Since 1996 we have been manufacturing PCBs for infrastructure antennas for cellular telephone networks and our products are in operation across the world.

In 1996 we were asked to manufacture a nine foot long PCB, one of the early GSM900 base station antennas and since 1999 have focused solely upon the provision of a specialist PCB manufacturing service for the worlds antenna community. As mobile technology has developed to 2G/3G and now 4G, we have also continued to develop our own manufacturing technology to keep pace with the requirements of the industry.

We have participated in award-winning research into the causes of Passive Intermodulation (PIM), innovated in developing a low friction interface for RET phase shifters, TrackSlip [link to trackslip innovation page] and even developed a recycling solution for our industry’s manufacturing waste and end of life product, REEETrack.

This focus and specialism has resulted in Trackwise being recognised as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of antenna PCBs.

In 2007 Trackwise set up a joint venture in India with Epitome Components Ltd – Trackwise Epitome India – to serve antenna manufacturers wishing to localise production of their products in India. Epitome Components Ltd are India’s largest manufacturer of single and double sided PCBs and this mass-manufacturing competence has been combined with our expertise and experience in manufacturing antenna and RF PCBs to form a high volume, cost effective service for antenna manufacturers in India.

Alpha Wireless – helps operator increase sector capacity

We are very proud to have supported Alpha Wireless from their earliest prototype antennas through to their current successes in the global market.

A real trial in Vilnius, Lithuania has illustrated the benefit to overall network performance of using Alpha Wireless antennas.

The network operator was experiencing unacceptable interference in parts of its network. They identified this as interference between antenna radiation patterns emanating from neighbouring cells. By replacing their existing antennas with Alpha Wireless antennas, the operator was able to significantly reduce the interference, and therefore improve network throughput by 30%, and sector capacity by 12%, in affected cells. All antennas radiate unwanted signals.

These unwanted signals (such as sector antenna upper sidelobes) create interference and therefore suppressing these unwanted signals reduces interference. Most antenna vendors only suppress the first upper sidelobe. However, when an antenna is tilted, the second, third and subsequent sidelobes can also create interference. Alpha Wireless antenna suppress all upper sidelobes, significantly reducing the interference, and therefore improving network throughput and sector capacity. Trackwise’ patented TrackSlip™ low friction surface finish is a key enabler within the Alpha Wireless phase shifter, used for varying antenna tilt angle.

‘The answer is more innovation’ Quintel Solutions

We are very proud to have supported Quintel Solutions Ltd from their earliest prototype antennas while still part of QinetiQ, through to their current successes in the global market.

As wireless operators worldwide upgrade their existing networks to deliver LTE services, questions arise regarding how to achieve optimal spectrum usage, performance tradeoffs and site logistics.

A recent study demonstrates an increase throughput of 2 x for LTE at the cell edges using Quintel’s patented QTilt™ technology compared with using common tilting. The innovative QTilt technology allows for multiple independently tilting (RET) beams to be supported for different information/signals sources carried on the same antenna array and—as a minimum—doubling the output of standard antennas.

Trackwise’ patented TrackSlip™ low friction surface finish is a key enabler within the QTilt™ phase shifter.

We manufacture antenna PCBs for advanced Wi-Fi wireless broadband base stations operating in the 2.4 and 5 GHz unlicensed bands, as well as 700MHz licensed band.

Cellular networks operators face a significant battle against rapidly increasing data usage and declining revenue per user (ARPU). Increased sales of smartphones, tablets and notebooks with embedded 3G/4G capabilities are all imposing significant capacity issues on networks.

One method that is getting the most attention for managing the huge increase in mobile data is Wi-Fi offloading. Recent market research indicates that a lot of data traffic is already being offloaded to existing private and public Wi-Fi networks in homes, at work and at public hotspots and this is being reinforced by the roll-out of Carrier Wi-Fi networks.

Trackwise are manufacturing specialist PCBs for spatially adaptive beamforming antennas based on multiple radios and multiple antennas array leveraging the multiple signals received and transmitted by them. The multiple signals are properly adjusted by the beamforming technology to maximize the transmission signal in the client modem and the receiving signal in the base station modem.

Trackwise offers customers the professional experience of many years of service to the RF industry while remaining on the cutting edge of wireless developments. We manufacture RF PCBs for RF Conditioning products such as combiners, co-location filters, duplexers and diplexers.

Combiners: Combiners are used to combine two or more transmitters so that a single feed and antenna can be used for the radiating the signals. Based on the frequency and frequency separation between the transmitters a choice of cavity or hybrid combining may be made. Combiners reduce the number of antennas and feeders at a small additional insertion loss.

Co-location filters: Co-location filters are used to prevent wideband noise and spurious signals to interfere from one system transmitter band into another system receiver band.

Interferences are likely to exist when RF base stations are co-located, thereby degrading their system performances and increasing dropped calls.

Duplexers and diplexers: Duplexers are used to simultaneously transmit and receive from a single antenna.  Diplexers (and triplexers) allow several systems to use the same feeder cable between the base station and the antenna, resulting in a lighter tower load and a corresponding cost savings in the streamlined arrangement.