ePMP 1000/2000 on MicroPOP scenario

Check out how ePMP provides communications infrastructure for city-wide video surveillance in Budapest HERE

We started off not using GPS sync and found we were quickly runing out of channels.  We use 5ghz for backhaul as well, so it didn't take long.  Now we're using GPS sync (on access) and found we need three channels to prevent overlap.  Our APs are mounted on street lights and power poles at about 6 meters AGL.  Our max radius is about 200 meters due to heavy foliage.  We're also far enough north that the foliage falls off in the winter months, thus the need for more efficent use of channels.

Ultimatly it will depend on your specific deployment, but in general I think GPS-Sync is a benifit in a MicroPop.  

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What permissions did you need to get to mount on light poles? Do you draw power from the light pole?

Thanks

We had to ask permission from the owner of the pole.  The poles we use are owned by either the City or by the local power company.  Typically the owners of the pole already have rules and regulations on what can be mounted on specific poles.  Some have weight limits, size limits, etc.  They basically told us what we're allowed to do and we made sure our "POP" fit within their requirements.

Yes, we pull power from the poles.  The only exception is traffic-lights, which need to have dedicated power, or street lights that don't have 24x7 power.  In those cases we have to run power down the pole and to the nearest power distribution location.  The cost of the electicity is included in the pole rental fee.  That cost was determined by measuring the usage of a "POP" in the lab, and then assume all POPs will use the same amount of power.

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Can you post some photos of your equipment that draws power from the light pole?

thanks

ray

Here's one on a wood light pole.  From left to right on the bracket is a 5ghz pannel antenna w/ ePMP1000 (this feeds this POP), then an ePMP1000 in an omni enclosure, then an electrical disconnect box (same thing you'd use for a centeral air conditioner), and a fiberglass enclosure on the back side that houses a POE switch.  We run conduit from the disconnect box up the pole and then tie into secondary power (120v).

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Excellent - thank you for the detail.

I have asked something of bit different.

ePMP is main and only Cambium solution I could get in touch cause financial ROI and investment. I'm a small WISP not a big player.

Anyway, my request is another. I would like to use an omni antenna. With omni antenna I have problem to hear near LOS or nLOS AP signal. So I need to know how to configure the GPS to reuse frequencies.

If someone have done this configuration, can share the configuration or even the behind idea ? Is really mandatory to use GPS or it's better choose non GPS AP searching for clean channel ?

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Great to hear that. 

Can you share your screen configuration ? Have you used the front/back options under radio or not ?

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Check out this thread, it talks about GPS-Sync using omni antennas and how to set the front/back setting.  Below is a chunk of our network with channels and Front/Back setting.  We stick with 5.8ghz because of the power limitations of 5.3-5.6ghz in the USA.  If you have the ability to use these channels then GPS-Sync could be less important.  Even if you don't think you'll use GPS I'd highly recommend buying the GPS radio.  It gives you; a gigabit ethernet port, 802.3af POE, and the option to use GPS if you change your mind later.

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is that a custom made mount for the pole?

Thanks,

Yes, we designed the mount with help from a local machine shop.

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What speed results are you seeing for your customers/what are you actually trying to provide?

For your customers, are you using force 180/200 SM’s or something else?

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@NetOpsCom wrote:
What speed results are you seeing for your customers/what are you actually trying to provide?

For your customers, are you using force 180/200 SM's or something else?


We offer a 25 and 50mbps package, setting the MIR to 30 and 60mbps repectivly.  Below are the installs from the last week with Service Level, SM model, RSSI and speedtest.net results.

We just set up several epmp2000 radios on a tower using force 200 SM’s and we are not overally impressed at the low level noise cancelation like we seem to have with 450d SM’s. We pick up a much higher noise floor consistently throughout the entire 5ghz band where 450d SM’s actually show large enough gaps to work in the interference. Using this micro pop deployment, are you able to get away with all the interference by keeping everything at 200-300m, realworld?

Noise hasn't been a factor, even in the noisiest environemnts.  The short link distance along with the fact that we typiicaly have less than 10 SMs per AP allows for less than ideal connections that still work quite well.  I haven't used the 450 so I can't make any kind of direct comparison.

The picture you provided only has 1 backhaul shown. You are essentially creating a mesh network by having 2 backhauls per AP (1 to receive 1 to send to the next AP), correct? Have you tried any mimosa products for the micro pop or their micro pop planner by chance?


@NetOpsCom wrote:
The picture you provided only has 1 backhaul shown. You are essentially creating a mesh network by having 2 backhauls per AP (1 to receive 1 to send to the next AP), correct? Have you tried any mimosa products for the micro pop or their micro pop planner by chance?

Correct, most of our locations have two backhaul links, but some have one (we call those leaf or rib nodes) and some locations have three or even four backhaul links.

Yep, we use the Mimosa B5c where we need more backhaul capacity, and they've been good for us.  I've just started testing the A5-14 w/ GPS sync but don't have much to say, good or bad, about them yet.  Can't say much about the planner either.  I played aorund with it a bit a while ago but haven't found much of a use for it myself, but we have a custom mapping application for designing/mapping our network.

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So I assume with RSSI levels that low you are at mcs15 for all the SM’s?

What Omni have you found the best results from?

How many customers are you able to put on an AP with your speeds and mcs levels? Not sure if capacity planner has micropop configurations.

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Not all SM's are at MCS15.  I think the biggest reason is becaue most of our links are NLOS, which typically affects one chain more than the other.  So, even though the combined RSSI is -55, the chains may be something like -56 and -66, which can pull the MCS down a bit.  But on average, most are MCS15 or 14.

We use the KP-Performance antenna with the built in enclosure.

We keep them under 20 SMs per AP.

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