Quatech announced the expansion of their Device Networking product line with the availability of its new Industrial grade Airborne 802.11 b/g Access Points. The new product offering includes options for embedded modules for integration into original equipment manufacturer (OEM) designs and external metal enclosure units for industrial markets requiring ruggedized solutions.

Quatech's AirborneAP Access Point technology enables M2M equipment to become the center of a self sufficient WiFi network, allowing easy access to equipment data or resources from WiFi-enabled devices, including laptops, tablets and handhelds powered by Android, iOS, or Windows. AirborneAP Access Point technology includes secure authentication using WPA2 (AES-CCMP) and a fully functional DHCP server to provide unique addresses for each authenticated client.

Utilizing Quatech's expertise in highly secure and reliable device networking firmware, AirborneAP Access Points have been designed specifically to address the functional and packaging demands of M2M solutions providers. As an example, an integrated AirborneAP Access Point can turn an isolated piece of equipment in a service truck into a wireless gateway; this creates a WiFi network around the vehicle that enables multiple handhelds and tablets to talk to each other. This local WiFi network can also enable access to other equipment with embedded WiFi capability in the truck, and even provide access to the internet using a cellular modem.

AirborneAP Access Points support Ethernet and serial interfaces. The Ethernet interface can be placed in bridge mode to support connection to an existing network of devices, effectively extending access to the network for wireless devices. Alternatively, the Ethernet interface can be set to wireless router mode, enabling advanced networking to wide area network (WAN) and internet connections. Utilizing the serial interfaces, wireless clients can access the serial devices using the wireless network.

AirborneAP Access Points can be switched from access point to client mode through the web or command line interfaces. In client mode, the device provides WPA2-Enterprise Class Extensible Authentication Protocols (EAP) with support for authentication Certificates. Advanced security including WEP, WPA (TKIP), WPA2 (AES -- FIPS 197), WPA2 Enterprise, 802.11i and 802.1x (EAP) are standard over the entire product family. The units include support for EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAP, EAP-FAST and LEAP with AES-CCMP supported in the hardware. The embedded AirborneAP modules and external ruggedized Access Points are designed to meet extended operating temperature range (-40 deg C to +85 deg C).

The embedded Airborne Model APMG-Q551 module allows OEM customers to incorporate AirborneAP technology into their 802.11 wireless design solutions.

The ruggedized external Airborne Access Point Model APXG-Q5420 includes a 10/100 Ethernet port and up to two serial ports. The Airborne adapters have the most flexible port configuration options of any device in the market. The Ethernet port supports both bridged and router modes. The serial interfaces provide compatibility with RS232/422/485 devices and allow simultaneous use of all the ports in any serial data configuration. The external AirborneAP Access Point also includes a wide range power supply input (5-36 VDC) with terminal block and barrel jack connections packaged in a rugged metal enclosure.

All Quatech Airborne 802.11 b/g Access Point products offer an integrated remote web browser based configuration and administration interface software (Airborne Management Center software) to provide a straightforward user friendly installation and setup of the devices.

Quatech offers the industry's most extensive line of wireless device networking solutions for both external and embedded applications. The company's upgraded industrial-grade wireless devices provide superior power, increased data bandwidth, reduced latency, and greater reception sensitivity over previous models. With the advanced 802.11g radio, Quatech's Airborne Access Points, Wireless Routers, Wireless Device Servers and Wireless Ethernet Bridges optimize overall enterprise network efficiency by streamlining communications across an organization's landscape of external and embedded wireless-enabled applications.