What is a Point-to-Point Wi-Fi Bridge, and why do I need one?
Sometimes you need to interconnect devices from a control station to a remote site and traditionally a network cable or fibre cable needs to be trenched between sites and installed in a protective conduit.
There can be many obstacles in the cable path including, roads, water, buildings, private land, distance limitations of copper cable and most importantly, cost. Wi-Fi bridging is one of the most cost-effective technologies for navigating these obstacles.
A Wi-Fi Bridge can be likened to a ‘virtual Ethernet cable’ between two points. A bridge should not alter the frames or data and should be ‘transparent’ to any devices that communicate over the bridge. Transparency is especially important to some industrial protocols that need to pass over the bridge unaltered.
A Wi-Fi Bridge sole purpose is to provide bridging – it does NOT perform Wi-Fi device access for devices. In fact, the Wi-Fi Bridge is not seen by Wi-Fi devices such as phones and laptops. If Wi-Fi device access, is required at either end of the bridge, then an additional Wi-Fi Access Point will be required.
Finally, “Point-to-Point” refers to the connection of two sites.
Where there can only be 1x Wi-Fi Bridge Access Point and 1x Wi-Fi Bridge Subscriber.
(See next month’s article on point-to-multipoint bridging)
When you purchase a Cambium Wi-Fi bridge from ECS, we will validate your request to ensure you are getting the correct product for your application.
ECS have qualified network engineers that can advise all stages of the build from concept to integration. Our advanced Link-Planner software uses Google Maps and GPS to validate aerial height, obstacles, and performance. Additionally, we have an in-house setup team that can build you a turn-key solution delivered directly to your door.
What are some devices you can connect across a Wi-Fi bridge?
- Security Cameras/Systems
- Serial devices RS232/RS485
- IO Devices etc.
- Plus more...
Cambium ePMP Force 300-19R Wi-Fi Bridge
The ePMP Force 300-19R is a powerful yet affordable subscriber module compatible with the ePMP 3000 and ePMP 2000 to ease the migration into the 802.llac Wave 2 technology.
Combining the latest 802.llac Wave 2 technology and the field proven scalable performance of ePMP™, the Force 300-19R delivers up to 600 Mbps of capacity. It has a 19 dbi integrated antenna with a narrow beamwidth and reliable IP67 mechanics.
This SM is excellent for areas where severe weather occurs often or in industrial, enterprise and government applications where IP67 and other security features are important.
The ePMP Force 300-19R also supports 4.9 GHz in FCC jurisdictions which along with 5/10 MHz channels in PTP topology makes it a great solution for CCTV and video surveillance solutions.