I'm interested in any outdoor wireless deployments on campuses.
Here at Georgia Tech, we have a dozen or so outdoor access points covering
some key locations and a bus route. Our APs are YDI "WiPOP in a Box"
that is a Proxim AP2000 in a weatherproof enclosure with amplifier and
power supply, connected to antennas mounted on non-penetrating sleds
on rooftops. We've got wired ethernet connected to each outdoor
access point and all APs are on the same subnet so that roaming is
as seamless as possible.
We're about to embark on a project to cover much more of our outdoor
campus areas and I'm curious if anyone else on this list has already
done this. I'd love to swap info and lessons learned, either on the
list or via private email if you prefer.
Questions for which we need to come up with answers:
Which users are targeted?
- Buses?
- Police cars?
- Students?
- Faculty/Staff?
- Visitors?
Which areas do we want to cover? "Build it and they will come"
- Additional bus routes?
- Green spaces?
What kinds of access points should we use?
- 802.11b or 802.11g
- YDI WiPOPs (What we have now, but no longer available YDI is now Terabeam)
- Cobble together our own enclosures for Cisco AP-1200s
- Cisco 1300 Outdoor
- BelAir?
- Anything else?
Large cell versus small cell
- We're currently doing the largest cells possible with amps and
gain antennas
- We could get better coverage with lots and lots of lower powered
APs but it would cost more and installation could be troublesome in
some areas.
Where will access points be mounted?
- Do we continue with mounting them on rooftop sleds and running
conduit to nearest data closet for connectivity?
- What about using 802.11a uplinks to the APs in places where it
will be difficult to run conduit?
- What are the odds that Facilities would allow us to mount to
light poles?
Who will do site surveys?
- Definitely want to get these done before leaves fall
--
Earl Barfield -- Academic & Research Technologies / Information Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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