1. Wireless Mesh-Networks for Interconnection of Remote Sites to Fixed Broadband Networks Feasibility Study Kurt Baumann kurt.baumann@switch.ch TF-Mobility Meeting, Vienna, 18.02.10

2. © 2010 SWITCH 2 Outline Feasibility Study - Proposal - Physical testbed - Technical aspects - Results - Conclusion and further projects

3. © 2010 SWITCH 3 Proposal The project investigates the feasibility of multi-hop wireless mesh networks for connecting sensor networks or other devices deployed in remote areas, where no fixed network access is available, to a fixed broadband network. Distances of (several) 10 km need to be traversed. The project will evaluate Quality-of-Service parameters such as bandwidth, delay, and robustness that can be expected from a solution, which is based on transmission over multiple hops and multiple paths. Project lead: University of Bern Industry-Partners: MeteoSwiss / SWITCH / pcEngines

4. © 2010 SWITCH 4 Physical Testbed CTI-Link, area Payerne: Redundant-Link: 1070m 10300m 11500m Link1: Payerne Corges Sur Le Mont University-Neuchâtel 6760m 1000m 14100m Link2: Payerne Belmont La Gotta University-Neuchâtel

5. © 2010 SWITCH 5 Technical Aspects Mesh-Node: PCEngines Alix.3DA board Core of the Mesh nodes contains 500 MHz AMD Geode LX800 CPU, 256 MB RAM, 2 miniPCI slots with IEEE802.11a/b/g/h cards, 1Ethernet IF, 1GB Compact Flash Card Aluminium weather sealed (IP-67) outdoor. Software: Linux distribution, an development of University of Bern called ADAM( Administration and Deployment of Ad-hoc Mesh networks) Two directional panel antennas Frineta, 5.1-5.875 GHz, 23dBi gain,

6. © 2010 SWITCH 6 Technical Aspects Mast: Telescopic mast sideways slotted aluminum (6)Tubes, max. 9 m with tripod Requirements to the mast type: - Costs - Transportability - Project duration - High acceptance for the landowner

7. © 2010 SWITCH 7 Technical Aspects Power-Provisioning Nodes: Powered by the electricity grid or solar pannel 2 nodes: UniNE and MeteoSwiss are connectedvia lightning protector and PoE to the grid. 4 nodes are supplied with electricity by solar - 80W panel. Power equipment in a aluminum box inside a solar-charger, an acid battery (65Ah, 12V - 10days self charging), a lightning protector and a passive PoE Node (power consumption approx. 3.3 W) on the antenna is connected with a twisted pair cable to the electric supply box. Network connectivity over Ethernet for on site maintenance.

8. © 2010 SWITCH 8 Technical Aspects Node on the rooftop of MeteoSwiss: This node operates as a sensor node, an IP capable camera. http://cti-mesh.ch/cgi-bin/smokeping.cgi?target=CTI-Mesh

9. © 2010 SWITCH 9 Technical Aspects Route availability to node 6 (IP camera) at node 1

10. © 2010 SWITCH 10 Results Free Space Loss Model Node xx d m FZ r(m) H min(m) FSL dB S i(dBm) P out(mW) Neuchâtel ⇔ Sur le Mont 11500 7.513 9.463 128.47 -77.09 7.277 Sur le Mont ⇔ Corges 10300 7.110 8.668 127.51 -76.13 7.277 Corges ⇔ Payerne 1070 2.291 2.308 107.85 -56.46 7.277 Payerne ⇔ Belmont 6760 5.760 6.431 123.86 -72.47 7.277 Belmont ⇔ La Gotta 1000 2.215 2.223 105.26 -53.87 7.277 La Gotta ⇔ Neuchâtel 14100 8.319 11.239 130.24 -78.86 7.277 d(m): Distance between two nodes FZr(m): Radius of the first Freznel Zone (60%) Hmin(m): Min of antenna high FSL(dB): Free Space Path Loss Si(dBm): Received power level at receiver input

11. © 2010 SWITCH 11 Conclusion / Further Projects View of SWITCH: Feasibility study is a success story in extending the network Coverage Locations: In the project, the interconnection of the WMN and the SWITCH fibre backbone was build up easily at the University of Neuchâtel. As currently no process to get access to the backbone on an arbitrary location is defined and in place, the backbone access has to be checked and supported individually for each location; that makes it personnel-intensive and therefore costly. The feasibility study showed that, currently, the network reliability as well as the data-throughput of the prototype network do not allow providing WMN specific solutions for wireless broadband connections of customer Sites. Follow-up project will allow investigations on the network reliability and throughput by reengineering the wireless interface driver, routing software, and self-healing mechanisms. Furthermore, the handling of the antenna equipment as well as the alignment-process of the antenna has to be simplified for the end-users. Moreover the attractiveness of this service could be enhanced by increased data rates of newer wireless communication standards e.g. IEEE802.11n.

12. Wireless Mesh-Networks for Interconnection of Remote Sites to Fixed Broadband Networks Feasibility Study Kurt Baumann kurt.baumann@switch.ch Q & A