ruckus outdoor mesh network

Ruckus Wireless, Inc. 880 West Maude Avenue, Suite #101 Sunnyvale, CA 94085 v2011-04-06

Best Practices: Outdoor Mesh

Table of Contents

Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Mesh AP vs. Bridge vs. Access Point ............................................................................................. 5 When to use mesh vs. bridge ...................................................................................................................... 5

Ruckus-supported mesh APs .......................................................................................................... 5

Supported Topologies ............................................................................................................. 7

Standard Mesh ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Hybrid Mesh .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Mesh bridging ....................................................................................................................................... 9

Mesh Performance ................................................................................................................ 10

Choosing the right equipment ..................................................................................................... 10 Radio selection .................................................................................................................................. 10 Bridging with a wireless mesh .................................................................................................... 11 Mesh link distance ........................................................................................................................... 11 Mesh hops ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Tree depth ....................................................................................................................................................... 12 Throughput & Latency ............................................................................................................................... 12

AP mounting and installation ...................................................................................................... 13 Fresnel Zones ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Vertical coverage model ............................................................................................................................ 14 Horizontal coverage model ...................................................................................................................... 14 Covering hard to reach areas .................................................................................................................. 15

Site Location ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Outdoor Coverage ........................................................................................................................................ 16

Clients in a Mesh Environment ......................................................................................... 20

Capacity ............................................................................................................................................... 20 The Affect of Single vs. Dual-radio on Capacity ............................................................................... 20 Data .................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Video .................................................................................................................................................................. 21 Voice .................................................................................................................................................................. 21

Client coverage .................................................................................................................................. 21

External Antennas ................................................................................................................. 23

Wireless Broadband Access (WBA) Planning .............................................................. 24

Calculator highlights ....................................................................................................................... 24 Calculator tutorial: Horizontal .................................................................................................... 25 Calculator tutorial: Vertical.......................................................................................................... 26

Best Practices: Outdoor Mesh |3

Copyright © 2011 Ruckus Wireless, Inc.

OVERVIEW

In most cases, wireless LANs are seen as an additional connection method for clients to gain

access to wired network resources. The AP provides this accessibility because it has both a wired

connection and a radio. But what happens if there is no wired network connection available?

Without direct, wired network access, can we still deploy wireless and gain some connectivity?

Wireless mesh is an excellent way to provide wireless coverage in areas where wired AP

connections are unfeasible. If power is available, a wireless mesh can be installed. Mesh APs

work because client traffic is transmitted via a wireless link with another an upstream AP. Traffic

travels these links until it reaches an AP that is directly connected to the wired network.

Figure 1: Wireless mesh networking

4 | Best Practices: Outdoor Mesh


Devices within a wireless mesh network are divided into several roles:

Mesh Node (A, B, C, D)

Any ZoneFlex AP with mesh capability enabled

Root AP (A)

Communicates with the ZoneDirector through

an Ethernet interface

Mesh AP (B, C, D)

Communicates with the ZoneDirector through

a wireless LAN interface (via mesh uplink)

Mesh Link (A-B, A-C, C-D)

Wireless mesh connection between two mesh nodes

Mesh Uplink (D to C)

Client station to AP relationship

Mesh Downlink (C to D)

AP to client relationship

Mesh Neighbor

Other mesh nodes that are visible to an AP

Other key concepts include the mesh tree and hop count. A mesh tree is the tree-like structure

formed by interconnected mesh nodes. A mesh tree always has a root AP at the base of the

structure. All other mesh nodes in a tree are downlinks from the root AP.

The hop count refers to the number of links between the root AP and a specific mesh AP or

client.1 When designing a mesh network, it is recommended that no more than three hops be

used. This ensures good overall performance within the mesh.

1 The maximum hop count supported by Ruckus is 8.



MESH AP VS. BRIDGE VS. ACCESS POINT A WiFi AP is designed to connect wireless clients to a network. A mesh AP is similar; it also

connects wireless clients. Unlike a wired AP, a mesh AP does not have a connection to the wired

backbone. Therefore it transports wireless clients through one of its radios to an upstream AP.

The upstream AP can be another mesh AP or a wired (root) AP.

A wireless mesh can also be compared to a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless bridge;

both transport backbone data over the wireless. A mesh network differs from a bridge in that it

is not typically designed as a fixed installation – i.e. the mesh topology can change dynamically

as needed. A mesh network also introduces some latency and throughput reduction after the

first mesh hop. This is unlike a bridge, which is considered lossless and incurs no necessary

throughput costs for a bridge link.

WHEN TO USE MESH VS. BRIDGE Since both configurations can produce similar results, the deciding factor should be based on

overall goals and future needs. The following are good rules to follow.

Use a bridge instead of wireless mesh when:

Only need to connect two locations

Link distance is greater than 300m-400m

Low latency is required, e.g. voice

Point-to-Multipoint is needed but would require a very large beamwidth at the root

Client access support is not required

Consider the use of a wireless mesh when:

Need to connect multiple locations (point-to-multipoint, multi-point to multipoint)

Link distances are short

Client access is required

LoS is difficult to achieve

RUCKUS-SUPPORTED MESH APS Almost all Ruckus ZoneFlex APs support wireless meshing with SmartMesh intelligent mesh

technology. Ruckus makes no distinction between a root AP and a mesh AP at the hardware

level - any AP in a mesh can have any mesh role. A mesh node’s role is determined by its

connectivity and throughput compared to other mesh nodes rather than the AP model. The

single exception to this rule is the radio type.



Another important issue is radio compatibility. A wireless mesh must consist of APs with the

same type radios. You cannot have a wireless mesh with different type radios.

Mesh Radio Type Compatible AP Models

802.11bg (2.4 GHz mesh) ZoneFlex 2942/2741

802.11bgn (2.4 GHz mesh) ZoneFlex 7942/7343/7341

802.11an (5 GHz mesh) ZoneFlex 7962/7363/7762 (all models)

A mesh AP can be single radio or dual-radio. In the case of dual-radio APs, the wireless mesh is

always run on the 5 GHz radio. A single radio AP will share its radio with other mesh APs and

wireless clients.

If different radio types are required within the same WLAN, mesh functionality should be

disabled on the APs that cannot participate in the mesh.2

2 If APs with different radio types are installed on the same WLAN, wireless mesh will not come

up until only one radio type is enabled for mesh.



SUPPORTED TOPOLOGIES

Ruckus Wireless supports the following mesh topologies with SmartMesh:

Standard mesh

Hybrid mesh

Bridge mesh

STANDARD MESH The simplest mesh configuration is a standard mesh that takes full advantage of SmartMesh

automatic configuration and self-healing. With automatic SmartMesh, a wireless mesh auto-

forms to create an optimal uplink topology that is load-balanced across as many root APs as

possible. In a standard configuration, each AP’s mesh role is determined automatically.3

Figure 2: Standard Mesh Topology

Since mesh role is automatically assigned, care should be taken during planning to make sure

excessively long mesh hops are unlikely to occur. Mesh stability is also particularly important:

3 For more information on SmartMesh and how it works, please see XXXXX.



constant changes to the mesh (AP or Ethernet link goes/down up) will force constant topology

reformation. Since the wireless network is offline during topology calculations, instability has a

huge impact on overall performance and reliability.

HYBRID MESH Unlike a standard mesh, a hybrid mesh uses wired connections to extend the mesh. Normally,

an AP with a wired connection would be a root AP. But in this case, the wired connection does

not connect to the main network. If an AP has a wired link, but is unable to directly

communicate with the ZoneDirector via that link, SmartMesh assigns it a hybrid role called

eMAP.

Figure 3: Hybrid Mesh Topology

A hybrid mesh has the advantage of extending the mesh without the cost of an additional hop.

It’s also key for any large mesh network. Very large mesh networks are more likely to encounter

RF interference on the mesh channel at some point. Hybrid mesh topologies allow the mesh

beyond the eMAP to use a difference channel. This makes the mesh more resilient and agile;

particularly in cases where potential interference is expected.



Figure 4: Hybrid Mesh Channel Reuse

MESH BRIDGING A mesh bridge is somewhat similar to a true point-to-point bridge – both take traffic from one

side of a network and transport it to another. A bridge is purpose designed for this task; a mesh

AP can do a similar function as within the limits of mesh topology.

Figure 5: Mesh Bridge Example

Unlike bridging, in which each bridge link incurs no performance cost; a mesh bridge is still

considered a one hop (or more) mesh. Like all mesh networks, performance is determined in

part by the number of hops.



MESH PERFORMANCE

Regardless of the topology you choose, some general rules for optimal performance apply

regardless of configuration differences. Care should be taken to follow these guidelines for

location, mounting,

CHOOSING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT The Ruckus solution portfolio includes a range of products geared towards specific applications.

Selecting the right product is key to good design, scalability and performance.

Figure 6: Equipment Selection Guidelines

Which device is right for your project depends on the design requirements, performance, and

budget.

RADIO SELECTION One of the most important choices when designing a mesh is the mesh node AP hardware. As

mentioned earlier, all mesh nodes must share the same radio type for the mesh. If dual-radio

APs are used, this will always be the 5 GHz radio. Single radio APs will necessarily use their 2.4

GHz radio (802.11g or 802.11gn).



If there is a lot of background RF interference, it may be a good idea to use a radio that is

subject to less interference for the mesh. This is typically the 5 GHz spectrum which has more

channels to choose from.

When to use 2.4 GHz

Little to no noise in 2.4 GHz spectrum

Need to penetrate large walls and/or

foliage

Require longer distances

5 GHz is not reliable/available due to DFS

restrictions

When to use 5 GHz

very noisy 2.4 GHz spectrum

using dual-radio APs

mostly Line of Sight (LoS)

If a longer distance is required, a 2.4 GHz radio will give greater range. A 2.4 GHz radio is also a

better choice is there are obstructions such as trees. This radio will penetrate obstacles much

better than the 5 GHz radio.

BRIDGING WITH A WIRELESS MESH Some mesh topologies may require the use of wireless bridges as well as mesh nodes. Bridges

are ideal for helping to span long distances within the mesh, preserving and injecting additional

bandwidth into the mesh, allowing the use of root APs over the air, e.g. via a bridge backhaul

rather than a wired connection.

MESH LINK DISTANCE Distance between mesh nodes is a critical factor in overall performance. Signal quality and

throughput decrease as distance increases. Ruckus Wireless provides tools to help estimate

expected performance of different model APs by distance, number of walls and client type (AP

or wireless client). The AP performance estimator is available online at

http://www.ruckuswireless.com/tools/performance-calculator.4

Although other factors may impact these numbers, it’s still a good idea to use this calculator as a

starting point and rough guide during the planning phase. When building a mesh network,

always plan for the weakest client (laptop, smartphone, wireless CPE). The distance between

two mesh nodes should not exceed two times (2x) the distance between the client device and a

4 Note: the calculator assumes internal antenna use only.

http://www.ruckuswireless.com/tools/performance-calculator



mesh node. If there are no clients planned, a bridge may be a better option and is

recommended.

MESH HOPS The unique feature of a mesh network is the ability to backhaul APs wireless through other

mesh nodes. This allows for great flexibility in deployments. This flexibility does come with some

considerations when planning the maximum number of mesh hops.

TREE DEPTH In a purely mesh, dual-radio environment (no eMAP), Ruckus recommends no more than 1 or 2

mesh hops for high capacity or high throughput applications. For simple coverage extension and

low bandwidth applications, a tree depth of up to 3 hops is acceptable provided there are good

links between the mesh nodes.

Care should be taken in the case of the 2741, which is a single radio AP. In a mesh environment,

this AP must support both clients and mesh links on the same radio.

Ruckus supports a maximum tree depth of 8: one root AP and up to 7 mesh APs in a single series.

Realistically, few deployments should ever approach this number.

THROUGHPUT & LATENCY For each hop through the same radio (no eMAP or client), the throughput is approximately

halved5. This assumes the connection rate is the same for each hop is the same.

Figure 7: Multi-hop Potential Throughput Example

Not only do hops affect throughput, they impact latency as well. Assuming all mesh nodes are

within recommended distances, you can expect a latency increase of approximately 10-15ms

per hop. This may or may not be a critical concern; it is largely determined by the application.

5 This is a limitation of all WiFi mesh networks.



For example, most data applications (web, email) are not sensitive to minor latency increases.

Other applications, such as VoIP are very sensitive. A voice connection requires a minimum

latency time (from the client to the core) of 150ms. So even though the voice application does

not require a large amount of bandwidth, the latency requirement will constrain the ultimate

number of hops within the mesh.

AP MOUNTING AND INSTALLATION It is extremely important to mount APs in the correct position. An incorrectly aligned or

positioned AP can result in signal loss and a decrease in coverage area. Since there is no reason

to give up performance if possible, it’s worth spending time considering how the AP is mounted

as well as its orientation.

The optimal mounting orientation for an AP is dome down or facing the target coverage area.

For example, if the coverage area is relatively horizontal, dome down is idea. If coverage tends

more towards vertical, mounting the AP dome facing out would give a better range. If mounting

APs on a building, you may consider a small inward tilt.

Figure 8: AP Orientation for Maximum Horizontal Reach

Figure 9: AP Orientation for Maximum Vertical Reach



With respect to APs that are providing direct client coverage, we divide these into two different

models: horizontal vs. vertical. Vertical coverage is designed to cover the windows of

apartments from APs at the top of the building. Horizontal coverage is engineered towards low-

rise neighborhoods and provides blanket coverage from light poles or similar mounting assets

throughout the area.

FRESNEL ZONES Calculating and installing for the correct Fresnel zone is extremely important. Even an obstacle

as small as the dome covering a light on a light pole can impinge on the Fresnel zone and impact

performance. To avoid these kinds of issues, always plan for some clearance; when mounting to

the side of a building, allow for horizontal clearance of about 1m. For rooftop installations, a

vertical clearance of about 1m should also be used – or whatever is required to avoid

obstruction of the first Fresnel zone.

VERTICAL COVERAGE MODEL The vertical model, as the name implies, is intended for situations

in which the client devices are directly below the AP mounting

points. This is ideal for dense population areas such as tall

apartment buildings in an urban landscape.

APs are either mounted directly facing dome down or are tilted at

an angle. The angle is based on the actual mounting location. For

example, an AP mounted directly on top of a tall building is

providing broadband access to residents inside the building. You

might install the AP so it is hanging perfectly downward. But if this

takes design would provide coverage outside the building at the expense of

interior coverage. Instead, the AP might hang out and away from the building and use a slight

tilt inward to maximize the signal inside the building.

HORIZONTAL COVERAGE MODEL

A more suburban or rural area would

typically do better with a horizontal coverage model. APs are best mounted higher than the

average roofline that precludes the apartment style top down, outside in, approach. Higher

mounting locations include utility poles, towers, hills and other tall structures.



Figure 10: Horizontal Coverage Model

COVERING HARD TO REACH AREAS In both cases, the realities of wireless physics limit just how far the RF signal will propagate from

the outside to the inside. Buildings with high attenuation construction materials may block the

RF enough to produce some dead spots inside. Or the building may simply be too large to reach

all of the way inside. With enough APs these problems could probably be addressed but at a

substantial cost as related to the amount of space covered.

In these cases Carrier Premise Equipment (CPE) is very useful in reducing the number of APs

required for coverage, and for repeating the signal throughout the inside of a residence.

Ruckus offers a range of CPEs to extend an outdoor WLAN inside. The MediaFlex series of

products offers a CPE that connects to the outdoor WiFi network as its uplink to the Internet.

The device can then, in turn, repeat the signal or even broadcast a different SSID inside the

residence. These devices also offer bridged Ethernet ports that allow wired devices to connect

as well.

Figure 11: MediaFlex 2211 and 7211 CPE



SITE LOCATION One of the first things that must occur in any outdoor installation is choosing the right location

for the APs and bridges. Location is highly dependent on the particular geographic area. A more

urban environment can have very different location options and restrictions than a rural project.

In general, outdoor APs are mounted at least 5m from the ground and much higher may be

required. Any potential location must include:

Power source (PoE or 12V)

Installation point (pole, vertical/horizontal flat surface)

Line of Sight (LoS) or Near LoS to the upstream APs

LoS or Near LoS to the coverage area (clients)

Accessibility (for installation and future touch)

OUTDOOR COVERAGE If the main goal of the project is coverage for outdoor clients, a number of issues must be

addressed.

Where are the clients? Inside? Outside? Streets? Streets plus

structures? Parks?

Where should the APs be installed? High? Low? Vertical? Horizontal?

What types of structures are available? Buildings? Towers? Light poles?

Power options? PoE? 12V?

What network connectivity is available? (root

APs and root bridges only)

Ethernet? Fiber? Satellite?

What is the maximum distance the design

requires for hops?

Determined by previous Error! Reference

source not found..

Street Coverage

If coverage is primarily along streets, a simple diamond-shaped structure can be used to mark

ideal locations. This type of pattern places APs in a staggered fashion down the street.



Alternating APs ensures there are enough root APs as well as mesh APs available at any given

point. This design is well suited to redundancy as well.

Figure 12: Diamond-pattern Street Coverage

The diamond pattern model assumes coverage is possible from one side of the road to the other.

If, for some reason, an AP on one side of the street cannot cover the opposite side, an alternate

location or additional APs should be considered.

If coverage areas are separated by long stretches of road, a bridge link is a good way to span

these distances without the cost of another mesh hop or the shorter distance limitation.



Figure 13: Point-to-Point Bridging on Streets

It is not always possible to get location sites that exactly match this pattern. In this case look for

possible alternatives:

Try to find a different location that is nearby and has similar height/LoS/etc.

Different antenna options, or mounting heights and orientation.

Do not try to use a site that is not near the ideal location unless you know it has the same

characteristics (distance from other nodes, height, LoS).

If you cannot guarantee the alternate location meets all requires, find a different location. If a

good alternate solution is not available, change the design and use a different path through the

area.

Line of Sight (LoS)

Although it has already been discussed, the importance of a clear line of sight (LoS) with no

more than 60% of the first Fresnel zone obstructed cannot be stressed enough. Do not rely on

memory or visual (eyeball) sighting. Make sure you know the exact distance between two

locations, the exact mounting height and the height of any obstructions in between.

If a good LoS is not possible, consider raising the mounting height or try a different location. If

you do choose to raise the mount height, make sure the link budgets (especially for clients) will

allow for the extra distance. Mounting an AP higher seems like a good solution, but if you place

it so high the weaker clients such as smartphones can’t connect, it’s not a good solution. Such a

design error could cause more problems in the long run than it solves short term.



Power

All APs and bridges require power. A unit can be powered by either Power over Ethernet (PoE)

via a CAT5 cable or 12V from a direct current power source such as a battery. Selection of a site

location must ensure there is enough power available to run the unit. In particular, there should

be enough power to run the unit under all conditions and 100% of the time. Some locations may

have power but not all of the time: for example, a park where lights are turned off at night. The

same is also true of 12V: a solar charged battery must have sufficient storage and sunlight hours

to provide continuous power.

Always consult the documentation for the particular model you are deploying and make sure

there will be sufficient power. If using an AP that might draw on a large delta – for example a

unit with an internal heater – make sure the highest possible power requirement is available.



CLIENTS IN A MESH ENVIRONMENT

CAPACITY The number of clients a mesh network can support is driven by the AP radios (single vs. dual)

and the number of mesh hops. If all clients are 2.4 GHz and all APs are dual-band (mesh is on 5

GHz), the hop from mesh node to the client is free since it does not use the mesh channel.

Another factor to consider is the number of clients per hop. The client load on any mesh node is

equivalent to the sum of all clients on downstream APs. Therefore, the more clients and/or hops,

the higher the equivalent client load on any mesh node. Along with the number of clients, the

client traffic is aggregated as well. This is an important point to remember, as many mesh

throughput calculators do not include clients.

Figure 14: Client Loads in a Mesh

THE AFFECT OF SINGLE VS. DUAL-RADIO ON CAPACITY A common question is when to select one AP model over another. This usually breaks down into

single vs. dual-radio. The answer is simple: Clients drive everything. Clients – and their

applications – determine everything from the minimum amount of bandwidth required to

latency requirements. Both of these will restrict the mesh tree depth, choice of radios and

minimum installation distance and SNR.



DATA Data applications such as web and email are not particularly constrained by bandwidth or

latency. In this case, a single radio AP may be adequate to meet application needs. To ensure

the best possible performance, a mesh node should be planned for every simultaneous 20-30

clients6.

VIDEO Streaming video applications can vary widely in bandwidth requirements. The key factor for

video is planning for the minimum throughput required. A 20 Mbps high-definition video stream

will always require a minimum of 20 Mbps. If the available bandwidth is 40 Mbps, that is fine

and doesn’t impact the quality of the video. But if the available bandwidth ever drops below 20

Mbps, video quality will suffer.

The zap7 tool from Ruckus Wireless includes the ability to test a connection with video traffic

and measure the minimum throughput available as a percentage of time. Video should have the

minimum throughput available 99% of the time.

VOICE This is the most sensitive of all applications. Recommendations can vary by VoIP vendor, but in

general a minimum of 150ms latency is recommended. Higher latency will result in dropped

packets that can disrupt or disconnect active calls. Bandwidth for a voice call depends on the

codec used, but are often in the 64 Kbps range.8

CLIENT COVERAGE Some mesh networks are strictly backbone transport with little or no client access. The majority

of mesh networks however are typically designed to support wireless client devices. If full

coverage is required between mesh nodes, clients become a significant limiting factor on

distance between APs. The reason is simple: client devices operate at greatly reduced power as

compared to an AP. Therefore, each mesh node must be close enough to other APs such that

the distance is no more than twice that of the client’s ability to transmit. As a precaution, it is

recommended this distance be somewhat less than twice to allow some overlap.

6 This number excludes connected, but inactive clients. 7 Zap is available as an open source project. Pre-complied binaries are also available from Ruckus. 8 A good VoIP bandwidth calculator can be found from Packetizer.

http://code.google.com/p/zapwireless/

http://www.theruckusroom.net/2010/01/zapping-wireless-performance.html

http://www.packetizer.com/iptel/bandcalc.html



This distance will vary by client type. In general, laptops have a higher transmit power and

greater range than devices such as phones. The following table gives an estimate of power and

range for a variety of popular wireless clients.

Figure 15: Maximum Client Power and Range Reference

Not all devices of a given type, e.g. phones, have the same performance characteristics. A good

example is the Apple iPhone 3GS vs. the iPhone 4. Most would expect these devices to have

similar performance; but as the table makes clear, there is a significant different in power and

range. When planning wireless client support, always make a habit of designing to the lowest

powered device9

9 An important corollary is the overall relationship between clients and wireless APs. Since it is

so much more powerful than a client, APs can be run with reduced power and still support a

large coverage area. This may be necessary if power reduction is required to reduce interference

and noise.



EXTERNAL ANTENNAS

Nearly any external antenna can be used with Ruckus products provided it meets the following

criteria:

Dual polarized

N-type connectors

Meets regulatory compliance standards

A number of antennas are also available from Ruckus Wireless directly. For more information,

please see the document BEST PRACTICES: EXTERNAL ANTENNAS.



WIRELESS BROADBAND ACCESS (WBA) PLANNING

Ruckus offers a calculator for outdoor broadband deployment capacity planning. The

Ruckus 3GO WBA Deployment Model spreadsheet offers an extremely granular

approach that can be customized to fit a wide range of deployment models.

The calculator is available in spreadsheet form from Ruckus Wireless and can be found

on the partner portal web site: http://partners.ruckuswireless.com/??link name??

Figure 16: WBA Capacity Planning Calculator (Horizontal deployment)

CALCULATOR HIGHLIGHTS Two different models - Horizontal vs. Vertical deployment



Customizable reference information for handsets, APs, attenuation characteristics,

fading margins, interference levels

Service targets - downlink/uplink/steaming bandwidth, population density,

Network design & equipment selection

Environment - obstruction attenuation, path loss, channel and power selection

CALCULATOR TUTORIAL: HORIZONTAL In this example, we use the Ruckus calculator to model a project with the following parameters:

The design goal is to provide Wireless Internet access to a residential community of 200 homes.

Access is direct (i.e. no CPE) to laptops. Network capacity is based on a peak downlink/uplink

rate of 2 Mbps/0.5 Mbps with a 25% take rate in the community.

The calculator itself supports many more parameters than shown here. But for simplification,

we will concentrate on a few key values and accept the default values for everything else.

Design Parameter Value

Downlink peak rate 2 Mbps

Uplink peak rate 0.5 Mbps

Number households per km2 200

Market share (take rate) 25%

Mesh AP model 7762

End device Laptop

PtP device 7731

Mesh ratio (1st hop to root) 6

Mesh ratio (2nd hop to 1st) 1

Capacity reserve (headroom) 10%

Building type Wall and glass

EIRP limits (2.4 GHz client/5 GHz client/5 GHz PtP) 30 dBm/30 dBm/36 dBm



Signal paths (access/mesh/PtP) Near LOS/LOS/LOS

Interference Medium

Site cost (acquisition and installation per site) $500

Based on this input, the model shows an average of 25 7762 APs per km2 to provide coverage10

of the area. These 25 APs (plus 2 PtP links) provides the specified rates for an average of 50

customers per km2. This would be based on a market share rate of 25% of houses.

Based on the per site cost, this project costs $36,000 per km2 or $182 per household passed. On

a per subscriber basis, the cost metric is $727 per customer.

CALCULATOR TUTORIAL: VERTICAL Whereas the horizontal model is aimed at coverage of buildings less than three floors tall, the

vertical model applies primary to tall buildings such as apartments, skyscrapers, etc. Many of the

variables such as EIRP power, peak data rates, etc. are the same. Where this model differs is in

the determination of population density and AP location based on the number of floors, number

of faces (exterior walls), etc. This is a good choice when modeling more urban landscapes that

tend to have much higher population density per square kilometer than suburban or rural

environments.

10 The model calculator provides separate numbers for the total number of APs required on a

strictly coverage area basis as well as capacity. In this example, the two numbers happen to be

the same, i.e. 25.



Figure 17: WBA Capacity Planning Tool (Vertical deployment)

ruckus outdoor mesh network

Documents

wireless mesh

mesh aps

standard mesh

hybrid mesh

mesh performance

mesh hops

mesh link distance

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