16 Jun 2015 Millimeter Wave Wireless will withstand severe weather!
There’s a common misconception in the market that millimeter wave radios are sensitive to inclement weather.
Let us set some facts straight.
Planning in advance will guarantee the link operation and behaviour. Millimeter wave link performance can be predicted, when using planning tools containing detailed location-based climate conditions as well as RF specifications such as: antenna mask, receiver thresholds and transmit power of each deployed link. The embedded features in Siklu’s RF technology including its hitless adaptive bandwidth coding and modulation and advanced FEC methodology and repetitions, guaranty link endurance.
Over the years, thousands of links have been deployed all over the world including in locations with extreme climate condition.
One great example is “Stormaggadon” which hit San Francisco during winter 2014. While rainfall rate reached 4.28” within 48 hours and strong winds caused power shut-downs in many parts of the city, Siklu’s EtherHaul-600T V-band radios performed impeccably. Although the units are optimized for coping with pole sway both twists and tilts, even the most experienced installers were astonished by the robust performance of Siklu’s EH-600T units which were installed.
Hurricane Sandy, hitting the US East Coast in 2012 left people no less satisfied with the reliability and performance of the millimeter wave units from Siklu. A NJ based customer was quoted proudly reporting: “It was a real mess here, we were on generator at the main site but never got any alarms that the dish links from Siklu had any downtime at all. We were very impressed”
Another good example is a trial done during the monsoon season in India. Siklu links were active for trials with a leading Indian mobile operator. The pilot was designed to examine effects of attenuation from rain on performance. Thanks to ITU-R’s rain zones data-based design combined with Siklu’s unique hitless adaptive bandwidth coding and modulation capabilities, the radio’s performance remained stable even during the heaviest rains.
GTTH connection during “Stormaggedon”
Our last example comes from the northernmost point of Russia constantly blessed with tropical rainy weather. There too, reports of Siklu’s reliability and performance have been no less enthusiastic.
So, next time you hear the myth that millimeter wave radios are inadequate to sustain tough weather conditions, simply take these reports from the field. After all, nothing is more reliable than real world experience!