Unleashing ultrahigh-capacity wireless broadband with Cambium Networks’ 60 GHz solution

As residential users are looking for reliable and affordable ultrahigh-capacity broadband services, the huge demand for internet bandwidth poses both a challenge and an opportunity for communications service providers.

On one hand, fibre rollout may not be feasible as trenching to install the cable could be costly and time consuming, while wireless broadband service can be rolled out much faster.

On the other hand, if the network bandwidth provided cannot meet the demand, the customers are likely to switch to other operators.

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The service provider’s objective is to deliver enough capacity to satisfy the needs of the customers, generate more revenue from each customer and attract even more customers.

With the proper technology, they would be able to roll out additional network capacity much quicker than wireline-based operators, due to the inherent ease of deployment of wireless technology.

The service provider needs to find cost-effective wireless broadband technology that:

1. Can provide ultrahigh capacity.
2. Is easy to deploy with flexibility and allows rapid expansion.

“ICASA has recently opened up the 60 GHz spectrum, also known as V-Band, for Point to Multipoint deployments.”

“This allows us to use Cambium’s cnWave platform to its full potential, true multi-gigabit Point to Multipoint networks are now a reality. Better still, this regulatory change allows us to deploy high-capacity mesh networks using Cambium’s cnWave 60 GHz technology.”

“Multi-gigabit mesh networks are a true game changer for numerous verticals, not just traditional ISPs. Public Wi-Fi will no longer be limited by backhaul capacity, and modern surveillance systems can be operated seamlessly, without bandwidth constraints, to name just a few possibilities,” says Teresa Huysamen, Wireless Business Unit Executive at Duxbury Networking, local distributors of Cambium Networks technology.

PON (Passive Optical Network) fibre networks are fast, delivering an aggregate 2.5 Gbps broadband, but they become extremely expensive in urban zones as cost of access and labour increases.

Fixed wireless broadband offers a fast and predictable installation routine and low per node cost. Fast deployment equates to rapid access to revenue.

But what about performance?

New technology in fixed wireless broadband is now delivering 7.6 Gbps of aggregate network throughput and packet latency measured in microseconds, not milliseconds.

Cambium Networks’ 60 GHz cnWave solution is engineered to deliver higher value at lower cost than a pure PON fibre network.

cnWave is 802.11ay based and Terragraph certified. With mesh support, cnWave forms a distributed multi-gigabit backhaul layer to end points.

Powered by cnMaestro, a single pane of network management can be used for both the cnWave mesh network and any other Cambium equipment, such as Wi-Fi hotspots.

Fixed wireless broadband using 60 GHz enables any service provider, integrator or municipality, large or small, to design, deploy and manage very high-speed public and private networks or community Wi-Fi networks.

When 60 GHz fixed wireless is used to extend the reach of the fibre network, cost for the last few hundred metres is dramatically reduced while delivering multi-gigabit speed and low latency.

When deploying public Wi-Fi, a Wi-Fi AP at the network edge provides the capacity and common radios needed to support public and community Wi-Fi networks that connect any smartphone, tablet or laptop.

Each Wi-Fi hotspot will need two components: a Wi-Fi AP for public access and a broadband 60 GHz client node.

These two components can be interconnected with data and power to simplify the deployment. For example, Cambium Networks’ cnWave V1000 (Mid-Gain Client Node) can be powered by a Cambium Wi-Fi 6 XV2-2T0 or XV2-2T1 outdoor Wi-Fi AP.

Conversely, any Cambium Networks Wi-Fi AP can be powered by cnWave V5000 (Distribution Node) or V3000 (high-gain Client Node).

Each V5000 DN has two sectors and can provide an aggregate L2 capacity of 7.5 Gbps. If channel bonding is used, each V5000 DN can provide 15 Gbps throughput.

Key features include:

• Pre-802.11ay technology, TDMA channel access and TDD network synchronisation.
• Supports 57 to 66 GHz bands with a channel bandwidth of 2.16 GHz in a single SKU.
• Up to 7.5 Gbps (L2) total capacity.
• Terragraph-certified, embedded Terragraph Mesh Support.
• Easy installation with beamforming.
• Hardware ready for channel bonding with the option to double the capacity.
• Built-in GPS receiver for synchronisation to reduce self-interference.
• 1 x 10GbE with PoE IN, 1 x GE with PoE OUT and 1 x SFP+ cage, ensuring optimal performance with lowest latency.

Ease and flexibility to deploy allows rapid expansion

One big challenge for deploying a 60 GHz wireless network is that it has very short range and requires clear line of sight (LOS) which makes it very challenging to provide cost-effective wireless coverage.

With meshing technology, a 60 GHz network from Cambium Networks can mitigate the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) problem by converting NLOS connections into multiple short LOS hops.

Thus, it makes a cost-effective solution possible by significantly reducing the point of presence (PoP) sites where backhaul is provided.

Unlike Wi-Fi-based meshing, a 60 GHz solution does not lose capacity when traffic traverses through multiple hops.

This is because with Wi-Fi meshing, all nodes in the mesh network will be able to communicate with each other given the RF characteristic.

Also, Wi-Fi standards mandate ‘listen before talk’ protocol, meaning that Wi-Fi allows only one signal to transmit at a time.

This results in very high noise floor and, even worse, many times only one node in the meshing network would be able to transmit at a time.

In a 60 GHz meshing network, the signal degrades so quickly within a short distance that it allows multiple nodes in the mesh network to transmit/receive at the same time.

As the operators add new users, they can easily extend coverage by adding new DNs.

The total network capacity is completely determined by the total backhaul capacity. As the network grows, the operator can introduce additional PoP sites to increase total network capacity.

In conclusion, the explosive residential demand in ultrahigh broadband internet capacity brings both challenges and opportunities to the wireless internet service provider.

Cambium Networks’ 60 GHz technology provides a cost-effective solution that is well positioned to help communications service providers to mitigate the technical and business challenges while consistently satisfying end customers.

For more information contact Duxbury Networking, +27 (0) 11 351 9800, [email protected], www.duxbury.co.za