Information is a key commodity for police officers out on the job in their vehicles. Efficient GPS and cellular communications for in-vehicle computers that officers constantly utilize are critical tools of the trade for any police department. These systems deliver access to databases that help police more effectively keep their communities and themselves safe. However the police department in Sparks, Nevada – a city of more than 90,000 on the western side of the state – was plagued with connectivity problems in which police vehicles at times had no database access.

This situation, while vexing, wasn’t unheard of when it comes to wireless connectivity for fleets of vehicles, be they trucks, buses, cabs or other automotive devices. Delivering high-performance connection on a moving target is not as easy as networking a stationary resource like a building, often requiring best-in-class antennas both inside and outside vehicles to support various types of links with high speed and reliability.

Knowing they had challenges, Dryden’s department went in a new technology direction highlighted by the Taoglas Pantheon MA.750, five-in-one antenna, an high performance, robust, heavy-duty, external M2M antenna for use in telematics, transportation and remote monitoring applications in which there can be no performance compromises whatsoever.
Part of a Feeney Wireless CIRA X2 solution, the Pantheon antenna has reinvented connectivity for the Sparks Police Department. “When we changed to trunk-mounted modems with the Pantheon, it was a night and day difference,” explains Dryden. After running tests comparing visual maps and other elements between the old and Pantheon-enabled communications, “Within the city now, we have probably 99.9% coverage,” he says, with the only area missing being one behind a hill that never gets coverage.

The Pantheon is ground plane independent, meaning it can radiate well on any mounting environment such as metal or plastic, without any impact on performance. Even though it packs significant amounts of functionality in a single package, it is able to maintain 20dB isolation between antennas and uses high-shielded PTFE dielectric ultra-low-loss cables that maintain low attenuation at all frequency bands and high noise rejection.

The antenna is compact “we are able to put it close to the light bar when it’s on top of the vehicle and you hardly even notice it there. It does look very clean, as well,” he notes. Another benefit is the Pantheon’s special adhesive waterproof layer, which avoids the common problem of leakage for roof-mounted antennas that require drilling holes for installation and also comes with an optional magnetic mount base if drilling holes is not an option.

In actuality, “there’s not enough real estate on the roof” for five antennas, Dryden notes. “Normally, you’d need two feet between antennas, which means five antennas with two feet in between all of them. The roof’s not big enough. Taoglas’ Pantheon allows us to accomplish communications we wouldn’t be able to accomplish otherwise.”
The Pantheon might officially be an external antenna, but it is proving quite effective in internal configurations, reports Dryden. In one case, the antenna was installed in an undercover vehicle “so we can’t have light bars and antennas all over the top,” he says. “We put it on the fender inside the back trunk area, and it’s been working inside the vehicle very well.”

Wi-Fi connectivity is required for the laptops, tablets and proprietary hand-held devices used for writing tickets that Sparks patrol officers will be adding to their connected-equipment repertoire. “We want to be able to take a laptop into a person’s home to fill out a police report in the safety of the home versus out on the street, where people are exposed to the public and somewhat vulnerable,” relates Dryden.
Having done some testing of this new capability, Dryden is impressed. “We’ll be implementing (Wi-Fi) soon. The Pantheon is great. It works inside the vehicle. It works outside the vehicle,” he enthuses.

The need for reliable networking among Sparks police officers reflects broader demand for 24/7 connectivity on the move by consumers and workers. In other industries, ”employees in company-provided vans expect to do email while on the road. Bus passengers want to use entertainment apps on their devices while on board. Trucking companies need real-time communications with their drivers. These are some of the more obvious places where there’s a need for more advanced antenna technology to enable all kinds of communication,” explains Rockwell from Taoglas.

The Pantheon is being used all over the world in various applications to support new and emerging functions.