Crabs should live in the sea, not on pillars. We analyze street WiFi, we pay attention to external access points of Ruckus Wireless

Consider outdoor wifi. In order to implement the multiple access technology (MIMO), the manufacturers put on two, three, sometimes four antennas for each frequency band of 2.4 and 5 GHz, respectively. As a result, a crab is obtained from the access point.
You can of course use sector antennas and put them in their joint, side by side, but in this case you will get a barrel from the access point.

We do not want to offend anyone; comparing the pictures of devices from one well-known vendor of professional wireless equipment means that we respect him. Others are even worse. Our goal is different, we want to say that you can go ahead and place not two-three-four, but dozens of antennas at the access point. What actually made the manufacturer Ruckus Wireless - his antennas are not portable, but internal and printed on the board. At distances of a couple of hundred meters, they work fine. And it is not necessary anymore, since client devices, that is, smartphones and tablets, have very modest antennas and simply cannot transmit their own signal, for example, for half a kilometer, even if they “hear” the street access point. Therefore, the quality of communication, the performance of the access point processor and the signal processing algorithm come to the fore for such distances.

Here Ruckus feels the master of the situation. The antenna system of dual-band access points of the ZoneFlex T300 series has up to 4000 possible antenna radiation patterns, arranged in 128 so-called patterns, that is, presets of radiation patterns. The entire antenna array is controlled by a dedicated processor. Depending on the location of the clients, the access point uses its own pattern and directs the entire energy of the channel strictly to the client.

Note also that external antennas, so to say at traditional access points, can interfere with each other by distorting the signal. Moreover, over time, moisture penetrates into the connectors, the antenna gets wet, the signal is distorted and the cause of the change in characteristics cannot be immediately determined.
')
Let's go back to Ruckus. In addition to the developed antenna system, which has the proprietary technological name BeamFlex, the manufacturer Ruckus has other developments. Here are some of the technologies used:

ChannelFly - Scan the radio environment and select the least busy channel with low noise. In this case, the collection of statistics and analysis of the radio situation occurs continuously and throughout the day.
SmartMesh - planning and optimization of a WiFi network.
DynamicPSK is a technology of secure access of subscriber devices to the network with automatic identification of clients of their network.
SmartCast - classification of traffic types, for example, multimedia streams, setting traffic priorities, building data transmission queues,
Hotspot 2.0 is a simplified procedure for recognizing and connecting client devices to the carrier network.
BYOD Solution (Bring Your Own Devices) - networking with client devices of any type and platform.

T300 Series Access Point Appearance with OMNI Antennas

And so it looks with the radio transparent cover removed


We attach such an access point on a pole parallel to the ground. Here is its radiation pattern.

But the so-called three hundredth series Ruckus consists of three models. There are two more devices: an access point with a sector antenna T301s with an angle of 120x30 degrees and an access point with a narrowly-oriented antenna T301n with a service sector of 30x30 degrees, designed to serve streets, avenues, and high density subscriber sites.

The appearance of the access point with a sector antenna

And its antenna system. Isn't it unusual? Kulichki in the sandbox can be sculpted.


Sector access points we place at an angle to the surface of the earth. Here are their radiation patterns.

Omnidirectional and sectoral access points use to cover relatively large areas, and narrowly targeted where there is a large number of customers in one place, for example, in the stadium sector. Subscribers do not move here, but sit, and very tightly - hundreds of clients can fit on a small patch. They should be served by only one access point, without being sprayed on neighboring sectors.

To be fair, I must say that this series of products has a model with connectors for external antennas - T300e. But this modification is rarely used for specific tasks.

And now, briefly, with a recitative about the other advantages of the series:

- Standard 801.11ac. This means that in total in two frequency bands we can receive up to 1.2 Gbit / s;
- Supports several hundreds of simultaneous sessions (maximum 250 for each band) and up to 30 voice VoIP sessions;
- 23dBm / 22dBm output power - quite good for integrated antennas;
- PoE Input - The access point does not require a dedicated power source and can be connected directly to a switch that supports 802.3 af / at
- Protection class IP-67 - that is, all-weather point.
- The weight is 900 g and the largest dimension is only 15 cm. The device is inconspicuous on the pole. This is not a crab or a barrel.

So deploying a street WiFi-network, leave the crabs alone.

Let's just admire them.

With you there was an animal lover - Ruckus. Until new meetings.