Punctuating the onset of narrowband personal communications services, Motorola Inc.’s new InFLEXion messaging protocol is among a family of protocols the company expects to become the new paging standard.
Distinguished by its voice and two-way data capabilities, speed, capacity and frequency reuse, InFLEXion reportedly is the most intelligent of a family of transport protocols, which includes the FLEX base protocol, ReFLEX 25 and ReFLEX 50. Each protocol is designed to meet specific market needs, Motorola said.
VoiceNow, developed by Paging Network Inc. and Motorola’s Advanced Messaging Systems Division, will be the first InFLEXion-based product, according to Don Shirley, PageNet’s director of advanced wireless technology. Shirley described VoiceNow as “an answering machine in your pocket,” recording and transmitting a sender’s voice message to the user. InFLEXion also will accommodate video applications.
FLEX is a one-way paging protocol transmitting at 6,400 bits per second, faster than rival standard POCSAG, which transmits at 2,400 bps. Motorola said it already has 15 different FLEX contracts worldwide.
The ReFLEX protocols jump a step beyond one-way paging, enabling message acknowledgement, customized response and downloading files to a computer. Motorola’s Tango pager uses the ReFLEX protocol.
ReFLEX 25 transmits at 6,400 bps on a 25 kHz channel and ReFLEX 50, packs four reduced-deviation FLEX carriers into the linear channel at 50 kHz. Outbound messages travel at 25,600 bps; responses at 9,600 bps.
InFLEXion transports data on up to 7 linear channels at 112,000 bps at 50 kHz and 240,000 bps at 100 kHz. Not only are ReFLEX and InFLEXion said to be faster than other messaging protocols and capable of a variety of new applications, they provide monetary efficiencies by reusing frequency. Traditionally, pagers have had to search for a broadcast signal saying a message was sent, draining the battery in the process. With ReFLEX and InFLEXion, pagers are signaled directly by transmitters in a smaller area.
Motorola’s Advanced Messaging Systems Division was assembled last year within the Paging Products Group to focus on developing advanced paging protocols, infrastructure and end-user devices for narrowband PCS, the company said. Both InFLEXion and ReFLEX were born from this process, developed in conjunction with companies aiming to win nationwide narrowband PCS licenses in the Federal Communications Commission auctions.
Glenayre Technologies Inc. is licensed by Motorola to design and manufacture infrastructure equipment, incorporating InFLEXion and ReFLEX, for narrowband PCS. The two companies also have agreed to standardize some key interface points in their equipment.
Mobile Telecommunications Technology Corp., through its subsidiary, Destineer Corp. plans to build its PCS network based on ReFLEX 25.
Wireless Access Inc. also has been licensed to use ReFLEX 50 technology in its nationwide narrowband PCS network.
