Question WIFI coverage for a mile long open area

[frikkie228]

Hi Everyone,

I have an railway siding, about a mile long and about 150yards wide, that needs to be covered by wifi.
I have an office on one end. see red x


WIFI Help1640×818 224 KB


Limited power outlets on this stretch.

Any clever people out there with some suggestions on how i can achieve this?

Thanks

 

[cruisetung]

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Transmission-Wireless-Injector-CPE710/dp/B08D71HC9L

up to 30km+ according to spec

5GHz AC 867Mbps 23dBi Outdoor CPE

5GHz AC 867Mbps 23dBi Outdoor CPE

www.tp-link.com

No idea how wide it can cover.

Review by one of the customers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...ef=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B08D71HC9L

 

[faalin]

https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/wifi-outdoor/products/u6-mesh-pro

2000 feet squared so about 1000 feet out from the center point. Unit can be powered by PoE so no need to run power to the unit.

I run a AC Mesh Pro on the outside of my brick chimney to cover my yard. I can get around 1300feet away from it before loosing signal

 

[bill001g]

What do you mean "wifi coverage"

Lots of solutions that would let you send wifi between 2 location over a long distance. They all use some form of directional antenna to accomplish this.

If you want to allow random end devices to connect the problem is the end device. The end devices still have their tiny antenna. To some extent a directional antenna on one end can help but this is all going to be trial and error. If these are not things like mobile phones and you can change the antenna then maybe that is a option. Otherwise it will be hard to say if any particular device will work. The wifi standard is only really designed to be used at 100 meters maximum. It will all greatly depend on if there are any other wifi signals from other sources in the area interfering.

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Hi Everyone,

I have an railway siding, about a mile long and about 150yards wide, that needs to be covered by wifi.
I have an office on one end. see red x


WIFI Help1640×818 224 KB


Limited power outlets on this stretch.

Any clever people out there with some suggestions on how i can achieve this?

Thanks

You're going to need an access point every 300ft or so for the entire length. As already stated above, the problem isn't with the base station/s but with the endpoints. It looks like you need to hire a local expert to survey the site and recommend a solution.

 

[frikkie228]

What do you mean "wifi coverage"

Lots of solutions that would let you send wifi between 2 location over a long distance. They all use some form of directional antenna to accomplish this.

If you want to allow random end devices to connect the problem is the end device. The end devices still have their tiny antenna. To some extent a directional antenna on one end can help but this is all going to be trial and error. If these are not things like mobile phones and you can change the antenna then maybe that is a option. Otherwise it will be hard to say if any particular device will work. The wifi standard is only really designed to be used at 100 meters maximum. It will all greatly depend on if there are any other wifi signals from other sources in the area interfering.

If only it was to join two devices over long distance...
Cell phones need to talk back to server to upload data. Cell reception here is almost non existing so I need another plan for connectivity.
I have thought up all sorts of plans but nothing that i can test without spending money that might go to waste if the plan does not work.
Mesh is not an option as the distances to the next electrical power supply is out of reach.

 

[frikkie228]

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Transmission-Wireless-Injector-CPE710/dp/B08D71HC9L

up to 30km+ according to spec

5GHz AC 867Mbps 23dBi Outdoor CPE

5GHz AC 867Mbps 23dBi Outdoor CPE

www.tp-link.com

No idea how wide it can cover.

Review by one of the customers
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-...ef=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B08D71HC9L

Thanks.
As far as i know, these types of devices can get 30km+ if it is used as a PtP device. when used as an AP, you will only get the normal 100m

 

[frikkie228]

https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/wifi-outdoor/products/u6-mesh-pro

2000 feet squared so about 1000 feet out from the center point. Unit can be powered by PoE so no need to run power to the unit.

I run a AC Mesh Pro on the outside of my brick chimney to cover my yard. I can get around 1300feet away from it before loosing signal

Thanks for the suggestion. 2000SQ feet barely covers the red x that i made on the screenshot.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for the suggestion. 2000SQ feet barely covers the red x that i made on the screenshot.

If you have limited power options, then you will have to look at solar and batteries.
Is this still an active rail yard? What are the restrictions in burying fiber?

 

[faalin]

Thanks for the suggestion. 2000SQ feet barely covers the red x that i made on the screenshot.

missed the mile long part, thought it was only 150 yards long

 

[bill001g]

I will agree you likely solution is a solar solution. You would try to find as low power equipment as you can. You would need a AP to talk to the clients and then a directional antenna/link to talk back to the main office. You would likely need a couple of these setups to cover that much area.

Solar has come a long way. I know the cities uses a similar solution for a lot of there cameras and use wifi backhauls.

I would look for equipment that can run on 12 volts dc. There are of course dc/dc power converters to shift the voltages. You want to avoid all the power loss converting to AC power.

I suspect a fairly small solar panel and couple of batteries to hold it overnight or on cloudy days. I do not know of any actual products but you see these all over the place. I suspect you can cobble together your own solution with all the small solar panels you can now get.

 

[cruisetung]

Everyone here said AP mode can only reach 300ft, so you definitely need multiple mesh/AP points.

Ubiquiti does have Solar products, consult directly with the company

Ubiquiti | Rethinking IT

Technology platforms for Internet Access, Enterprise, and SmartHome applications.

solar.ui.com

 

[gggplaya]

1. How much bandwidth does each person need? Is 5-10mbps per person sufficient? It's enough to make phone calls and stream youtube.

2. Does each person have a vehicle or something nearby with power?

We use HALOW products which work on 900mhz which easily cover 1km. If you install a ROHM style pole and mounted the antenna high up, it'll probably cover the full miles with 1 antenna. If you put a HALOW node on each end, you can easily cover that miles stretch. Each person would need a halow wifi adapter which converts to regular 2.4ghz wifi for their phone or tablet. I wish phones would have HALOW built in, they do operate down at the 900mhz range.

We have Halow covering our entire campus which is many acres. However, the client units are mounted to golf carts, so 12v power is not an issue. Each golf cart acts as a mobile wifi node.