ISM Radio Bands

ISM Band Antennas for the ISM Frequency Bands

When the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) defined the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) frequency bands in 1947, they intended not to support communication. Instead, the ITU designated those bands to accommodate a wide range of services that use or produce an RF signal. Indeed, the ITU said the purpose of the ISM bands was to operate equipment or appliances designed to generate and use locally radio frequency energy for industrial, scientific, medical, domestic, or similar purposes, excluding applications in the field of telecommunications. [1]

Types of ISM Applications

Today, microwave ovens, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (both 2.4 and 5.7 GHz), cordless phones, RF heating devices, RFID readers, garage door openers, Zigbee, NFC (near field communication), M2M (machine-to-machine) communication, IoT devices, and even implantable medical devices all operate in one or more of the many ISM frequency bands.

Moreover, broadcasting in the ISM bands requires no license. That fact and the worldwide digital transformation underway for the past two decades has made ISM one of the fastest-growing segments in the radio spectrum.

ISM Band Antenna Choices for Environment, Frequency, and Gain

Whether you need ISM band antennas for a new project in an industrial or harsh outdoor environment or are replacing wired technologies with wireless, Westward Sales carries ISM band antennas from trusted manufacturers for the most in-demand segments of the ISM bands. For instance, the Mobile Mark ECO5-2400 is an omnidirectional Wi-Fi antenna that offers 5 dBi gain and requires no ground plane. In addition, it’s tuned for the 2.4 to 2.5 GHz band, has a fiberglass radome, and the weatherproof design promises solid performance for both indoor and outdoor installations.

Where more gain is needed, the ECO12-5800RN omnidirectional Wi-Fi antenna delivers 12 dBi gain on the 5.7 GHz band, while the ECO5-915 is designed for ISM applications on the 902 MHz band. For those applications that require a directional antenna, the YAG8-925N Yagi ISM antenna offers 10.6 dBi gain with a front-to-back ratio of 18 dB and withstands winds up to 125 MPH. The HD3-915 is a low-profile heavy-duty ISM and LoRa WAN antenna that provides 3 dBi omnidirectional gain and delivers a VSWR < 2.0:1 over the entire 902-928 MHz band. It’s designed for fixed M2M applications such as where smart factories monitor production equipment for predictive maintenance, where banks monitor their ATMs to keep them adequately stocked with cash, and where products are tagged with RFID tags for inventory management. A Mobile Mark HD3-868 ISM band antenna carries the exact specifications but uses the 868 MHz band used in the European Union.

ISM Frequency Bands
 

Contact us to Learn More

If you have not purchased from Westward Sales before, you’ll find that our sales engineers know how to match products to your specifications quickly and accurately. We offer rapid response and on-site support as needed. Whether you need a standard or a custom solution, we are ready to configure a wireless networking solution for your project. Contact a knowledgeable representative today!

Sources
[1] ISM Radio Bands