Wi-Fi Connectivity Solution Tindal RAAF Construction Camp

Posted by Powertec on December 7, 2018 with 0 Comment

Business Profile

Tindal RAAF construction camp is located 15km outside Katherine and 320km south-east of Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The newly completed accommodation has been developed for construction workers at Tindal RAAF base.

The 120 demountables have been relocated from Darwin. The development is arranged in double-storey clusters. Covered walkways link the building clusters and the mess hall.

Aim:

Successfully achieve Wi-Fi coverage throughout the entire construction camp

Overcome range and penetration issues as a result of building materials
Clean design, minimise visible wiring

Products Used

50 x Altai A3c
4 x Altai C1xan
8 x 5G 9dBi Omni Antenna
AltaiCare Management System

Application:

Ensuring continuous Wi-Fi signal and connectivity within the construction camp.

There are several solid materials that the signal needs to be dispersed around.

The Challenge

As an active construction camp, a secure, robust wireless network was required.

Powertec responded to the tender for a local, reputable company to complete this install. Powertec’s Technical Engineer, Geoff Carroll developed a design to maximise connectivity throughout all areas of the construction camp, with minimal visible wiring.

The Solution

A3c product was selected for its superior range, distance and penetration through solid materials. The choice of positioning underneath walkways and n enclosures reduced the visibility of the wiring throughout the camp.

The C1xan units linked the access points together via Wi-Fi rather than using cables.

The AltaiCare Management System allows the user to see: who is connected to the network, when they are connected, high traffic areas and ensures the connection is running well. This can be accessed by any device on or off the camp, providing constant visibility of the Wi-Fi connection and all the data that is collected.

This product was also used during construction phase to ensure full coverage and remained in place after the construction was completed.

Commentary

The Wi-Fi installation was a great success, providing signal coverage across all areas that were required.

The AltaiCare Management System is used regularly to ensure the connectivity is continuous as well as where the most users are connecting and utilising the Wi-Fi at the camp.

WiFi Solution for Automated Warehouses

Posted by Powertec on October 26, 2018 with 0 Comment

Automated Warehouses demanding High Performance WiFi Network

The more popular brands in the marketplace are just not cutting it in terms of performance for automated warehouses. Typically, taking a warehouse using AGVs for shelf moving and order picking as an example, an A8-Ein(ac) base station could fully cover a warehouse of 8,000 m2 (100m x 80m), and an A3-Ei AP could also fully cover a warehouse of 5,000 m2. In contrast, for a solution using common APs, the coverage radius of an AP is typically around 10m, and to fully cover a warehouse of 8,000 m2, more than 20 APs would be required.

With the boom of e-commerce, especially the online-to-offline (O2O) shopping, major players in e-commerce and logistics (e.g., Amazon, Alibaba, JD, etc.) have been investing significantly in building automated warehouses, to improve the efficiency, minimise human errors, and reduce the cost.

In an automated warehouse, robots (e.g., automated guided vehicles or AGVs) move the materials or even the shelves to designated locations under the control of the back-end management system. To keep the system operating smoothly and effectively, a high-performance and stable wireless network which provides the communication channel between the robots and back-end control system is crucial. WiFi, due to its technical maturity, unlicensed spectrum, and abundant terminals/cards available, has become the most common choice of the wireless network for automated warehouses.

On the other hand, automated warehouses typically have complex and changing internal layout, with many robots working simultaneously, which pose some challenging requirements on the WiFi network, among which below are the most important ones.

High-quality signal coverage. A robot should get strong-enough signal from the AP (and vice versa for the uplink) wherever it moves in the warehouse (e.g., the corners, under the shelves), so that it will not lose communication with the back-end control system, thus halt at somewhere potentially blocking the working aisle for other robots;
Redundant coverage. Even if some WiFi AP stops working, the robots in its service area should be able to connect to some other AP nearby to resume the communication with the back-end control system;
Fast roaming support for WiFi terminals. A warehouse is typically deployed with more than one AP. When AGVs move inside the warehouse, they may need to switch from one AP to another. The WiFi network should be able to help them achieve fast roaming among the APs, so that the operation will not be slowed down or even suspended due to delayed/failed roaming;
High capacity. An automated warehouse can easily have tens or hundreds of AGVs. Its WiFi network should be able to provide high-speed and stable communication service to these AGVs simultaneously;
Network security. As the communication platform for a control system, the WiFi network of an automated warehouse should enable authentication and encryption, and only admit designated devices (e.g., AGVs and handheld scanners, but not personal smartphones).

Altai Super WiFi Solution

Altai Technologies is the world-leading large-coverage outdoor WiFi solution provider. Via Powertec, their distributor in Australia and New Zealand, they apply their Super WiFi technology and products to automated warehouses, and provide an exceptional solution to warehouse customers.

Super Coverage

Altai Super WiFi APs have super large coverage. In line-of-sight (LOS) condition, A8-Ein(ac) base station can provide coverage up to 1.7km to normal clients (laptops, smartphones, etc.), and A3-Ei AP can also cover up to 1km. Thanks to such super coverage capability, by installing a single such AP at a high place at one of the corners of the warehouse, blanket WiFi coverage can be provided in the warehouse without any blind spot. See below figure for the illustration.

One of the major reasons that Altai Super WiFi APs have such great coverage capability is the high-gain wide-beam antenna. The built-in antenna array of A8-Ein(ac) has a gain of 19dBi and 3dB horizontal beam width of 80°. A3-Ei also has an antenna gain up to 13dBi and beam width up to 80°. Moreover, their mounting kits support a maximum down-tilt angle of 30°, which enables them to have flexible down-tilt angle during installation according to the installation height and the size of the warehouse, so as to achieve the best coverage.

Typically, taking a warehouse using AGVs for shelf moving and order picking as an example, an A8-Ein(ac) base station could fully cover a warehouse of 8,000 m2 (100m x 80m), and an A3-Ei AP could also fully cover a warehouse of 5,000 m2. In contrast, for a solution using common APs, the coverage radius of an AP is typically around 10m, and to fully cover a warehouse of 8,000 m2, more than 20 APs would be required.

Coverage Redundancy

Automated Warehouses have heavy workload, which poses high requirement on the stability of the system. As the communication platform for AGVs and the backend control system, the WiFi network must be able to provide quality service persistently. Therefore, coverage (or AP) redundancy has become one of the important requirements for the WiFi network of an automated warehouse. Since Altai Super WiFi APs have super large coverage, the redundancy solution is direct and simple. As illustrated in the below figure, we just need to install another AP at the diagonal location of the initial AP. Both APs could provide full coverage of the warehouse individually. When one of them fails, all the AGVs could be served by the other one.

Fast Roaming Support

When a warehouse is covered by multiple APs, AGVs may have to roam among APs, which can potentially cause AGV pauses and service interruptions if the handover is not done properly and timely. Thanks to the super large coverage of the APs, Altai Super WiFi solution minimises the number of APs required and hence the chances for AGV roaming, and its adverse impact on the services.

On the other hand, Altai Super WiFi APs have mechanisms in the firmware to support clients to achieve fast roaming. Except the 802.11k/v/r standards related to fast roaming, Altai Super WiFi APs have also implemented some special mechanisms that can help with fast roaming, for example, setting a minimum SNR a client needs to have to keep associated with an AP.

AGVs typically use mPCIe or USB WiFi cards, of which the driver may not implement a fast-roaming mechanism. Therefore, the roaming performance may still be suboptimal even with AP’s support for fast roaming. Altai provides industrial-grade CPEs (C1ni/C1ani) which support tuning a variety of roaming parameters (e.g., scanning interval, RSSI threshold, etc.) according to the actual environment to achieve the best roaming performance. When working with Altai Super WiFi APs, C1ni/C1ani can achieve a roaming latency < 100ms even under WPA2-PSK authentication. Therefore, if an AGV can be equipped with an Altai industrial CPE, its roaming performance will be significantly improved. Altai C1ni/C1ani industrial CPEs have a dimension of 197mm x 96mm x 29mm, and use Ethernet as the wired network interface. Medium to large-size AGVs have a good chance to be able to install them.

Dual Band Coverage and Channel Planning

Currently a great portion of the AGVs in use only support 2.4GHz WiFi. But because of the limited number of available channels and high interference in the 2.4GHz band, more and more AGVs start to support 5GHz WiFi. A future- proof WiFi network for an automated warehouse should support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz simultaneously. Altai Super WiFi APs support dual-band dual- concurrent (DBDC) operation.

There are 13 channels in the 2.4GHz band (without considering the channel 14 which is only available in Japan). The channel spacing is 5MHz while the channel width is 20MHz (or more accurately 22MHz). Therefore, there are only 3 non-overlapping channels at the same time, e.g., channel 1/6/11 which are commonly used in WiFi network channel planning (other combinations like 2/7/12 are seldom used in planning because they overlap/interfere with the most commonly used 1/6/11).

802.11n supports two channel modes: HT20 uses only one channel, while HT40 implements channel bonding so that two adjacent channels (e.g. channel 1 and 5) can be used together to have a 40MHz channel width and doubled throughput. Due to the limited number of available channels, it is recommended to use HT20 mode only in the 2.4GHz band, so that we still have channel 1/6/11 for channel assignment of the whole network.

Obviously, in 2.4GHz band fewer APs would mean easier channel assignment and less inter-AP interference. Altai Super WiFi solution has an advantage in this regard.

The 5GHz band has more than 600MHz spectrum width, and much more channels than 2.4GHz band (the actual number of available channels depends on the local regulations). Hence the channel planning is relatively easier. On the other hand, the 802.11ac standard operating in 5GHz band not only supports HT20 and HT40 channel modes, but also supports HT80. When the number of AGVs is not high, HT20 can typically fulfill the bandwidth/capacity requirements; when the number of AGVs is high, HT40 can be considered; HT80 is in general unnecessary.

AGV Capacity Planning

Not only do Altai Super WiFi APs have super large coverage, but they also have high capacity (concurrent clients). For warehouse AGV type of applications, the recommended max number of AGVs connected to a single Super WiFi AP is shown in the below table, i.e., 80 AGVs per radio (2.4GHz and 5GHz), and when in DBDC mode, 160 AGVs per AP.

	2.4GHz	5GHz	Total
Recommended Max # ofAGVs per Super WiFi AP	80	80	160

Network Security

For information security, the SSID for AGV access should enable authentication and encryption. In general, it is recommended to use WPA2-PSK authentication + AES encryption.

To further enhance the security by preventing non-working WiFi terminals (e.g., personal smartphones of the workers in the warehouse) from connecting to the SSID, MAC access control list (ACL) function can be enabled with black and white lists properly set.

Reference Case

Case 1: Warehouse of a famous e-commerce company
• Area of 10,000 m2;
• Shelves of 3 layers, with height around 2m;
• 1xA8-Ein(ac) for full coverage;
• 45 AGVs working simultaneously

Fixing a Breakdown in nbn Connectivity

Posted by Powertec on June 20, 2018 with 0 Comment

Narrabri Breakdown Services – Fixing a Breakdown in nbn Connectivity

Business Profile

Narrabri Breakdown Service is a small regional business based in the small town of Narrabri NSW, 521km from Sydney with a population of around 6,000. Julie and her partner operate the Breakdown Service from a home office and via a workshop on their property.

Like many rural and regional businesses, they suffer from poor connectivity in general but specifically unreliable connection via NBN Satellite. Connectivity was getting so bad that even logging onto the Satellite was a problem, often bringing their business to a standstill.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-02/sky-muster-service-massively-improved-in-rural-areas-nbn-says/8488884

Business Needs

Brenton Roy, Powertec Northern NSW Sales Manager was speaking with one of his clients when they asked him to consult with Julie to come up with a solution for the NBN Satellite service problems she was experiencing within their home business.

After an initial meeting to review the site and the client problems, Brenton did an online survey of the address to work out whether a cellular option would be a good alternative for them. Optus was the business carrier so the survey reviewed the business location and the Optus towers in the area to define whether the signal was sufficient to proceed down this path.

The Cellular signal report (below) shows perfect line of sight with only 3.32km to tower, although aim back (broadcast direction of tower) was ‘Weak’ because it was under 5kms. Brenton recommended the Wideband Yagi to achieve a quality connection. Before progressing on a set-up like this you would normally look for a ‘Good’ or ‘Strong’ aim back. But after consulting with Powertec Technical Head, Brenton and he both they felt that the close distance, in combination with the right antenna would ensure there would be no issues. Powertec provided a money back guarantee to the client that the install would be successful.

Product/s Used

Robustel R2000-4L V2 Wifi 3G/4G Router Cat 4

The Robustel GoRugged R2000 V2 with Wi-Fi is a rugged 2G/3G/4G router offering state-of-the-art mobile connectivity for machine to machine (M2M) applications. This product is also for those that want an industrial 3G/4G modem for an internet connection, that can handle higher temperatures and robust applications. Supports the new 4GX / 700Mhz band (B28)

Altai C1n Access Point 2.4GHz

The Altai C1n Access Point is designed to increase WiFi signal strength (transmission and reception) as well as the client’s throughput.

±45° dual slant patch antennas are optimised … so it provides 3 dB more gain as compared to other V/H polarized CPEs. The high performance antenna with 20 dB front-to back ratio, is on average 5 dB better than others in directional transmission without picking up unwanted signal.

Blackhawk Wideband LPDA Antenna 698 – 2700 MHz 8/9 dBi (ANT-BH-YG-300)

All Blackhawk Antennas come with a 5-year warranty. The Blackhawk wideband antenna is a fantastic little antenna providing good performance with a lightweight, low cost design. There’s plenty of situations where a big, solid metal antenna is necessary, but also plenty where something quick and small can be just as useful. This antenna is great for areas where indoor signal is weak, and only a simple antenna on the roof is enough to give a fantastic improvement.

The Solution

The solution was cost effective and easy to set up.

The final products used consisted of an Optus Mobile Broadband sim in a Robustel R2000 V2 router with a Blackhawk Wideband Yagi positioned on the roof of their workshop and pointed at the Optus tower to receive the cellular signal. This set up achieved 40mbps consistent download and 20mbps consistent upload speeds. The router is receiving 5 bars of Optus 4G+ signal.

The signal was then broadcast across specific areas of their property using an Altai C1n Access point. This meant that they were now working with a full Wi-Fi signal throughout the house and surrounds.

Commentary

Where once they struggled to log in online, now the process is instant.

The system is working so well, Julie and her partner are reviewing whether to add another Altai C1n Access Point to broadcast the signal in the opposite direction where they work on their vehicles to enable them to log work without going back into the office.

The client has also completely discarded satellite services as the new solution has not dropped below 30mbps download at any point and is 100% reliable.

For more information on mobile and Wi-Fi solutions, please contact Powertec WiFi on [email protected]

Wi-Fi For Healthcare

Posted by Powertec on April 30, 2018 with 0 Comment

The Super WiFi Dr is in!

A South East Queensland Regional Hospital is a well-known institution in the area providing acute care for the region.

The Hospital has grown exponentially since starting operation, opening with 42 beds and more than tripling this number throughout their years in operation. The building is situated across a 5 acre site which lends itself to future growth.

The hospital is committed to the community and its health needs. To this end they are continually improving and upgrading their facilities to ensure the highest level of care is available for its patients. As part of their continual improvement they had the foresight to invest in communications to support new medical technologies and process improvement.

Business Needs

With their emphasis on continuous improvement, it was clear that the legacy Wi-Fi system needed an upgrade. The current system was outdated and was not coping with existing requirements nor could it support the expected growth of the Hospital with the expected medical technological advances.

The hospital ICT Department contacted local Communications expert RDH Integration Services who specialise in providing business communications and asked them to provide a solution to support their next phase of growth.

In the initial stages, RDH were brought in alongside a competitor; both went onsite for an initial consultation and site survey. Both parties provided a quote and RDH Integration was able to supply heat maps comparing the predictive coverage of their proposed Wi-Fi solution in comparison to that of their competitor.

The predictive survey maps clearly showed that the RDH solution utilising Altai Super WiFi would not only outperform the competing brand in terms of coverage, but required around half the number of access points, resulting in a more economical solution for the Hospital.

Images: Predictive survey maps showing competitor coverage comparison

Wifi for healthcare — Altai AP Count Level 1 = 20

Altai AP Coverage map 1 floor; AP = 20 — Altai AP Coverage map Level 1; AP Count = 20

Competitor Coverage Level 1, AP Count = 32 — Competitor Coverage Map Level 1, AP Count = 32

Product/s Used

32 x A3c Access Points (over 3 floors, compared with a competitor count of 65)

The Altai A3c Dual-band Access Point is designed to provide the highest speed 2.4 and 5 GHz dual-band dual-concurrent access coverage specifically for indoor areas.

The A3c has both a 2.4 GHz (3×3:3 802.11b/g/n) radio and a high capacity 5 GHz (3×3:3 802.11a/n/ac) radio which can be operated at the same time for 2.4 and 5 GHz dual-band dual-concurrent access coverage. The dual-band operation not only provides the highest capacity up to 1.75 Gbps but also performs better in the less interfered 5 GHz frequency band. The ceiling-mounted design of A3c can be installed exactly on the ceiling where the capacity is required.

AltaiCare cloud based, zero configuration for secure AP management

Designed for simplicity and ease of use, AltaiCare is a cloud-based network management solution to provide a simple, secure and cost-effective way for WISPs and enterprises to manage their WiFi networks.

By using the Altaicare cloud platform, the Wireless Access Points were able to distinguish which channels were available for channel separation.

Zero configuration allows a non-technical person to simply unpack and plug APs to WiFi network; the APs will automatically get configuration and firmware from AltaiCare
Owing to AltaiCare’s local breakout architecture and CAPWAP protocol, management data that goes to the cloud is securely encrypted in SSL, while data and control traffic stays local
Allows IT managers of enterprises to quickly set up secure access for their internal network, as well as provide hotspots to accommodate guest access
Pay-as-you-grow subscription model of AltaiCare results in lower OPEX
AltaiCare’s location-aware advertising services enables additional revenue from advertising

Install Process

Within a very short time after getting the go ahead to proceed, RDH had completed the install, taking less than a week to have it up and running, minimising any disruption to the running of the Hospital. The solution has the ability to grow as the hospital building and their requirements grow.

Although there was double the amount of Wireless Access Points originally, with double the amount of data outlets already installed, the coverage of the A3 Wireless Access Points meant that some additional cabling had to be installed in new locations. RDH was able to relocate and re-purpose multiple outlets and provide coverage in new locations that had never had coverage before.

Working with Powertec allowed RDH to provide the hospital with maximum wireless coverage, and a seamless change over. RDH was able to run both the existing and new installations simultaneously with no adverse affect to any patients or doctors.

Contact Us Today about your own Healthcare Wi-Fi or Indoor Wi-Fi Options

For more information on indoor or outdoor Wi-Fi solutions throughout the Queensland area, you can contact Rowyn from RDH Integration Services by email: [email protected]

Powertec have access to a number of installers across Australia who specialise in planning and installation in hostile environments like hospitals and warehouses. For a referral to a local expert on mobile and Wi-Fi solutions in your area, please contact us at Powertec on 07 5577 0500 or [email protected]

Guest Accommodation WiFi

Posted by Powertec on April 27, 2018 with 0 Comment

Guest Accommodation WiFi

Business Profile

Nestled in the heart of historic NSW, 335km North of Sydney is the town of Wingham.

Wingham is a rural NSW town steeped in rich agricultural history and gateway to the Manning Valley, overflowing with natural sights to be found in their mountain streams, rivers, lagoons and estuaries. The typically English town square is also surrounded by a number of historical buildings such as the heritage listed Post Office, Victorian style Arts hall, Federation style police station and Georgian Revival style Court House.

The 17 room pet friendly Wingham Motel is within walking distance to many popular local venues at the heart of Wingham Town. The Motel has a great reputation in the area consistently receiving good reviews….. with the exception of their internet access.

Business Needs

The Wingham Motel contacted local wireless networks expert Hawkins Electronics to assist them with their wireless upgrade.

Owner Brad Hawkins did a site visit prior to install. The Motel is shaped in a large L with the offices (and internet source) in the front, causing access problems for the units at the back of the site. Brad determined that Altai products would provide the best outcome for the Motel. Minimal quantities of access points required, and providing a large coverage area.

Product/s Used

2x Altai C1n to provide WiFi Access
2x Altai C1an to provide the Wireless Bridge

Altai C1n in Access Point Mode

The C1n is a key component in wireless broadband access provisioning. It can be installed outdoors by the side of a window, mounted to a wall, at the rooftop of a building or placed at the desktop inside for fixed broadband access provisioning. The C1n can also be used as a standalone WiFi access point for smaller networks supporting 802.11b/g/n clients.

Altai C1an in Wireless Bridge Mode

The C1an is perfect for use as low cost point-to-point bridge, in deployment scenarios such as commercial wireless broadband users or high definition surveillance cameras.

Business Benefits

The install was done within 1 day, causing no impact to guests. Hawkins Electronics took meticulous care of the details to ensure that everything was done perfectly – UV stabilised cable for exposed areas, 40mm conduit masting to avoid a null from metal masting, new cabling from the initial switch to the office Access Point and the Bridge.

Owner Brad Hawkins said, “Another great result. 17 rooms. The worst signal was around -50dBm. Booming through. As I said, a great result.”

Contact Us Today about your own Guest Accommodation WiFi Options

For more information on mobile and Wi-Fi solutions throughout the mid NSW coastal area, please contact Brad Hawkins owner of Hawkins Electronics on 02 6552 2288 or by email on [email protected].

Powertec have access to a number of installers across Australia who specialise in planning and installation suitable for guest accommodation Wi-Fi. For a referral to a local expert on mobile and Wi-Fi solutions in your area, please contact us at Powertec on 07 5577 0500 or [email protected]

Outdoor Wireless Network Solution for Tourist Spots

Posted by Powertec on April 13, 2018 with 0 Comment

Overview

The Maldives sits in the Indian Ocean comprising of 26 round atolls made up of more than 1,000 coral islands. Known for its beaches, it’s a popular place for holidays for those who want to relax and explore the lagoons.

The Problem

While tourists are keen to embrace nature and sit back and destress, they still want to stay connected. To satisfy the needs of modern day voyagers, the largest telecommunication service provider in Maldives, Dhiraagu, was tasked with the initiative to provide Wi-Fi service across a variety of different tourist spots.

Given that Maldives is one of the world’s most dispersed countries, and most of the tourist attractions are widely open outdoor areas such as beaches, parks and piers, which have very limited sites to set up access points, this task couldn’t be handled by many brand name Wi-Fi suppliers in a cost-effective manner.

The Solution for Outdoor Wireless Networks

In response to Dhiraagu’s appeal, Altai offered Super Wi-Fi solution with Altai patented smart antenna which can support an outdoor Wi-Fi coverage as far as 1.7 km. This long-range coverage allows the project to equip significantly less APs than other competitors’ proposals, suitable for installation in outdoor open areas. The reduced amount of APs also led to a simpler but quicker deployment process and lowered the CAPEX as well as OPEX. Coverage for Altai products typically can provide up to 90% few installation sites for the same coverage area.

The telecom company was amazed by Altai’s unique Wi-Fi technologies and satisfied with the budget. As a result of a successful installation, more and more locations in Maldives are now being installed with Altai’s APs.

The Product – Altai A8n: Super WiFi Base Station 802.11n Flexible Large Area Outdoor WiFi

The world’s leading 802.11n WiFi outdoor access point optimised for maximum coverage and highest throughput from a minimum number of installation sites. The Altai A8n has been designed to provide industry best coverage and capacity without complicated networking protocols or the need for a high density of transmitters.

The A8n is a multi-radio base station utilising 8×8 MIMO smart antenna technologies and a patented signal processing algorithm to provide the industry’s best coverage per base station, especially in non-line-of sight (NLOS) environments. The multiple antennas of the A8n can be configured to provide coverage that is optimised for area, pattern and elevation. The multi-beam antennas of the A8n is designed to provide up to 3 times the range and 10 times the per site coverage as standard access point. Accordingly, up to 90% fewer installation sites for the same coverage area.

Contact Us Today about Your Outdoor Wireless Network Options

For more information on mobile and wi-fi solutions throughout Australia please contact Powertec. We have access to a number of installers across Australia who specialise in planning and installation outdoor wireless Networks. For a referral to a local expert on mobile and Wi-Fi solutions in your area, please contact us on 07 5577 0500 or [email protected]

Wi-Fi for CCTV Networks

Posted by Powertec on January 25, 2018 with 0 Comment

Wi-Fi for CCTV Networks

Located beneath the foothills of the Atlas Mountains in the heart of the Medina, Jamaa el-Fna has served as Marrakech’s main market square since its foundation in the 11th century.

It is a lively source of entertainment for the local community as well as travelers, the marketplace functions as both a traditional market and an open-air stage for various musical, religious, and theatrical performances.

In order to improve the security of local residents and tourists across the main square, the management office of Jamaa el-Fna has decided to install surveillance cameras around the main square.

Altai teamed up with its strategic partner in Morocco to submit a joint proposal for this project based on Altai’s A2 series. With detail site survey and planning, the Jamaa el-Fna now has a reliable and high performance Super WiFi network to connect all the surveillance cameras without expensive cabling, thus saving significant installation cost as well as providing them with the flexibility to add additional surveillance cameras in the future.

Contact Us Today about your own Wi-Fi for CCTV Network Options

For more information on mobile and wi-fi solutions throughout Australia please contact Powertec. We have access to a number of installers across Australia who specialise in planning and installation Wi-Fi for CCTV networks. For a referral to a local expert on mobile and Wi-Fi solutions in your area, please contact us on 07 5577 0500 or [email protected]

Smart City Wireless Network

Posted by Powertec on January 25, 2018 with 0 Comment

Smart City Wireless Network in Hawaii

Following Altai’s successful smart city deployments in different regions around the world including Australia, Mexico, South Africa, China, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and more, it has partnered with the local expert Sun Global Broadband (SGB), to provide wireless connectivity for Hawaii.

The initial phase of testing took place over the amazing beaches of Waikiki with the green light given to a more widespread roll out.

The solution by SGB provides unique “hand-off” capabilities and continuous HD video capabilities not usually associated with Wi-Fi. SGB and its partners designed this network for multi-country, single sign-on capabilities for the international visitor industry. Specialised software supporting multiple languages over a private network will provide travel and location based applications for cultural exchange between international travelers, Hawaiian businesses, the Hawaiian community, and Asian and North American networks.

Spreading over 177sq.km, phase 1 of the island-wide Wi-Fi network has been completed with outdoor wireless coverage from Diamond Head, Waikiki, Ala Moana to Ward Villages.

The supplied wireless network serves as an unparalleled wireless enabler to all the system users including Municipality, MNO’s and Enterprises, for different revenue-generating Wi-Fi services and smart city applications. SGB’s unique network design provides low latency, high availability for superior quality HD video streaming, efficient VoWiFi, and highly robust connectivity for smart city applications. Unlike other access points, Altai’s 8×8 MIMO smart antenna technology is able to provide much wider and larger overlapping macro coverage with significantly less AP’s.

The technology also offers a seamless roaming Wi-Fi experience to any mobile device. Combined with AltaiCare, a powerful cloud based controller with AP and access management, advertising engine, big data analytics and more, it allows the installer to manage the wireless network under one touch.

SGB has benefited in a significant reduction of the total cost of ownership and a much faster scale of deployment. The new Wi-Fi network is like a cellular network at a fraction of the cost.

Altai’s patented Super WiFi technologies provides the foundation of the smart cities of tomorrow. When cities are becoming more connected, all stakeholders can benefit. MNO’s can benefit from the revenue generation and governments can make wiser decisions from the smart data collected through the network. In general, connectivity can indirectly help improve the sustainability of a community or in a larger scale the country’s economy.

Contact Us Today about your own Smart City Wireless Network Options

For more information on mobile and wi-fi solutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, please contact Powertec. We have access to a number of installers who specialise in planning and installation for Smart Cities. To discuss your solution or for a referral to a local expert on mobile and Wi-Fi solutions in your area, please contact us at Powertec on 07 5577 0500 or [email protected]

Upgrading Wi-Fi in World Class Resort

Posted by Powertec on December 19, 2017 with 0 Comment

Upgrading Wi-Fi in a Worldclass Resort

Overview

Often called ‘heaven’ the 5 star Philea Resort & Spa in Melaka, Malaysia lies within an idyllic forest setting amongst waterfalls and nature providing peace and tranquility for guests. Unfortunately the thick forest put its own limitations on the outdated Wi-Fi set-up throughout the resort to the point that the business owners needed to review upgrading Wi-Fi.

Challenge

The existing network in this log resort in Malaysia needed an upgrade to provide full coverage both indoors and outdoors. Outdoor villas spread throughout the rolling hills and lush green forest – all needing to be connected.

Altai was chosen specifically because it was one of the few solutions with the capability to penetrate thick forest, and provide less installation sites due to its superior coverage.

Result

The resort is now fully covered by the Wi-Fi network for both indoors and outdoor areas.

Smart Campus – University Wi-Fi Installation

Posted by Powertec on December 19, 2017 with 0 Comment

University Wi-Fi Installation

The Result

Campuses are challenging environments for wireless networks because of the campus size, and high user capacity. Altai’s patented Super WiFi solution provides the coverage, user density, security and bandwidth that was required for this University Wi-Fi Installation – not just for today, but scalable to accommodate future growth. The next stage of the network expansion plan will be kicked-off in the first half of 2018 to cope with the increasing number of users expected.

Overview

Established in 1990, the Ibn Zohr University (Université Ibnou Zohr “UIZ”) is a public higher education institution located in Agadir , Morocco.

The initiative to deploy a Wi-Fi network throughout the campus of the Faculty of Science was to enable various mobile applications within the campus, and encourage interactive learning amongst students and professors.

The university approached an Altai Super Wifi partner in Morocco to conduct a site survey and recommend a wireless solution that would provide both students and staff with fast and reliable connectivity across its campuses.

After several trials against competing products, Altai’s Super WiFi Solution was quickly identified as the best-fit solution – it was proven effective in many schools and universities across different regions around the world. The award-winning Altai Super WiFi Solution has significantly improved the Wi-Fi signal coverage by 10 times per access point and 5 times the capacity to provide 100% indoor and outdoor coverage.

The Challenge

Very dynamic environment with specific requirements due to the huge campus size, high user capacity and high network security
The wireless network covers both indoor and outdoor areas with both needing reliable coverage
Deployment had to be fast and unobtrusive plus scalable to grow with requirements and the University size

The Solution

With various antenna downtilt on different sectors, the Altai A8ns’ were installed on light poles to provide large area outdoor Wi-Fi coverage while C1ns’ are used as CPE’s (Customer Premise Equipment) to extend the Wi-Fi signal from outdoor to indoor areas. Altai A2s’ were installed to provide micro coverage in some corner areas.

In order to manage the network effectively, all the access points were connected with the Altai Wireless Management System (“AWMS”) for network management and monitoring.

The Result

The Altai super long range Wi-Fi technologies provide extensive network coverage for the whole university. The new wireless network has enabled many new mobile applications and encourages communications among students and professors.