Pivotal Commware, global leader in 5G mmWave smart infrastructure products, has announced the commercial launch of its Echo 5G Boost™ subscriber repeater for low emissivity glass (low-e) windows. Like its 2020 predecessor for standard glass, Echo 5G, Boost is a customer-installable, on-the-window, precision beamforming repeater designed to counteract mmWave penetration, reflection, and structural shadowing losses so it can gently flood an interior with mmWave signal.
Unlike its predecessor or any other mmWave subscriber repeater, Boost can overcome 50 dB of low-e glass loss. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, more than 50% of U.S. window sales in the commercial market and 80% of the sales in the residential market incorporate low-e coatings. That’s good news for saving energy, but bad news for acquiring an adequate mmWave signal through window glass.
Pivotal field testing on low-e windows showed dramatic differences in indoor mmWave penetration. For example, Boost provided wall-to-wall Gigabit+ indoor coverage in a coffee shop surrounded by low-e windows. No indoor coverage was present without the Echo, but even the standard glass version struggled to penetrate beyond a few feet inside. The coffee shop’s own Wi-Fi network clocked in at 5 Mbps.
“That the low-e Boost is another first from Pivotal is made possible in no small part by our Holographic Beam Forming® technology, which confers lowest cost, size, weight, and power consumption (C-SWaP),” said Brian Deutsch, CEO of Pivotal Commware. “Powering through standard glass -- and now low-e glass -- from an indoor wall outlet ensures that subscribers can install all Echo products themselves in minutes.”
Click here to learn more about Echo 5G Boost.
