By Donny Jackson
Plum Laboratories recently announced the Plum Venture SR, a Starlink-ready Plum case that integrates a Starlink standard or GEN3 antenna with Plum’s antenna-array and power-bank capabilities.
Plum Laboratories Owner and Lead Director Asha Moran said the Plum Venture SR enhances the company’s Plum Venture product by leveraging connectivity from the Starlink low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, in addition to cellular connectivity.
“You can have a fast signal and have it be always on, because you can have cellular and Starlink,” Moran said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “In the case, you can support up to four carriers—two at a time—and Starlink. And you can actually load balance between Starlink and cellular, if you want to. The case can tell you where the strongest signal is and connect there. So, you’re not dependent on one cellular or Starlink signal exclusively.”
Users need to ensure that the cellular SIM cards and a Starlink data plan are activated, but the deployment process is very straightforward and takes just minutes, according to Moran.
“It’s literally just plug it in and press the button,” she said.
Once operational, the Plum Venture SR leverages the company’s proprietary power bank to support communications for an extended period of time, Moran said.
“Depending on which version of standard Starlink, we have a Plum SR cable, where you plug one end into the [Starlink] dish and one end into the Plum Venture SR case, and the data and the power moves over that cable,” Moran said. “So, you no longer need the Starlink router or any kind of Starlink power supply.
“What we have done is leverage the Plum power band and created a whole new electrical system that uses … DC to DC circuitry. So, we don’t have to convert DC to AC and then AC back to DC, which allows us to save about 30% efficiency, which allows us to power that Starlink for up to 10 hours. If you’re not using Starlink, you can power the cellular portion of the Plum case for up to 56 hours.”
Moran also cited has some notable management features in the company’s new offering.
“When you’re using the Starlink through the Venture SR Plum case, you also have a single point of management of your signals,” Moran said. “You have higher security, and you can use a single logon—you don’t have to have a separate Wi-Fi network with Starlink, cellular or whatever it might be.”
“For some folks, the security is a really big issue.”
Plum Laboratories’ antenna array is designed to support broadband links in even remote locations, according to Moran.
“We use discreet, very-high-gain omnidirectional antennas,” she said. “We’ve spent a lot of time testing and prototyping to make sure that they are positioned and paired to maximize the signal strength for cellular [communications].
“We support up to two 4×4 MIMO modems. So, there are a lot of antennas, but they’re all specialists, so we really can maximize the cellular reach of the case—we have validated results of up to 42 miles from the cellular tower with our antenna array. And we have tested our Wi-Fi broadcast speed … and we can get consistent upload and download speeds up to about 300 feet from the Plum case, and our testing has shown that those speeds are up to four times faster than other portable solutions on the market.”
Moran said Plum Laboratories is accepting pre-orders of the Plum Venture SR now and expects to begin shipping the product at the end of April or early in May.
