WiFi

CONXX utilizes Wi-Fi access units with digital beam forming technology. Digital beam forming exploits the multiple signals received and transmitted by the antenna array to improve the wireless signal quality. It does this by assuring that the signals in the different propagation paths to/from the user from/to the antennas, including the multipath, sum up into one coherent signal that maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio.

This coherent combining improves significantly the gain of the wireless link, thereby increasing the range, rate and penetration. The improvement in range and rate resulting from the beam forming gain are presented in Figure 1, where beam forming performance is compared to a conventional access point in typical non-line-of-sight propagation model. As can be clearly seen, beam forming more than doubles the range and provides much higher rates at given ranges.

The increased link gain provided by beamforming and MIMO (multiple input, multiple output), and its ability to exploit multipath rather than suffer from it, improves significantly the uniformity of the coverage and the penetration of walls and buildings.

Digital beamforming technology is also more resilient to interference because of the inherent directivity provided by the antenna array. In addition, digital beamforming provides much better mobility support. A beam-forming access point can communicate with a user at high data rates even when that user is traveling at up to 70 miles per hour.

A typical one-square mile block of coverage uses 15 beam forming Wi-Fi access points. This helps reduce the cost of a Wi-Fi installation. In addition, with the CONXX backbone in place there are no recurring monthly costs to provide backhaul access to the Wi-Fi access points (or any future access points).

All access point backhaul is provided via 5.8GHz, 5.4 GHz or 5.3GHz radios, and is designed to eliminate the need for any leased lines or other wireline backhaul. The number of access points that will be required for a broader deployment depends on the nature and location of the mounting assets, the terrain and population housing distribution. Historically, we see a range of 15-20 units per square mile.