spectrum using Ondas Networks’ IEEE 802.16s standard-compliant radio platform for communications across challenging terrain.
The Class 1 Railroads are planning significant data communication upgrades over the next few years in order to meet an exponential growth in demand for capacity, along with the need for increased reliability and security. Ondas Networks’ FullMAX technology addresses all of these requirements in a cost-effective way, providing significant value to rail operations.
Current Class 1 rail communications networks are designed around specific applications implemented in single licensed frequency bands. Ondas Networks’ frequency agnostic FullMAX SDR solution enables the railroads to deploy mission critical mobile and wayside applications over multiple frequency bands, creating an opportunity to consolidate networks over a standardized platform.
“The Class 1 railroads we are now working with are excited about the opportunity to upgrade their network to a standards-based platform, one which optimizes their current bandwidth requirements and future-proofs their next generation networks,” said Eric Brock, CEO of Ondas Networks. “We look forward to deploying this pilot program in early 2020 and continuing to expand our relationship with this blue-chip customer and others in the sector facing network challenges. We expect the Class 1 railroads to engage with Ondas beyond the 900 MHz band in the coming months as we demonstrate the benefits of a single, flexible SDR architecture, capable of covering the entire spectrum of frequencies in which the Class 1 railroads operate.”
