Disclosures: This data was collected as part of a customer request comparison of the GE MDS equipment sold by BCI Technologies and the author of this document. As a GE MDS channel partner, we believe in transparency and honesty. The comparison is done using all available information on datasheets and manuals but is subject to change. Information will be updated, and the last update is provided.
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Last revision: December 31, 2022
Written by: Phillip A. Yancey
Sales Support Manager
BCI Technologies
​ | GE | 4RF | GE SOURCE | 4RF SOURCE |
STANDARD BUILD MODELS | Large form factor: MCR | Compact Form Factor ECR | IP67 Outdoor OCU | Large form factor only: APRISA Sri | ||
REDUNDANT CHASSIS BUILD | ​Rack mountable | Hot-Swappable | Modular MDS Master Station MPRU | UNCLEAR, not available on website or datasheet. (*1) | ||
DUAL INTERFACE SUPPORT | ​YES, MCR Supports up-to 2 interfaces (NX,LN,4G/5G) plus WiFi. | NO (*1) | MCR Supports up-to 2 interfaces (NX,LN,4G/5G) plus WiFi. | SR series does not support dual interfaces. |
PRODUCT BUILD CONFIGURATOR | YES | NO | USB Terminal server add-on available. | |
INTERFACE OPTION | MCR Standard Option A: (2) 10/100 Ethernet, RJ45, (1) RS232/485 Serial, RJ45, (1) mini USB 2.0 | MCR Standard Option B (1) 10/100 Ethernet, RJ45, (2) RS232/485 Serial, RJ45 (1) mini USB 2.0 | MCR SFP Option* (2) 10/100/1000 Ethernet, RJ45, (2) RS232/485 Serial, RJ45, (1) mini USB 2.0, (1) 1000BASE-X SFP | MCR High Density Option(4) 10/100 Ethernet, RJ45, (2) RS232/485 Serial, RJ45 (1) mini USB 2.0, | ECR (1) 10/100 Ethernet, RJ45, (1) RS232/485 Serial, RJ45, (1) mini USB 2.0 | (2) 10/100 Ethernet, RJ45, (2) RS-232, RJ-45, *Optional RS-232/RS-485 port via USB Converter, (1) USB Micro type B Device port, (1) USB standard type A (host port), (1) alarm port, RJ-45. | Orbit Platform Datasheet (GEA-12781RE) | Datasheet V. 1.60 |
PUBLIC MANUAL AND SOFTWARE RESOURCES | YES, Online GE Passport which is available immediately with basic contact and email confirmation. You have access to: Application Notes, Brochures, White Papers, Manuals, Software / Firmware w/ notes, Support Documents, Product & Cyber Security Advisories, Learning Videos. - Local Distributor BCI Technologies is available for all urgency or emergency request. | NO, as of 12/5/21 a personal request for an Aprisa Sri manual on 12/2/21 to Sales and 12/3/21 to support has not been answered. | ||
PRODUCT WARRENTY | 5 Years | ​UNCLEAR, 15 Month Warranty and requires paid service level agreement for extensions. | ||
​TECHNICAL SUPPORT | Phone | E-mail | Online Forms | Technical Application Engineers | Channel Partners. | E-mail, Online Forms | ||
24/7 LOCAL PHONE SUPPORT | YES, BCI Technologies is a Local Channel Partner, and Sales and support staff can be contacted directly 24/7 | UNCLEAR, No USA number with only online access to sales and support staff available online. |
​
​​ | ​GE | 4RF | GE SOURCE | 4RF SOURCE |
PRODUCT DIMENTION | ECR- (2.1 H - 4.3 W - 4.6 D in.) - MCR - (1.75 H x 8.0 W x 4.8 D in.) | 1.63 H x 8.27 W x 5.12 D in. | Orbit Platform Datasheet (GEA-12781RE) | Datasheet V. 1.60 |
ENVRIOMENTAL & AGENCY APPROVAL | FCC Part 15, 90, 80, 101, 27, 95 , IC, EMP: MIL-STD-461G, RS105 Electro Magnetic Pulse, CLASS 1, DIV. 2,CSA C22.2 No 142-M1987 & 213-M1987, IEEE 1613, IEC 61850-3, UL GE2GE,IP 40/41- Vertical Falling Water and Pollution 3 for Dust. - EMS EN 301 489-5, EN 301 489-1, MIL-STD-810F Method 514.5, EIA RS374A, IEC 60068-2-1 Cold, IEC62262 & IEC60068-2-75 Shock, IEC 60068-2-2 Dry Heat, IEC 60068-2-2-38 Composite temperature/humidity cyclic - EN 60950 | FCC Part 15, IC, CLASS 1 DIV 2, EN 60950, ETS 300 019 Class 3.4 - Ingress Protection IP51, IEEE 1613 and IEC 61850-3 | Datasheet (GEA-12812A/E) | Datasheet V. 1.60 |
CYBER SECURITY | Tunneling: IPSec VPN compatible with Enterprise VPN concentrators - Firewall: Stateful Packet Inspection Layer 2-4, Access Control Lists, NAT - 900 unlicensed Encryption: 3DES, CBC, CTR, CCM, GCM, SHA 256/384/512 HMAC, AES-CCM 128/192/256 bit with auto key rotation through PulseNET- (AES-CCM is an NIST SP 800-38C requirement) - Authentication: EAPTLS, PSK, EAP/TLS, PKI, ike 1-2 - Certificates: X.509, SCEP, PEM, DER, RSA - Boot Security: Secure boot, Digitally signed firmware - FIPS 140-2 - (Level 2) certified (Federal Information Processing Standards is a mandatory standard for the protection of sensitive or valuable data within Federal systems.)Tamper Detection: Magnetometer - User Authentication: Local RBAC, AAA/RADIUS, 802.1x | Tunneling: none. - Firewall: Layer 2-4, Access Control Lists, NAT - 900 unlicensed Encryption: AES-CCM 128 or 192 / 256 (AES-CCM is an NIST SP 800-38C requirement) Authentication: Over the air rekeying (OTAR) - Enhanced security key management via over-the-air re-keying enables users to change the network encryption keys at regular intervals. Encryption key distribution is managed through the web based SuperVisor. - Certificates: DER - Boot Security: None - FIPS: None (Federal Information Processing Standards is a mandatory standard for the protection of sensitive or valuable data within Federal systems.) Tamper Detection: None | ​ | ​ |
NIST / CISA SECURITY RISK | ​NO TELNET ACCESS, NO USB "Host Port" -Telnet is a unencrypted unsecure text based protocol, USB Host ports may allow unsecure root access, Malware, and Malicious Macro attacks | TELNET, USB "Host Port" - Telnet is unencrypted unsecured text based protocol, USB Host ports could allow unsecure root device access and increased risk for Malware and Malicious Macro attacks. - USB Standard type A (host port) | ||
POWER INPUT VOLTAGE | ​10 - 60 VDC 4.5 A Max | ​10 - 30 VDC | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 467 | ​Datasheet V. 1.60 |
REMOTE POWER CONSUMPTION | ​3.2W (235mA @ 13.8 V) - associated, idle/Typical - 5.0 W (365mA @ 13.8 V) - associated, 50% duty - Maximum 5.3 W (385mA @ 13.8V) ** Lower then current Inet-II consumption | ​< 4.5 W (326 mA @ 13.8 VDC) in active receive state. - <2.0 W (145 mA at 13.8 VDC) in idle receive state - 0.5 W (36 mA at 13.8 VDC) in sleep mode | ​Datasheet (GEA-12812A/E) & Manual page 467 | ​Datasheet V. 1.60 |
WIRELESS PROTOCAL | ​FHSS - (Frequency-hopping spread spectrum) - DTS - ( Distributed transmission system) | ​Proprietary FHSS - (Unknown Proprietary Frequency-hopping spread spectrum) | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 106 | ​Datasheet V. 1.60 |
OPERATING MODES: | ​Access Point, Remote, Store & Forward | ​Access Point, Remote | ​Datasheet (GEA-12812A/E) | ​Datasheet V. 1.60 |
DATA RATES/SENSITIVITY | ​Patent pending proprietary design, advanced interference avoidance, error detection, retransmission, auto repeat guaranteed collision free data, and dynamic fragmentation | ​UNCLEAR, LIMITED, Advanced access control MAC delivers more usable throughput and reduced latency. | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 21 | ​Datasheet V. 1.60 |
PRODUCT TESTING / QUAILITY ASSURANCE | ​HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) & HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screen Development | ​UNKNOWN | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 64 | ​Datasheet V. 1.60, https://www.4rf.com/products/aprisa-sr-family/smart-design |
TRANSPARENT SERIAL | Direct connection between serial interfaces for low-overhead serial transport. Unlike terminal server operation there is no need to convert the serial data to IP. - | ​UNCLEAR, Legacy RS-232 transport | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 67 | ​Datasheet V. 1.60 |
SERIAL PROTOCAL/MODES | ​TCP server, Modbus/TCP, Modbus RTU, TCP client, UDP Unicast and Multicast, BSAP, and DNP3 | ​Mirrored Bits, SLIP and Terminal Server | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 64 | ​Datasheet V. 1.60 |
​EMBEDDED REMOTE DIAGNOSITCS | ​Proprietary low bandwidth Remote Sync facilitates collection of remote status items at the corresponding Access Point. Include the running firmware revision, device name, system temperature, alarm status, hops, MAC, IP address and quality indicators (downstream RSSI, LQI, EVM, SNR, upstream RSSI, EVM, SNR, LQI) - Data can be viewed locally at the AP or collected via PulseNET. - Ad-hoc network discovery with multiple synchronization methods. - Local LED diagnostics. | ​UNCLEAR, Partial diagnostic via LED, and Local test button. - SSH and HTTP/S over-the-air remote element management with control / diagnostics. | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 199 | https://www.4rf.com/products/aprisa-sr-family/supervisor - Datasheet V. 1.60 |
REMOTE MANAGEMENT & BROADCAST SUPPORT | ​Remote Management Service transparently connect clients using a web proxy for minimum bandwidth on narrow channel, NX and LN interfaces. It intercepts remote web connections, establishes a secure proxy connection allowing only essential data to go over the air. The local unit handles most of the work providing significantly fact access time. It can also facilitate broadcast firmware update, certificate update. | ​NO/UNCLEAR, Local element management via HTTPS and remote element management over the air, and SNMP support. | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 349 | https://www.4rf.com/products/aprisa-sr-family/smart-managment - Datasheet V. 1.60 |
​NETWORK MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE | ​SNMP - v1 / v2c /v3 - SNMP Traps/informs - v1 traps / v2c/v3 traps and informs. - PulseNET Standard Network Management Software included with every purchase. - MIBs available - PulseNET Enterprise also available on upgrade. | ​UNCLEAR, SuperVisor- provides local power, time and date, port settings and security parameters, RSSI, Firmware. Third party network management software - SNMP v2 / V3 - MIBS available | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 368 | https://www.4rf.com/products/aprisa-sr-family/supervisor - Datasheet V. 1.60 |
​CONFIGURABLE WEB INTERFANCE | ​Proprietary Device Manager pull-down Operating mode Web Menus - Basic: Radio-centric view, layer-2 switch with bridging, VLAN operation. Simple and intuitive menus including simple basic firewall rules and operating functionality. Advanced: fully featured Industrial router with layer 2/3/4 functionality. Expanding and collapsing subset of configurations.
| ​UNCLEAR, Selectable L2 bridge, L3 Router, or Advanced gateway router combination L2/L3 modes. | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 41 | https://www.4rf.com/products/aprisa-sr-family/supervisor - Datasheet V. 1.60 |
​DEVICE MANAGEMENT | ​HTTP/S, Secure Shell (SSH), Local serial console, USB, NETCONF, & Command Line Interface (CLI) - 3 User accounts/roles for management access: admin, tech, oper. - Users can be centrally managed with RADIUS or TACACS+ server. RADIUS Authentication w/EAP for ETH and ETH2 interfaces. Either EAP or MAB mode can be configured. The Orbit blocks all traffic (except EAP frames) until it can authenticate the peer with the RADIUS authentication server. - Local data serial ports using +++ can be temporary converted to console port for local access. | ​UNCLEAR, Secure Shell (SSH), HTTP/S with full control / diagnostics. USB micro type B (device port) USB Standard type A (host port) - 1x Alarm port (rj45) | ​MDS Orbit MCR/ECR Technical Mechanical Manual (05-6632A01 Rev. L) Page 546, 39, 210 | https://www.4rf.com/products/aprisa-sr-family/supervisor - Datasheet V. 1.60 |
*1 - Product Manual request sent via website and email to 4RF sales and 4RF Technical support resulted in verbal denial of resource access and request. Limited information was obtainable and collected via datasheet and wiki.