Over the summer, we’ve been testing implementations of a
variety of outdoor backhaul link technologies, including our own. This testing
process involved the set-up of links in a number of locations, such as
rooftops. Rooftop testing is especially relevant, as rooftops are a likely location of small cell
or metro Wi-Fi node deployment in cities. In many jurisdictions, including ours,
the commercial building code requires that the roof must be painted white to
conserve energy and reflecting sunlight, both helping to reduce global warming.
This also turns out to be a very effective way to heat anything located on the
roof, including equipment and personnel.
We quickly found that we had to limit our time on the roof
to short periods to avoid heat exhaustion. We also experienced a number of
heat-related shutdowns of our PC-based test equipment. The environmental factor
made us wonder whether a commercial city-scale deployment, where installation
and maintenance is required at any time of day, could turn into a grueling
experience.
At SiBEAM, we’ve long touted beam-forming as a way to
significantly reduce the installation and maintenance costs of wireless
backhaul links. Conventional wireless backhaul product installations require
tedious and time consuming fine-alignments, which must be repeated every time
the link goes out of alignment. Even ‘automatic’ alignment requires a truck
roll that places the alignment equipment at each node, so that the fine
alignment can be achieved. By contrast, beam-forming technology allows links to
be established instantaneously without mechanical fine-alignment during
installation and can be maintained even where conventional links might fail.
Another benefit of the beam-forming solution is the ease with which new nodes
may be added to create mesh networks, without the need to revisit existing node
locations – the network dynamically adjusts.
Aside from the financial benefits, beam-forming technology
offers a critical benefit in form of health and safety of the technicians
responsible for the installation and maintenance of these networks. These
installations are not to be undertaken lightly. Trust us - we speak from
experience.
© Lattice Semiconductor
