When size matters, or new SIKLU 60 GHz models - Gigabit without a license in the palm of your hand

We have already talked about Siklu equipment several times, which provides an inexpensive, high-performance channel in the unlicensed 70-80 GHz range.
Siklu equipment perfectly proved itself as a highway for base stations and the last mile at distances up to 3-5 km.
But, in some cases, a channel with a length of 200-500m is required, but for the equipment to be very compact. For example, for installation on a pole or a traffic light. And not to receive frequencies. All this is Siklu EtherHaul-600.


While the working range of equipment in the range of 70-80 GHz has been increasing in recent years, the question arises of providing communication at smaller distances, but with restrictions on the size of the equipment.
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The need for low-capacity backbones results from an increase in the density of cellular networks, the deployment of LTE networks and urban Wi-Fi.
In order to increase the density of coverage, increase productivity and reduce the energy consumption of subscribers, the distance between cellular stations in large cities is now less than a kilometer, for LTE and Wi-Fi - about 500 meters.

To ensure such a dense installation, equipment has to be placed not only on specialized masts, but also on roofs and walls of buildings, lighting poles.
In such compact installation locations, there is an acute problem of ensuring the cable connection of the device, and, in case of impossibility of cable connection, the size of the radio route.

Traditionally, connecting bases in the city, sotoviki use RRL bands 6-38 GHz, and this requires the allocation of frequencies, which is not free and takes 6-9 months.

The scheme popular in Europe with the organization of the trunk using the MESH technology in the 5 GHz band is not used here, since the band required for organizing MESH networks requires receiving frequencies, and for each MESH access point, which is economically unprofitable. Yes, and now the speed required rather big. Hundreds of megabits, and it is better to immediately gigabit to the base.

Of course, it is possible to organize a trunk on the equipment in the range of 70-80 GHz, but the size of such a solution is several times larger than the size of access points and such a channel will hardly be noticeable.

In addition to connecting LTE databases, the scope of such compact communication systems can be video surveillance systems, the number of which is growing rapidly.

Also, a compact solution can be useful as a backbone for connecting buildings, especially rented offices. After all, it is not a secret that tariffs and the choice of providers in many business centers are practically monopolized, access to the roof is difficult.

The possible minimum dimensions of the equipment in the range of 70-80 GHz are actually limited by the rules for using radio broadcasts, requiring the use of antennas with a radiation pattern of a width not exceeding 1 degree, which means a clearance of about 28 cm.

Therefore, Siklu, the manufacturer of the most popular (and cheapest) solution in the range of 70-80 GHz, released the solution for 60 GHz - Siklu EtherHaul-600.

The device in comparison with the power injector, the largest size of the device is less than 18 cm


Let us compare the lines of equipment of different ranges.


The V range is not symmetrical, so that only TDD solutions can be implemented in it.
A more significant limitation is the attenuation in the atmosphere, significantly larger than the range of 70-80 GHz.

Attenuation in clean air of E and V frequency ranges.




With the addition of factors of increased attenuation and a smaller gain of a reduced antenna, we can count on a significantly smaller communication range.





We see that with the availability of 99.99%, quite good for the access level, you can get distances of about 700 meters for a speed of 370 Mbps.


The manufacturer sees the 600 series as the last mile for micro cellular stations, and 1200 as the core network.



In terms of functionality, the new models are different:

• Lack of SFP slots
• The power consumption of the EH-600 requires 802.3at, whereas the EH-1200 (TDD) requires 802.3af
• The inability to use the optical sight for alignment.

Otherwise, from the point of view of the operator, we have quite adult equipment, with the support of:

• Traffic prioritization
• Synchro ethernet
• Dual VLAN tagging
• OAM channel monitoring
• SNMP management
• Building protected topologies

Practical testing
Using the hardware generator, we can measure the main characteristics of the link:

• Batch and bit performance
• The delay
• Delay variation

Performance for frames of various sizes, duplex, percentage of gigabit interface capacity.




The load capacity of the equipment: the dependence of usable capacity on incoming traffic.






Delay as a function of load



Variation of delay / load



We see that from the point of view of traffic processing, the new solution even surpasses the Siklu EtherHaul 1200 TDD range of 70-80 GHz on small frames.

findings
Based on the proven platform EtherHaul 1200 manufacturer offered us a fundamentally new solution 600 series.
Small size allows you to place equipment almost anywhere, and support for complex topologies - to build a relay network at a greater distance.
The new product does not intersect with the 1200 series in the range of application.
A small photo gallery of new items


Packaging equipment



Hardware with fasteners installed


Equipment on site