Retailers can bring digital signage to farmers markets and other remote locations using technology developed by Irish IoT antenna company Taoglas and Californian digital signage firm Raydiant.

Combining Taoglas’ TG.09 4G terminal hinged SMA(M) mount monopole antenna with Raydiant’s digital signage Experience platform, the team has created the ScreenRay LTE, which gives connection to the platform from anywhere in the world with 4G LTE access.

Also involved in the collaboration is Californian value-added distributor Premier Wireless Solutions (PWS).

“We have collaborated with PWS and Taoglas to define the best RF performance and antenna design as it needed to be certified on all major operators globally and needed to meet a wide set of spectrum demands,” said Bobby Marhamat, CEO of Raydiant. “At the same time, we wanted to collaborate with leading design houses of IoT since we have multiple innovative designs on our roadmap. The combination of PWS and Taoglas provided the experience and global expertise to engineer and develop our solution. Taoglas and PWS were engaged at every step of the process, moving quickly and smoothly from strategic planning to design, engineering and reliability testing to final production of the components and the device.”

This will help businesses be run from food trucks, farmers markets, music festivals, pop-up shops, trade shows or anywhere with limited wired connectivity, as it means location is no longer an issue.

Password juggling, limited range wifi, error codes and corporate firewalls could now be problems of the past. Additionally, when data are sent through a 4G LTE network, such as the one with ScreenRay LTE, it’s securely encrypted.

Antenna selection is an important consideration in any cellular application for throughput considerations, fringe area connectivity and reliability, and power consumption. The aesthetics of the TG.09 antenna make it popular for customer facing devices.

“We are thrilled to be selected as the antenna partner of choice for Raydiant’s ScreenRay LTE and to continue to strengthen our great relationship with PWS,” said Dermot O’Shea, co-CEO of Taoglas. “Antennas are a common failure point of all cellular products but at Taoglas we fully understand the pitfalls and have ensured millions of devices are operating optimally on the world’s networks.”

The ScreenRay LTE is built to power professional-grade business applications using robust hardware powered by high-speed peripheral support through USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports. By combining this with high-speed 4G LTE connectivity, and AWS-hosted cloud support, it can work from anywhere in the world.

“Raydiant’s ScreenRay LTE is truly clever and the new wave for your digital experience,” said Tony Kasza, senior field applications engineer at PWS. “It brings the ease to establishing your brand by getting content out quickly and reliably. Adding cellular capabilities isn’t trivial and you need the right partners. Taoglas services offer the next level of assurances for RF performance that Raydiant demanded.”

Raydiant’s ScreenRay LTE is deployed in a variety of commercial settings and trials and is commercially available.