Cobham Wireless’ idOBR: An on-train repeater with MiMo and multi-band support

Cobham Wireless has launched idOBR; an on-train repeater for in-carriage cellular communications. It is designed to offer high-bandwidth in-carriage services for the railway communications market enabling passengers to connect to 4G, 3G and 2G services. The unit has been reduced in size to 2HU, offers multi-technology and multi-band support for six bands, and connects seamlessly with Cobham Wireless’ range of cellular coverage products, including its idDAS system.

The idOBR can support up to four different bands on one repeater rack and there is the option to add additional racks to support more bands and/or MiMo, allowing operators to scale their setup based on their performance requirements.

The idOBR also features:

  • Up to 64 subbands can be freely configured in each cabinet
  • Support for 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands
  • Supports all major wireless technologies including GSM, EDGE, DCS, CDMA, WCDMA, and LTE operating in any band
  • Integrated GPS for automatic geo-based setup
  • Fast algorithms for gain adaption for high speed applications
  • Secure oscillation prevention algorithm
  • Operator and technology specific gain/power setup
  • IP, SNMP and web server remote supervision
  • Management via web GUI, direct SNMP or AEM network management software.

“Cobham Wireless is proud to continually push forward railway cellular communication technology,” said Ingo Flömer, director of product management, Cobham Wireless. “The idOBR will deliver high-bandwidth services utilising a fraction of the power and space requirements of traditional on-board systems.

“The extra space offered by the unit’s versatility provides train operators with the opportunity to utilise the space previously reserved for technology for increased passenger capacity or to increase the number of units deployed to further improve capacity availability in carriages.”