Frequently Asked Questions on Wireless Technology
What is Anywhere Networks Mesh Technology?
Anywhere Networks Mesh is a patented technology of P2 Mobile Technologies Ltd. The developed technology allows for Anywhere Networks nodes to sustainable multi-hop connectivity with insignificant bandwidth degradation. It employs a simple network topology and channel allocation scheme to overcome the multi-hop throughput degradation problems.
Visit our Technology Page to read more about our Anywhere Network Mesh Technology.
How scalable is your technology?
Our wireless network based on the mesh architecture is very scalable. You can easily expand your network coverage with additional nodes to any existing Anywhere Networks mesh node to the network. While conventional mesh networks can only support a few hops before dropping to unusable throughput, our patented products support clusters of up to 64 nodes per configured network for easy maintenance and management.
Does your system provide redundancy?
resultsThe mesh architecture intrinsically provides a network with fail-over protection by forming a mesh loop likes FDDI in fibre architecture. When several Access Points (APs) are connected in a loop, every mesh node in the loop can be routed to another node by at least two different paths. When one path fails, it can route through the other path.
The resilient self-healing mechanism allows automatic switch over in seconds to an alternative path in case the normal path fails, and it supports auto-recovery.
The mesh architecture provides a high-cost saving in network redundancy as compared to conventional 1+1 redundancy, where the quantity of AP hardware and configuration complexity needs to be doubled.
How does the system avoid looping issues?
The mesh architecture provides extra redundancy to the network, whilst the protocol handles the looping. Our protocol provides a seamless Layer 2 environment for network connectivity to enable the Layer 3 routing protocol for packet routing to be used within the individual mesh cluster to eliminate Layer 2 loops within the mesh.
To prevent the possibility of switches from blocking the port in the case of identifying the mesh network as a loop due to having more than one port connected with our AN nodes, a BPDU filter feature can be enabled to filter their loop detection packet and prevent the blocking to resolve this issue.
How are Anywhere Networks wireless transmissions protected?
The wireless link is encrypted by WPA2 by default. And we provide AES 256 end-to-end encryption for extra security.
How does roaming work?
Roaming is a kind of client device function. A client device can choose by itself to roam from one Anywhere Access Point (AP) to another in the area covered by multiple Anywhere branded Access Points provided the configuration of APs are consistent.
Remark: Access Point functions are only available with the PTOS firmware.
What type of network planning is required?
As far as network planning required, coverage and throughput requirements must be considered when doing network planning including several factors, such as:
Line-of-Sight (LoS) conditions
indoor obstacle blockage
frequency bands
Wi-Fi standards
channel bandwidth
product type
antenna gain
We can provide a range calculator to assist in evaluating an achievable range and throughput for a given set of environmental conditions.
Our professional services team can provide the best practices and guidelines to you in our Technical Training Sessions for Anywhere Networks Channel Partners. For more information on how to plan your wireless network, contact us at connect@anywherenetworks.com.
What is the distance provided by Anywhere Networks Products?
The distance varies inversely with the throughput requirement and the antenna gain as with all wireless products.
Our Anywhere Networks X10, X20, and X30 Series can operate at their respective maximum throughput of 600 and 1,200 Mbps over a range of 1 km or more using their built-in antennas. When such a high throughput is not required, the range can go up to more than 24 km per linked node.
The Z100 supports around 200 meters with a Line-of-Sight access radius for both 2.4 and 5 GHz clients.
The Z500 supports a longer access range of about 400 m LOS (75° beamwidth) for 2.4 GHz clients and 500 m LOS (120° beamwidth) for 5 GHz clients.
Visit our Products Page to learn more about each individual product.
How are Anywhere Network Nodes configured and managed?
Anywhere Networks provides a single platform management software called the Anywhere Node Manager (A-NM). It is a user-friendly GUI software that allows for all Anywhere equipment to be configured and managed easily.
Do Anywhere Networks equipment require additional license fees?
No. Anywhere Networks equipment mainly utilizes the unlicensed 5.1-5.8GHz spectrum and therefore does not require additional license fees to be used.
Do Anywhere Networks products use TDD or FDD?
Anywhere Networks products use 802.11 (Wi-Fi) as our wireless protocol, it is a half-duplex protocol based on CSMA/CA (Carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance).
In the duplexing type, it is TDD because both uplink and downlink operate in the same frequency but there would not be any pre-defined allocation or fixed ratio in between.
As CSMA/CA is a contention-based multiple access protocol with random access which is not conflict-free like the TDMA, FDMA and CDMA, etc.
Reference of CSMA is a kind of TDD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_(telecommunications)#Time-division_duplexing
Duplex (telecommunications) – Wikipedia
But it is not the "TDD" that is generally used in the cellular network industry which also means the uplink and downlink frames have been scheduled (Superframe and subframe..) and have synchronization between the AP and clients.
Does Wi-Fi affect human health?
The definite answer to this question is NO. The influence of a standard AP that complies with FCC regulations on public’s health is much lower than that of mobile phones and much lower than the maximum permissible exposure value as set by the ICNIRP, a non-governmental organization formally recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The following are some facts about the Wi-Fi signals:
“Wi-Fi is a technique using very low-intensity radio waves. Whilst similar in wavelength to domestic microwave radiation, the intensity of Wi-Fi radiation is 100,000 times less than that of a domestic microwave oven.”
“The Health Protection Agency has said that sitting in a Wi-Fi hotspot for a year result in receiving the same dose of radio waves as making a 20-minute mobile phone call.”
Need More Support?
To learn more about the basics of wireless networking to boost your business revenue by saving time and mastering more system integration projects, contact us for a free consultation session at connect@anywherenetworks.com.