I walked up to the Bluewater Defense booth and noticed that they were sharing it with an electronics company named Vorbeck. Intrigued, I introduced myself to the Vorbeck team and they started to show me what they were up to. About a minute into the presentation on their flexible 4G LTE antenna I was hooked.
The technology is a printed graphene broadband antenna on a thin substrate that can be encapsulated between pieces of fabric for concealment into clothing or equipment. Testing indicates it doubles the range of a cell phone.
The frequency range is 824-894, 1850-1990, and 2400-2500 MHz. Additionally, it has 50 Ohms impedance and 2:1 VSWR ratio. While it’s currently tailored for 4G, the technology offers a great deal of opportunity. In addition to cellular use for transmitting voice and data, it can also be used for Tagging, Tracking & Locating of friendly, threat and other targets of interest. I can’t wait to see how Bluewater Defense integrates this technology into clothing and lad carriage.
