Recommendations for code- and standards-compliant cabling and
installation of WAPs for professional wireless designers and installers
You have been working for months on a new wireless roll-out in a new building, renovation, or just a wireless upgrade. You are planning to install the newest WiFi access points from leading vendors and you have done extensive predictive modeling and on site measurements to ensure a high-density, highly-available wireless network. In your new network, "plugging in" is not an option for your highly mobile customers, so your wireless network is mission-critical.
Your wireless design is particularly challenging, due to the target building's construction styles and materials. You have to work with suspended ceilings, hard ceilings, high ceilings, high-density auditoriums, outdoor settings, and other difficult environments. Raising the bar on your design demands is the building architectural committee's desire to preserve historical or aesthetic values of the building. They would prefer the wireless access points just "disappear."
Adding to the challenge is the cabling supporting the wireless network should last for 15 years or more, requiring you to think about the emergence of new, faster wireless technologies, and how to leverage the installed cabling for new wireless technologies.
Improperly mounting, or connecting to, the wireless AP will degrade wireless performance, serviceability, and scalability. For example, it may be desirable aesthetically to hide the AP above a suspended ceiling or behind a wall, but the wireless designer knows there are drawbacks in performance and serviceability in doing so.
This article offers some solutions for properly installing and mounting WiFi access points for optimum performance, featuring solutions which are aesthetically acceptable in most environments without trading off performance. The article also discusses TIA compliant cabling solutions to wireless APs and emerging trends in high speed copper cabling.
WiFi in stadiums and entertainment arenas has become a necessity. Sports fans, concert attendees, and guests at special functions all want to be able to share their experience by posting videos, photos, tweets, and updates in real time.
Even outdoor venues and parks are amping up their WiFi access point deployments to accommodate this growing trend. In fact, the global market for Outdoor WiFi is expected to grow to $37.2 billion by 2018, a 141% increase in just five years.
However, outdoor and public venue access point deployments present a challenge beyond just aesthetics. Protection against impact damage and weather are vital, and security is important to stay on budget. With so many APs needed to provide reliable coverage in high density areas, constant replacements can be very costly.
Oberon has created a variety of solutions for Outdoor & Entertainment Venues to enhance the security and aesthetics of every WAP installation. Because each venue is unique and presents different challenges, many of these solutions are customizable. Oberon's "off-the-shelf" products create a base design, which can then be modified as needed to suit a particular environment or access point.
