If you're trying to link multiple sites on a campus wirelessly, point-to-point can be complex. Each building must be tied together with its own, independent radio link. While this is certainly an option, there are alternatives.
A point-to-multipoint system, available from a variety of vendors including Alvarion and Proxim, is one way of serving multiple sites wirelessly in a star topology. Generally, a central building with a radio and an omindirectional antenna radiates a radio signal out equally in all directions, as opposed to a directional antenna that focuses a signal in one direction. Remote sites connect to the central location using directional antennas. Point-to-multipoint installations can be cost-effective, as you buy only one central radio to serve multiple buildings.
However, while a point-to-multipoint architecture can simplify deployment, it does so at the detriment of distance. For radio installations, the FCC places limitations on EIRP (effective isotropic radiated power). EIRP defines the amount of gain from both an antenna and an amplifier, emanating from the point of an antenna before the signal is attenuated as it interacts with the environment.
The FCC's restrictions on EIRP for point-to-multipoint links are much more restrictive than equivalent P2P links: A point-to-point link operating in the UNII-3 band (5.725 GHz to 5.825 GHz) can be up to 62 times more powerful than a point-to-multipoint link in the same band, simply due to EIRP restrictions. This limits the distance between sites in a point-to-multipoint topology compared with a similar P2P installation.
Another alternative is a mesh, where every radio can transmit to every other radio. This fault-tolerant topology has proved popular in the metro Wi-Fi market, where it provides wireless backhaul for access points, and in other situations where extremely reliable, fault-tolerant links are required. Not surprisingly, the cost-to-performance ratio can be high compared with equivalent P2P. And, mesh networks like those from BelAir Networks, Cisco, Motorola and Tropos Networks generally offer lower performance than competing P2P setups.
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