CRFS, a global leader in RF spectrum monitoring, management, and geolocation solutions, has announced a deal with the regulatory agency of the United Arab Emirates, the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), to provide spectrum monitoring solutions for the Dubai Expo.
Expo 2020 Dubai is a world fair that takes place in the UAE over six months with exhibits from 192 different counties. With so many organizations using and relying on the RF spectrum, monitoring spectrum allocation, and who should and should not be it, is an enormous task for the regulator TDRA. To ensure the safety and smooth running of the expo, TDRA selected CRFS to provide a network of high-performance RFeye Node receivers to monitor the spectrum.
The extremely sensitive RFeye Nodes have been configured to monitor and report on spectrum usage across a broad frequency range (9 kHz -18 GHz). Using Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), they are also able to geolocate the source of a signal. This means that sources of spectrum interference can quickly be identified and located, enabling TDRA to instantly respond.
“There were a lot of challenges to this project”, said Malcolm Sellars, CRFS Product Manager. “But working with our local partner Motabaqah Trading, we were able to install the network and get everything up and running really quickly. Working in the heat could have been an issue, but the Nodes had no problems whatsoever, even with temperatures reaching 50°C.”
Using the spectrum automation software, RFeye Mission, TDRA is capable of automating critical tasks freeing their expert operators to concentrate on the more challenging tasks, using the RFeye Site software. If a signal warrants closer investigation, TDRA can deploy the RFeye Stormcase, a man-portable spectrum monitoring system, that can be up and running in a matter of minutes exactly where it is needed.
The RFeye Node network is deployed as a temporary installation on the Expo site. This enables TDRA to utilize them in other applications after the Expo finishes. “This is one of the great things about the Nodes, they are quick to deploy and quick to re-deploy,” said Mohammed Al Blooshi, Spectrum Monitoring Manager at TDRA. “With a lot of the processing happening on the Node, backhaul requirements are low, and this allowed us to use wireless modems to connect the network.”
Mohammed Al Blooshi continued, “We have been very pleased with how CRFS were able to meet our requirements and provide this high-performance system so quickly. We now have a complete picture of the RF spectrum over the Expo site ensuring that both the Expo and other users of the spectrum are free from interference and can use it when they need it.”
The Dubai Expo2020 runs from 1st October 2021 to 31st March 2022.
