Range is dependant on antenna gain, radio transmit power, radio receive
sensitivity, obstructions, RF interference in the environment.
It
is also dependant on the data rate sought - the range
is significantly more at 6 Mbps than 20 Mbps data rates. Range
also depends on whether a 5GHz
backhaul or 2.4GHz backhaul is used. At a throughput of 20-22 Mbps TCP/IP, with 5GHz radios and 8 dB antennas
400-500 m range is commonplace. 14 miles has been
achieved with specialized antennas.
Node to Node range between mesh nodes
varies
significantly. It depends on the specifics of the
application. If a backhaul radio needs to be
able to communicate in all directions - such as a root node
with a single downlink radio surrounded on all sides
by relay child nodes. In that case, an omni-directional
antenna is the only option available. Omni-directional antenna have relatively low gain compared
to focused beam sector or panel antennas.
Often the "upstream" nodes to
which a relay node connects are in the
same general
direction. This allows the use of sector or
directional antennas on the uplink radio of the relay node
in question. Directional antennas
have a higher gain than omni-directional
antennas. The increased
link budget allows for greater
node to node distance. This same principle applies to the downlink radio of an upstream node. If
the downstream nodes with are in the same general direction
of a node then a directional antenna can be used on
its downlink radio. This increases the link budget
further (below).
Range is also dependent upon
the connection rate of the radio link. For a RF connectivity of 54
Mbps (raw), nodes need to be placed closer together than for a connectivity of 6
Mbps. The table below is the performance characteristics of a 5GHz radio
card. The radio card transmitting at 54 Mbps will output 21 dBm of power.
However, at 6 Mbps data rates, the power output increases to 26 dBm or almost quadruple the
power. 5 dBm added to the link
budget enables more range (at the cost of data rate loss)
Note also that the receiver in the radio
card needs to "hear" a transmitted signal at a minimum of -74 dBm in
order to accept a data rate of 54 Mbps. But the card accepts a
data rate of 6 Mbps, with a much lower -94 dBm signal. Node-to-node distance
varies significantly while still
maintaining a "good" connection at different data rates.
Range Calculations:
A
range
estimation worksheet is provided for estimating ranges for
different antenna gains and usage
conditions.
Numerous Online
RF link budget calculators exist. for example:
https://www.pasternack.com/t-calculator-link-budget.aspx
Download MD4000 Product Brochure (Includes technical specifications and standard product configurations)
Download MD4000 Installation Guide (Guidelines on antenna selection, model configuration, trouble shooting)
Download MD4000
Network Configuration Guide (Detailed
instructions on setting SSID, Encryption,
QoS, VLANs etc)