Wifi Revolution

RAD Data Communications, a company that specializes in access solutions for data and telecommunications applications, recently highlighted the creative way in which its Airmux-200 broadband wireless multiplexer is being used by mobile operators in Brazil.

 

More specifically, the multiplexer can be incorporated into solutions designed to enable quick deployment of wireless broadband links—helpful for connecting geographically dispersed sites or to make communications available during emergency situations.

 

The solution uses license-free radio frequencies to send signal, greatly reducing its cost.

 

“One of the problems posed by traditional wireless connections is that the process of acquiring of a frequency license can often be both time-consuming and expensive,” said RAD do Brasil general manager John Columban Hoe, in a statement.

 

Hoe continued: “With the new digital radios in the license-free 5.8 GHz band, however, it is possible to set up a high-quality voice and data connection virtually instantaneously over distances of up to 30 kilometers.”

 

José de Castilho, sales manager at FTD Comunicações (a RAD partner and systems integrator), noted that, while digital radios are most often used by mobile carriers to implement base transceiver stations, this type of connection also can be useful as an alternative for last mile connectivity in remote areas.

 

Brazilian mobile operator TIM recently used digital radio in just such a deployment, in which a RAD Aimux-200 multiplexer was mounted on the back of a truck as a mobile BTS for use in emergencies.

 

As it turned out, one use of the roving BTS was for a musical emergency: a free Rolling Stones concert was scheduled at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, and TIM was tapped to provide additional capacity for mobile phone voice traffic at the event.

 

“Suddenly we were informed that approximately three million people – most of them with mobile phones – would converge on a site in which our BTS did not have enough capacity,” TIM transport network engineer Carla Vieira, explained in a statement.

 

Vieira continued: “To meet this sudden demand, we simply carried a wave scan – to identify a non-jammed frequency – and within a few hours, we sent our truck equipped with a digital radio to the area.”

 

RAD’s Airmux equipment is also being used to bring broadband Internet connectivity to areas where the service can’t be delivered any other way. Taho, a high-speed ISP, uses RAD’s multiplexers to deliver corporate VoIP and residential access to a mountainous region near the city of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro.

 

Hoe estimates that by year’s end, RAD’s installed base of multiplexers in Brazil will double, in the process capturing the service provider market. That clears the way for utilities and major enterprises to consider the Airmux system for large-scale implementation.

 

The utility of RAD’s equipment was brought home recently to auto dealership Alpini Veículos, based on Campinas, São Paulo. The company detected a failure in the 256 kbps link it was using to connect 50 computers, decided to replace the old equipment with Airmux-200 (through systems integrator K3M and distributor AIS).

 

The new equipment delivers an impressive 6.5 Mbps of bandwidth, while also serving as a direct connection between data center and remote branch. It is also considerably more affordable.

 

“Deployment of the Airmux-200 over the 5.8 GHz license-free wireless band with a combination of E1 and Ethernet ports costs half the price of a conventional wireless solution,” Hoe noted in a statement.

 

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