Hello,
I would like to provide Wi-Fi coverage for a large outdoor area and am looking for the right hardware.
Specifically, the area covers approximately 4 hectares with some trees. The access point could be mounted high up on a building so that it can cover the area from above.Which Mikrotik hardware would be best suited for this?
It depends...what kind of usage? Numbers, throughput...that kind of requirements?
In most cases, two clients will be connected: a smartphone and a Wi-Fi module of a two-axis device carrier (Ibex G2p).
Since there is no cell phone reception in this area, the connection is primarily intended to ensure that clients can make calls via Wi-Fi and are generally reachable. It will probably also be used for surfing the Internet, but that is rather negligible.
I think that sector antennas like https://mikrotik.com/product/mantbox_ax_15s would do the job but:
You have to do some test as the antenna is only one side of a connection. Remeber that phone or other computer do have limited Tx/Rx power so even if antennas would be strong enogh to cover area, then the phone signal could be too week to provide stable connection.
I agree with @BartoszP that the mANTBox ax 15s would probably be the easiest way to make this work. But at 4 hectares you will need multiple radios to ensure coverage across the property. As Bartosz mentioned, you’ll likely run into issues of the client’s signal getting back to the radio first before you run into not being able to receive the WiFi signal on the client.
When covering large areas where clients may be further apart you may also run into the “Hidden Node” problem. WiFi 6 with OFDMA alleviates the Hidden Node problem in the downlink direction, but in the uplink direction it still persists, so keep that in mind.
The main issue will become how to power them. If you intend mounting them on poles grounding will also become an issue. Luckily, the device has an SFP port. So you can run fibre back to wherever the network originates from. This makes it a lot easier, because you won’t have to worry about length limitations of copper Ethernet and ESD concerns via the copper wire back to the connection point at the origin point. But you still have to somehow get power to the radio.
But is it 200 m x 200 m (square or pseudo-square) or (say) 50 m x 800 m (narrow rectangle)?
A mantbox has a beam of roughly 120° width, would this cover all your area?
@Jaclaz Do not forget trees and consider bad weather that could put strain on signal
Sure, but what I mean is that if it is a perfect square and the mantbox is in one corner, the whole area will be covered (in the beam width, not necessarily in distance), and the furthest point will be almost 300 m (and there will be the issues of the clients signals you mentioned).
If it is a rectangle, and the mantbox is half-way of the longer side, not only the furthest point will be roughly 420 m distant, but the beam won't cover the area.
I mean:
Yes,
For the square we need 2 antennas strong enough to cover both opposite triangles of the area. Rectangle from the example needs 3. In both situations roaming is needed.
For the square the 200m could be too much for phone to communicate with base station.
One could put one or more self-standing poles with a receiver and an AP, nowadays solar powered setups are AFAIK rather reliable, though not exactly cheap.
Only thinking aloud, but a Cube Pro on the building could have a PtP link to one of such poles with another CUbe Pro (or a Cube SA to two or more Cube Pros as PtMP links) and then the signal could be propagated by an AP.
Or maybe a Wap 60 G would be enough?
A Cube Pro is around 10 W, the Wap only 5 W, that would make a difference.
As AP a Mantbox 15 s should be around 11 W, but it would as well have a 120° beam width, maybe an omnidirectional AP would be better suited.
Groove A52 ac? (only 5 W)
Something loosely like:
Hello, thank you for your replies.
The thing is, I can only provide Wi-Fi from one fixed location.
Specifically, it is a barn building that is connected to the internet via hAP ax lite LTE6 and also has Wi-Fi.
However, as described above, the surrounding farmland does not really have LTE reception, so I would like to provide Wi-Fi.
60% of the surrounding farmland is flat and 40% slopes towards the barn.
I will try to be more explicit.
There is no way you can cover 4 hectares with a single AP, the issue is not so much in power limitations (unless you have a licence to exceed the otherwise regulated power output of the AP), but in the power of the clients that you will use.
Let's say a common phone or laptop.
It will have hardly enough radio (transmit) power to establish a stable connection at more than - say - 50 meters distance from the AP, maybe 75 or so (each model may have different capabilities).
So you will need more than one AP, the question is more whether two, three or four will be needed, and this depends also on the shape of the area to cover and on the approach used.
The suggested Ptp (or PtMP) link+AP on a pole is one, with devices from other brands you could have a "mesh" of repeaters/extenders, but the "single AP on the building covering the whole area" is simply not possible.
Maybe you could invest some 140$ on a Mantbox 15 s and test which area it will cover (at a sufficient speed and stability for your needs) when placed on a pole on the roof of the building.
And from that start planning how to cover the remaining area.
