Fidelity Comtech Integrates Wireless Solution with Lighting System at Port Everglades
LONGMONT, Colorado – Fidelity Comtech, Inc. (FCI), the leading provider of extended wireless solutions for the maritime port, rail, and auto processing industries, announced today it has installed the first wireless network that uses existing Holophane high-mast light fixtures as the base infrastructure for a Phocus Array™ RF system. The installation is at Seafreight Agencies’ Port Everglades facility. (see photos attached)
The Phocus Array™ is a unique IEEE 802.11 compliant access point featuring a phased array antenna. Based on Fidelity Comtech’s patented Flexible Vector Modular Technology™ (FlexVMT), the Phocus Array™ is an eight-element phased array antenna capable of adapting its pattern on a packet-by-packet basis. This smart antenna technology is ideal for high “multipath” environments, such as in constantly shifting container yards, because some of the antenna elements in the circular array are able to capture the signal even if others do not.
The Phocus Array – Holophane integration kit provides several advantages over dedicated antenna towers that have traditionally been used. First, the container terminal operators typically have existing light poles ideally located to provide wireless coverage, thus saving the port the expense of erecting new poles for wireless equipment. Also, the Holophane light ring can be lowered, eliminating the need for a crane or manlift when servicing or inspecting the wireless equipment.
At the Seafreight Agencies terminal, information identifying a shipping container’s number, location and final destination are captured by mobile workers using handheld wireless devices. These transmit the information to the Navis terminal operating system via the Phocus Array™ wireless network, improving the flow of goods and services through the terminal.
The Seafreight installation is the first to take advantage of an existing Holophane high-mast light system. In May of 2011, Fidelity Comtech introduced an integration kit specifically for this purpose. The kit provides a secure mounting bracket to attach the Phocus Array™ access point to the Holophane high-mast light ring. The integration kit also includes a Phocus Array™ ready power cable that replaces the light fixture’s original power cable and is strung into the light pole during installation. The new cable includes all of the conductors for the Phocus Array™ and the lights in a single assembly.
“The Phocus Array - Holophane integration kit ensures a seamless, fast and economical deployment of the wireless system,” says Joe Carey, president of Fidelity Comtech. “Like all terminal operators, Seafreight needed 802.11 wireless coverage for their new terminal area at Port Everglades. They wanted a solution that could be implemented quickly and provides exceptional wireless coverage in the shifting container stacks.”
According to Danny Ferrer, equipment & operations manager, Seafreight Agencies USA, Inc., Fidelity Comtech’s Phocus Array™ will maximize space utilization within the terminal, as well as improve on operational efficiency. “When it comes to the flow of information in and out of our Terminal Operating System, it allows us to get as close to ‘real time’ as possible,” says Ferrer. “Combined with the use of hand-held technologies, Fidelity’s Phocus Array allows us to gain coverage throughout every inch of our yard space, thereby greatly improving our ability to maintain accurate inventories.”
“It extends our coverage to and from the berthing area within Port Everglades making our operational tasks (loading and discharging of vessels) seamless and instantaneous,” noted Ferrer. “This quick flow of information translates into many efficiencies, including instant and accurate access for our customers related to the status, location, and availability of their shipments, etc. It also constitutes a reliable solution when dealing with adverse weather, including hurricanes, as Fidelity’s systems have been tested and certified to operate under extreme conditions through their involvement with the military.”
“The integration of our wireless network with Seafreight’s existing high-mast light poles provided a very fast deployment, required minimal infrastructure costs, and had a minimal impact on port operations,” Carey says. “Because of the extended coverage of each Phocus Array™, we were able to cover the entire terminal with a small number of access points compared to the competition.”
Carey reports the Fidelity Comtech team had the installation completed in four days. “Wireless networks are essential for improving real time tracking of containers and significantly reducing the time it takes to move containers through the terminal – it speeds up the velocity of the entire terminal operation,” says Carey. “We deliver the highest return on investment for terminal operators by delivering an RF system with the lowest total cost of ownership and the fastest time to deployment.”
“Seafreight’s new terminal in Port Everglades will be the most modern and technologically advanced (when it comes to both hardware and software) in the region and could very well serve as the model to follow by other tenants of Port Everglades,” said Ferrer.
Advantages of Phocus Array™:
- Reducing the CAPEX required in procuring, installing, and maintaining an extended RF wireless network system
- Increasing wireless coverage by as much as four times for each access point with our phased array antenna technology
- Reducing interference and multipath
- Increasing network capacity by improving the cumulative link budget
- Dynamically adjusting to a changing multipath environment typically found in container yards, rail yards, and auto yards, etc.
Seafreight Agencies
Operating from Miami, FL, Seafreight Agencies has grown its operation of weekly and bi-weekly fixed-day services between Florida, the Caribbean, and South and Central America over the past 20 years.
Seafreight provides services between Jacksonville & Port Everglades and: Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curacao, Grand Cayman, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Kingston, Montego Bay, La Guaira, Margarita (El Guamache), Panamá, St.Lucia, St.Vincent, Suriname and Trinidad. Intermodal connections are also available throughout North America.
Seafreight offers various sizes of dry and refrigerated containers, and carries boats, vehicles, machinery on flatracks. Please contact Seafreight at 305-592-6060 or visit their web site at: www.seafreightagencies.com.
Port Everglades
Port Everglades was officially established as a deep water harbor in 1927 and has since grown to become one of South Florida's strongest economic engines. Annual operating revenue are more than $66 million and total waterborne commerce exceeds 23 million tons in liquid, bulk and containerized cargoes.
More than 5,300 ships call at Port Everglades every year as part of a diverse maritime operation that includes a thriving cruise industry, a growing containerized cargo business and a major petroleum storage and distribution hub, South Florida's primary bulk-cargo depot and a favorite liberty port for the U.S. Navy.
The seaport is renowned for its commitment to ongoing capital improvements, environmental protection and convenient maritime operations, with unbeatable connections through the adjacent Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and direct links with all of Florida's highway system via I-595.
Fidelity Comtech, Inc.
Fidelity Comtech, Inc. is headquartered in Longmont, Colorado. Since 2001, Fidelity Comtech has been a premier provider of radio frequency (RF) solutions, and custom antennas systems for commercial and government customers, including JAXPORT in Florida; the Port of Charleston, South Carolina; the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Halterm Container Terminal, Nova Scotia, and Port of New Orleans, Louisiana.
FCI’s Phocus Array System and GeoLocation products use flexible Vector Modulated Technology™ based phased array antenna system (FlexVMTTM), which are changing and improving the way the world uses wireless communications.
Fidelity Comtech is a leader in outdoor extended wireless systems. Its products deliver the flexibility of traditional Wi‐Fi IEEE 802.11 wireless products with the capability on a packet‐by‐packet basis to dynamically steer, shape, and size extended signal beams for miles while deriving standoff location information about the wireless client.