New dual spectrum pLTE base station announced by Ubiik 

PHOENIX, Arizona, Oct. 30, 2024 – Ubiik, a leading provider of private LTE networks announced today the release of a dual spectrum base station designed to boost flexibility and resilience in network deployments for utilities and critical infrastructure.  

 

With the ability to operate across both 3GPP Band 106 and the 915MHz ISM band while using the same hardware, Ubiik’s goRAN+ Base Station provides utilities and critical infrastructure owners the benefit of flexibility to better balance traffic.  Furthermore, those who already own Band 106 can increase their overall network capacity by expanding into the contiguous 915MHz license-free band for less critical applications.​ 

 

Band 106 currently provides 3MHz of licensed FDD spectrum with high-power allowance (DL 935-940MHz, UL 896-901MHz), while the 915MHz ISM band offers 3MHz for DL (925-928MHz) and 13MHz for UL (902-915MHz) of unlicensed spectrum, with a 30dBm power allowance. Both spectrums are subsets of the 3GPP Band 8, which means all User Equipment compliant with 3GPP Release 13 and above can seamlessly connect on either band. This includes all LTE-M (Cat M1) devices like smart meters or low-criticality SCADA endpoints, including Ubiik’s Pyxis LTE edge router. 

 

“The ability to run less critical applications in the 915MHz license-free band, such as AMI, streetlights, and sensors, means utilities can save their Band 106 spectrum for higher criticality applications like SCADA and Distribution Automation,” said Fabien Petitgrand, CTO of Ubiik. “Another option is for utilities to deploy most of their network in Band 106 and then use the same hardware to extend into 915MHz for edge connectivity and cost-effective coverage expansion.” 

 

As the range of assets and applications requiring connectivity grows for utilities, including CCTV for physical security, optimizing spectrum to maximize throughput becomes more critical. The goRAN+ Base Station provides utilities with a future-proof deployment path where any site can be reconfigured to ISM band to avoid congesting their Band 106 spectrum unnecessarily. “Our utility customers have told us they often struggle with traffic bottlenecks in areas where they have many devices to connect,” said Petitgrand. “While technical limitations restrict the ability to support both standard LTE and LTE-M in an FDD 3MHz configuration, our new solution allows a hybrid network running standard LTE devices in Band 106 and LTE-M endpoints in 915MHz. This retains all the benefits of 3GPP-compliant technologies while offering a path for replacement of legacy or proprietary ISM technologies like RF mesh.” 

 

 

Combined with Ubiik’s Network Management System, goRAN+ can be deployed with embedded MME for resiliency, as well as with traditional external Core Networks, or a combination of both. 

 

Ubiik will be at UBBA’s Plugfest with their new goRAN+ Base Station from November 5-7, 2024.  

 

About Ubiik 

On track to exceed 1 million AMI device deployments in 2024, Ubiik continues to innovate based on its cost-effective LTE and NB-IoT technologies. Tackling the coverage limitations of existing public LTE networks that impede utilities' AMI and SCADA deployments, Ubiik is forging ahead as a market leader in the private LTE landscape. See www.ubiik.com.