This article describes the experiences of two communications operators in Ukraine who opted to use ePMP Elevate to increase performance without replacing the installed subscriber base.
Network No.1 “BEFORE”
- The non-Cambium Base Station (BS) Tx =20 dBm, frequency is 5250 MHz, channel bandwidth is 20 MHz, sector 90 degree antenna with gain factor 17 dBi.
- Non-Cambim User Stations (US), 27 in total, are connected to the base at a distances of up to 2 km with RSSI signal no lower than -75 dBm. Output power of the user station is 18 dBm.
- Network provides ability to access the Internet with tariff (service plan) 5 / 2 Mbit/sec (DL/UL).
Fig.3 Graph of the daily workload for non-Cambium Base Station, 27 clients (Cacti)
Figure 3 provides the graph of the daily workload of the non-Cambium Base Station sector. As you can see the maximum workload on this sector of 27 clients is not high, as it doesn’t exceed 15 Mbit/sec.
Figure 4 provides indications of delay between the non-Cambium base station and the user station, measured with Ping utility at the maximum workload of the base station on 1500-byte long packages.
Fig.4 Delay in the channel between base station and user station in the non-Cambium network
Fig. 5 is the screenshot of throughput capacity test for clients with the maximum RSSI signal -75 dBm during the maximum workload of the sector taken with OOKLA speedltest.net utility. The maximum speed limit for the client is 5/2 Mbit/sec (DL/UL) based on the service plan.
Fig.5 Speed test for the client OOKLASpeedtest
Based on the operator’s experience, the number of clients of 25-30 on the non-Cambium sector is the limit. At the attempt to increase this number to 40, such base station gets overloaded, the delay in the channel grows, and clients stop getting the service in accordance with the scheduled service plan.
Network No.1 “AFTER”
- An ePMP1000 5 GHz Connectorized Radiowith Sync access point is installed to replace the non-Cambium Base Station. Embedded Software of the non-Cambium user modules is upgraded over-the-air to ePMPElevate.
- The ePMP1000 GPS Sync base station is installed at the same location as the previous non-Cambium Base Station.
- The ePMP base station is configured with sector antenna 17 dBi, TDD UL/DLFrame Ratio – Flexible.
- The firmware of base station is V.3.2, user modules are v.3.2.1 RC5.
- The ePMP1000 GPS Sync base station is configured with 30 ePMP Elevate licenses.
- Frequency is 5200 MHz, channel size is 20 MHz, output power is 21 dBm.
- 27 clients are connected
Figures 6, 7 provide snapshots of the ePMP1000 GPS Sync base station configuration and connection parameters for the Elevate clients.
Fig 6. Parameters of the ePMP 1000 GPS Sync base station
Fig. 7 Connection parameters for the Elevated clients
Figure 8 is a screenshot of connection parameters for the ePMP1000 GPS Sync base station of the user set with the Elevate Software.
Fig.8 Client with ePMP Elevate Software, connected to the ePMP1000 GPSSync base stations
After switching into the Elevate during the testing period an unlimited service plan was introduced.
Figure 9 provides the Cacti graph with the daily workload of the ePMP1000 GPS Sync base station sector with 28 clients.
Fig.9 Graph of the daily workload of the ePMPGPSSync sector, 28 clients
Because of switching to Elevate and growing of the service plan (speed limit disabled) the average, and peak workload increased 3 times. Throughput capacity peak is 53.27 Mbit/sec.
Figure 10 provides indications of delay for Elevated network, measured with the Ping utility at the maximum workload of the sector on 1500-byte long packages.
Fig. 10 Delay on the channel between ePMP base station and Elevated stations
Figure 11 represents testing results of the “Test“ OOKLA speedtest.com at the simultaneous channel load with a torrent.
Fig.11. Speed test for the sixth client of OOKLA speed test + file loading via torrent
Gathered test result corresponds the maximum connection speed of the client: 24 Mbit/sect (torrent) + 25 Mbit/sec OOKLA speedtest.com, 50 Mbit/sec overall download. Fig.12 provides result of the ePMP Wireless Link Test for the Test client.
Fig.12 ePMP Wireless Link Test of the test client “Test”
Based on the testing results with the help of ePMP Elevate network the operator set the service plan to 20/2 Mbit/sec (DL/UL) for the clients.
Modernization Effect
Because of switching to Elevate:
- throughput capacity has been increased for the user, which helped to increase tariffs from 5/2 Mbit/sect to 20/2 Mbit/sec;
- throughput capacity and disposal of the sector has been increased from 15 Mbit/sec to 52 Mbit/sec;
- the latency has been increased in the channel, which is due to access protocol TDMA, with the fixed frame length equal to 5 ms.
Network No1 “GOING FORWARD”
- The number of Elevate licenses has been increased to 60, total number of subscribers in the sector was increased to 54. All stations are non-Cambium hardware with ePMP Eleavate software.
- Output capacity of the base station is 21 dBm, frequency is 5250 MHz, channel bandwidth is 20 MHz. Network plan - unlimited.
Figure 13 provides a graph of the daily workload for the ePMP1000 GPS Sync base station sector with 54 Elevated clients. Fig.14 shows parameters for connecting 54 clients.
Fig.13 Daily workload of the ePMP GPS Sync clients, 54 clients (Cacti)
Fig.14 Connection parameters for Elevated clients
As a result of the increased number of clients the average workload of the ePMP1000 GPSS ync sector with the traffic has been increased to 19 Mbit/sec, maximum sector workload is 44.59 Mbit/sec.
Figure 15 provides indications for delay between ePMP 1000 GPSSync base station and Elevated user station.
Fig.15 Delay on the channel at the maximum workload speed, 54 clients
Figure 16 represents the results of the ePMP Wireless Link Test of the client TestMAC*** CE:3B during the period of maximum workload of the sector. Fig.17 provides the screenshot of the OOKLA speedtest of the test client.
Fig.16 ePMP speed test of the client Test МАС **** CE:3B
Fig.17 OOKLA speed test from the test client
Effects of Elevating the Network
After the doubling of subscribers (from 27 to 54):
- maximum data capacity of the base station sector still exceeds non-Cambium hardware by two times!
- optimum service plans are still higher than when using the previous hardawre
- network delay is still within normal limits