The Demand
The Gwangyang Bay Area, located in South Jeolla Province, South Korea includes the nearby Gwangyang, Yeosu, Yulchon Industrial Complex, and Myodo Island which is located in the center of bay area. The bay area, with over 150km square of hinterland, is also well-known for the global steelworks and marine tourism. Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs faces the challenge in implementing a project to build up a large-scale wireless communication network which provides not only free Wi-Fi internet access for visitors or ships’ crew in this area but also ship-specific information services over a wide range over water.
The wireless solution required has to provide wide wireless coverage for all of the users and crew in this wide range of area with minimum budget required. The weather-proof design is also a critical concern as the extreme weather condition in Gwangyang where there can be very windy, snowy or rainy, especially during the harsh and cold winter.
The Solution
After several wireless access and backhaul solutions were reviewed, Crofos Netowork, Edge-Core dual-band outdoor Bridge and Wireless Access Point, WA6202A / WA6202AM, is chosen as the outdoor Bridge / Access Points for this project.
Offering support for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz1(1a+b/g) radios, as well as the ability to provide point-to-point or point-to-multi-point connection, WA6202A/WA6202AM wins with the flexibility to satisfy both access and backhaul requirements. The WDS feature extends the wireless coverage by enabling the wireless interconnection without the wired backbone to link them. And the Power-Over-Ethernet capability enables the units to be installed in any ideal location while saving the time and cost to reach power outlets.
As for the critical concern caused by the extreme weather in the bay area, WA6202A / WA6202AM easily overcome the issue with the high standard of IP68 weather-proof design. This outdoor unit can withstand lightning up to +4KV of Input surge, wind survival up to 150 MPH, and operating temperature between -40 to 60 degree Celcius.
Approximately 100 units of WA6202A / WA6202AM are deployed in this project. There are four Base Transceiver Stations (BST) with four WA6202A connected by L2 switches, each WA6202A were configured as the slave units to receive the wireless signals while WA6202AM were configured as (point to point, or point to multipoint) master units to extend the range of the wireless network coverage further. The rest of the WA6202A units serve as access points that transmit service data to users’ end (Wi-Fi enabled devices like PC, laptop or PDA). The transmissions from the master to access points are set to use 5.8GHz radio with fewer legacy devices and virtually no interferers, while the transmission from access points to users’ ends are set to use certain channels of 2.4GHz radio.
The Result
‘The installation is easy and smooth, thanks to the RSSi LED indicator lights, 4 N-type connectors for diverse antenna options and Power-Over-Ethernet (POE) feature. These Edge-Core outdoor units can be easily upgraded or maintain configuration through Web, FTP or TFTP interface. In addition, the advanced security features like 802.1x (MD5, EAP-TTL, EAP-TTLS, PEAP), HTTPs, SSL, SSH, AES, TKIP, WEP, WPA, WPA2 makes WA6202A / WA6202AM the ideal choice for government or hotspot projects’ says Mr. Kim, the authorized partner of Edge-Core in South Korea. ‘The new wireless network system not only provides visitors with easy access to Wi-Fi services but also crew members with real-time safety information about ship operation. Moreover, the wireless network system will also be a great help in promoting the International Exposition Yeosu Korea 2012.’
Introducing Edge-Core Dual-Band Wireless Outdoor Bridge / Access Point System
Edge-Core dual-band outdoor bridge and wireless access point system is designed to bridge two or more wired LAN’s, while simultaneously providing wireless access to local or mobile users. It comes with two models. One unit can be set as a Master base station (WA6202AM) while others will be used in slave configuration (WA6202A).
WA6202AM (Master)
The Edge-Core WA6202AM is set (through software configuration) to serve as the master station, which is equipped with 4 N-Type connectors, 2 for 11a and 2 for 11g. WA6202AM provides only external antenna options and is designed to operate as the ‘root bridge’ in point-to-multipoint configurations, supporting wireless bridge connections to as many as six units.
WA6202A (Slave)
The Edge-Core WA6202A, on the other hand, is set to serve as the slave base station. Equipped with 3 N-Type connectors and an integrated high-gain antenna for the 802.11a radio, WA6202A is designed to operate as a ‘bridge node’ in point-to-multipoint configurations, or provide a high-speed point-to-point wireless link between two sites that can be up to 15.4 km (9.6 miles) apart.
