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Granted, being a Radio manufacturer, all of us at RF Solutions will most definitely be considered bias in the ‘I Heart Radio’ corner. But, we feel we have every reason to be, working with a technology with amazing heritage, capabilities and the ability to evolve with the times.

Radio seems to hold a special place in our hearts, being an active technology for generations. It often humbly works away in the background whilst other technology has stolen the lime light. So, what is it about Radio that has made us so fond of it? And what will be next…

Heritage

RF Solutions have been manufacturing radio equipment for over 25 years, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Radio timeline. The first steps in the development of radio as we know it, can be traced back to the eminent British physicist James Maxwell, who carried out much of the early research into the behaviour of electromagnetic waves. The work of Maxwell led on to experiments by Hertz (who will be well known by anybody working in radio). At the end of the 19th century, Maxwell successfully designed and built what can be regarded as the first radio transmitter. The rest, as many would say “is history”. 

 

Capabilities


Radio has had the ability to adapt and grow with the times. We are lucky to live in an incredibly fast-paced technologically advancing world, however this can sometimes be the downfall for some technology. Despite being considered a ‘Dark Art’ and quite old fashioned when compared to some of the newer tech, Radio has stood its ground well over the years.

It has done this through evolving and continuing to be useful in our modern world. Component size, for instance has decreased dramatically over the years, resulting in radio equipment being a lot more appealing to work with, and also increased the amount of applications in can be used for. Another advancement would be the distance radio can work over. The introduction of technology such as LoRa from SemTech means that products like our RF-LORA can transmit up to 16km!

 

Simplicity

As mentioned, Radio is often considered quite a ‘Dark Art’, being that it is a complex and difficult technology to work with from scratch. However, over the years products have been made available where the most complex part is already done. On many of our Radio Modules, such as our GAMMA and BRAVO for instance, there is a microprocessor on-board with the firmware on. This means that when the end user receives them, there is minimal wiring required and they are ready to use out of the box.

Check out this video to see how simple it is to use 2 BRAVO modules to make a simple remote control system…

 

Problem Solver

Radio is often considered a problem solver, as people come up with so many weird and wonderful uses for it. We often get contact by people who ask “Can I used your modules for this…?, “Do you have anything that will switch…”, “Is Radio able to…?” and 9 times out of 10 the answer is yes.

Due to the diverse nature of radio, it is used for a large variety of different challenges and even we are frequently surprised and impressed by what our customers use the products for. For instance, they have been used by a lot of special effects companies and on movie sets.

 

 

With lots planned for Radio in the future, it will continue to impress us with what it can achieve. Over the past few years with the introduction of LoRa and other similar technologies, Radio will be a big contender in our future tech, not to mention IoT. It will be exciting to see where the path leads next, and how this humble technology will continue to impact our lives. 

RF Solutions produce quality components and systems that utilise the latest RF technology to create practical solutions for a range of applications. We also offer a variety of bespoke services with friendly, dedicated customer support.
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