In recent years, with the development of communication technology and the improvement of living standards, more and more unmanned vending machines have appeared in public areas such as stations, ports, and airports, bringing great shopping convenience to people who are traveling outside. Since unmanned vending machines are often located in public areas with large crowds and need to adjust installation locations periodically based on customer flow, traditional wired network connections are clearly unable to meet such application scenarios. Therefore, the use of suction cup antennas for data communication has gradually become popular and has become a standard equipment for unmanned vending machines. The Beidou GPS positioning antenna and 4G communication antenna for sales data transmission, RF connectors and other products developed and produced by Kinghelm are widely used in unmanned vending machines on the streets!

Technical Challenge

As a well-known manufacturer and seller of unmanned vending machines in the industry, Kinghelm's customers have always been renowned for their high-performance, reliable and user-friendly products. Recently, the customer has been developing a new series of vending machines, which not only provide a more convenient operating system and larger storage capacity, but also emphasize the creation of a safe and stable communication system. As the main component of the communication system, the suction cup antenna is particularly important. Choosing a product with good standing wave ratio, high efficiency, higher gain and longer transmission distance is a difficult challenge facing the R&D personnel.

Kinghelm's positioning antenna solution

After understanding the customer's needs, Kinghelm's technical team actively communicated with the customer to help find a solution. After repeated evaluations, they ultimately recommended the KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna to the customer. Kinghelm's core technical team comes from Tsinghua University and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, with a deep understanding of RF microwave technology. The solution they provided received high praise from the customer!

The KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna from Kinghelm has a standing wave ratio of ≤2.0. Typically, vending machines are located indoors, and the presence of various indoor decorations, reinforced structures, and buildings greatly affects the communication efficiency of the antenna. Frequent communication dropouts during use not only affect the customer's purchasing experience but also increase the manufacturer's maintenance costs. However, the KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna, with its excellent standing wave ratio parameter and better efficiency than other similar antennas, can provide stable and reliable communication transmission, allowing customers to experience fast purchasing experiences while also reducing the need for frequent maintenance due to poor connectivity.

The KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna from Kinghelm has a gain of ≥2 dBi. Generally, with the same antenna transmitting power, a larger dBi value corresponds to higher gain and longer transmission distance. The customer had previously experienced communication failures with the previous generation product when the vending machine was placed in a remote location such as a high-speed railway station. After troubleshooting, it was found that the small gain of the antenna resulted in a limited transmission distance and the back-end server could not receive the signal. With the KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna, the problem of limited transmission distance can be solved, allowing vending machines to be placed at longer distances, making it more convenient for passengers and reducing the disconnection problem caused by poor communication.

In addition, the KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna from Kinghelm uses a vertical polarization and has omnidirectional radiation, which can operate stably in an environment of -40~+80℃. The internal conductor and shell are made of gold-plated brass, and the characteristic impedance is 50Ω. It uses an SMA gold-plated straight male head and is fixed to the base by a magnet, making it safe and firmly attached to the vending machine shell, while also being flexible to relocate.

 Kinghelm's KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna 

Kinghelm's achievements and benefits

The KH-2400-2M-XP suction cup antenna from Kinghelm has excellent standing wave ratio, better gain, higher efficiency, and longer transmission distance, fully meeting the design requirements of the customer's new series of vending machines. It greatly improves the reliability and stability of the vending machine communication system, enhances the market competitiveness of the customer's products!

Kinghelm RF Connector Promotional Brochure (International Version) 

Kinghelm Company Profile

Currently, Kinghelm has become one of the rapidly developing enterprises in the domestic information industry. Under the leadership of Mr. Song Shiqiang, Kinghelm Electronics has steadily expanded and increased its market share despite adverse conditions in 2022. In the future, the company will actively promote the "domestic substitution" of high-end connectors and provide solutions to address difficult issues such as technology blockade by foreign companies for the country. Mr. Song Shiqiang, the founder of Kinghelm, is a researcher at the Private Economy Research Center of the State Council's Development Research Center, a member of the Electronic Information Expert Pool of the China Association for Science and Technology, a columnist, and a business research expert at Huaqiangbei. He invests in and manages Shenzhen SlkorMicro Semicon Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Kinghelm Electronics Co., Ltd., creating the "SLKOR" and "Kinghelm" brands respectively. Both Slkor and Kinghelm are national high-tech enterprises with dozens of original invention patents and software copyrights. Slkor is one of the rapidly growing semiconductor enterprises in China, with a vision to become the "leader of domestic semiconductor enterprises".