AR-24027

Long Range Wireless Ethernet Bridge

Features

• Point-to-Point, Point-to-Multipoint, Mesh, or Linear Network topologies.
  
• Wireless links in excess of 50 miles (80 km)
• Mobile support allows service vehicles to roam between multiple hubs
• Spread Spectrum operation at 2.4GHz. No license required in most countries.
• Outdoor enclosure allows mounting unit in close proximity to antennas, reducing installation cost, and reducing RF cable power losses.
• Narrow RF bandwidth allows operation in crowded spectrum.
• Large number of non-overlapping channels.
• Remote management through Telnet, SNMP or "Afar Ethernet Console ".
• Remote software updates.
• Synchronized RF transmissions allows deployment of large number of co-located radios.
• Transparent Ethernet bridging.
• Optional serial synchronous interface supported by pairing with Afar NetCrossing Gateways .

With the proliferation of unlicensed radio devices it can be a challenge to deploy and operate a reliable RF networks in the 2.4 GHz band. At Afar Communications we went to great extents to design a radio from the ground up that can provide dependable links under very adverse conditions. This includes the following features:

1. All the electronics are housed in an environmentally sealed enclosure rated for outdoor installation. You can mount the unit in close proximity to the antenna, which increases system performance by avoiding RF cable losses or expensive rigid coax cables.
2. The radio RF bandwidth is much narrower than other unlicensed devices in the 2.4 GHz band. This has several advantages, namely (i) the radio sensitivity is greatly improved allowing very long range wireless links, (ii) there is a much larger number of non-overlapping channels to choose from, and (iii) it is much easier to find an unused gap in a crowded spectrum.
3. In a long range wireless link under heavy interference, clear channels at each end of the link are often different. In the Afar radio the transmit and receive frequencies can be selected independently of each other, allowing you to select the two optimal frequencies to avoid local interferers.
4. The radio incorporates spectrum analysis and timing analysis tools, which allow the operator to quickly perform a survey of the RF environment without the need for expensive or heavy spectrum analyzers.
5. Unique antenna alignment aid provides audio feedback proportional to the RSSI, freeing the installer's hands to adjust and tighten the antenna without having to hold or look at other instrumentation.

The same radio can be used to deploy a back-haul point-to-point link, a point-to-multipoint network, or, using the radio dual antenna ports, a linear-network ideal for deploying multiple nodes alongside a highway, pipeline, or railway track. The radios operate in Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode and feature the Afar SPAN technology that automatically synchronizes the burst transmissions of all co-located radios. You can grow your central site with up to 24 co-located hub radios without worrying about self-interference. With each hub serving up to 32 remote radios, you can expand the network to serve 768 subscribers with an aggregate throughput in excess of 50 Mbps. In a point to multipoint network the hub radios allocate the available bandwidth dynamically among the remote radios that are currently active. 

The radio implements a transparent bridge algorithm, where each unit automatically learns the addresses of all stations in the network and forwards over RF only the traffic that needs to be delivered to the remote unit. This reduces the RF throughput required by the radio.

If your application requires a serial synchronous interface, the radios can be paired with one of the Afar NetCrossing™ Gateway units to carry both Ethernet and serial data across the same wireless connection (see figure). Use the NX-2048 gateway if your serial data is in V.35/RS530/RS232, or the "TDM over IP" NX-2E1/T1 gateway to connect equipment with a T1 or E1 interfaces. In this last case you configure the gateways to extract any combination of up to 16 time slots (DS1) from the full TDM frame. When paired with the NetCrossing™ Gateway, the gateway provides both the power and data to the radio across the single Cat5 cable.

Specifications

AR-24027 - Long Range Wireless Ethernet Bridge

Specifications subject to change without notice