Siklu Solutions: Smart Cities

Municipal Networks

One Wireless Network to Support a Municipality’s Day-to-Day Operations

Towns and cities of all sizes are providing essential services like video security, Code Blue call boxes Internet access for schools or libraries and public Wi-Fi services with Siklu’s advanced mmWave solutions. These are “public facing” services that garner a lot of attention from the residents. mmWave networks provide ultra-reliable multi-Gigabit capacity, unlike legacy, sub 6GHz wireless systems, so there is still capacity for a lot more applications that may develop after the network is deployed. Applications such as those that support a city’s day-to-day operations. For instance, why continue to lease lines from the local carriers when the city can migrate all the network connections to fire and police stations, libraries, schools, and other municipal facilities to a fully owned and operated wireless network, powered by Siklu Gigabit wireless fibre solutions?

After migrating leased-line services to the new mmWave wireless network, city administrators now have a network that can grow with the city’s needs, new applications or geographic expansions. There is no need to wait for a carrier to lay new fibre optic lines or put up with the lengthy and expensive permitting process and trenching work – which often disrupts traffic and annoys residents. Siklu’s solutions are flexible with point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and mesh configuration options.

New fibre will eventually be laid to connect new housing developments, business parks and shopping areas – and Siklu’s mmWave systems have always been a perfect complement to these fibre networks by extending the reach quickly with mmWave wireless. With Siklu, a dedicated Gigabit speed network connecting municipal buildings is only the beginning. With Gigabit wireless fibre infrastructure in place, cities of all sizes can more easily add “smart city” services, such as sensors for water, gas and electrical distribution systems, vehicular and pedestrian traffic monitoring and more.

IoT Wireless

Fixed 5G mmWave to Support Municipal IoT Connectivity

Municipalities throughout the world are becoming more and more intrigued with how IoT can improve city services, monitor the environment, enhance security, improve traffic flow and much more. And these cities are wondering what role 5G networks will have in growing and improving IoT connectivity. 5G IoT traffic flows might be a trickle now, as most cities have implemented only narrowband applications. However, huge increases in data traffic are expected in the next few years – as cities will deploy more IoT devices and they will operate at higher speeds to accommodate HD video streams. Therefore, network planners are busy determining the best way to transport this critical data to network operations and city “command” centres. So which 5G frequencies look promising for these purposes?

Some countries have released 2.6 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 4.9 GHz spectrum for 5G and even 600 MHz is currently used for 5G NR mobile phone services. These bands will propagate well but do not have the spectrum to support true Gigabit services – which is what the new IoT applications will require. However, fixed 5G wireless offers a ready alternative. These bands, specifically the 60 and 70/80 GHz bands, have plenty of interference-free spectrum and bandwidth to accommodate services riding on HD video and other bandwidth-hungry services. These “critical IoT” connectivity requirements include telemedicine and applications designed for first responders. Further, any frequency not associated with a carrier or 5G NR will have a much lower “per bit” cost.

Siklu has the most experience in the industry providing these wireless Gigabit-class networks. Our diverse mmWave portfolio and multiple connectivity options will future-proof your IoT network capabilities.

Public Wi-Fi

No other Wireless Technology has what Public Wi-Fi Needs – Dedicated Gbps Capacities

High-speed Internet access has long since passed from “nice to have” status to that of a public necessity or “utility” – like water or sewer services. In that regard, public Wi-Fi networks have blossomed in cities large and small. They are offered as an amenity to both residents and visitors in areas such as parks and transit hubs – and they can be the only Internet connection for a city’s underserved urban areas. To meet the growing expectation of “broadband everywhere,” municipalities are deploying more access points (APs) and increasing “end user” capacity. The latest Wi-Fi standard, “11ac,” is pushing APs well over the Gigabit threshold in connections operating in the 5GHz band. Therefore, backhauling all this traffic to backbone networks is becoming more problematic as, for instance, legacy 5GHz wireless networks do not have the bandwidth or the spectrum to support both the APs and the backhaul.

In addition, Wi-Fi 6 is now on the horizon, this will push Wi-Fi Access Point speeds even faster. Industry advocates say Wi-Fi 6 would improve Wi-Fi connectivity in congested places like subway stations and sporting facilities. It would also support the low-latency levels needed for applications like virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) and mobile gaming. Siklu gigabit wireless solutions, in point-to-point, point-to-multipoint or mesh configurations, operate in the license-exempt 60GHz and the lightly licensed 70/80GHz bands, which are well above the AP frequencies and provide backhaul connections ranging from 1 to 10 Gbps.

Video Security

Flexible, High-Capacity mmWave Connectivity for a Wide Range of Smart City Video Applications

Terms you may hear when discussing Smart City operations include the familiar IoT and the perhaps not as-familiar “edge computing.” Both terms refer to establishing network intelligence and processing at “street level” (aka, the “edge” of the network) and a lot of these Smart City applications incorporate video for surveillance and public safety or services purposes. Examples include traffic monitoring of junctions, pedestrian traffic monitoring and crowd control, curbside parking availability in business districts and weather-related monitoring – such as the depth of snow in the context of snow plough operations.

Siklu has your Smart City video connectivity requirements covered with a Gigabit-speed product portfolio that features straightforward and speedy installation on light poles and other “street furniture,” compact radios designed with urban aesthetics in mind and convenient power over Ethernet capability. You can also rest easy as Siklu mmWave operates in a virtually interference-free spectrum, requires little or no maintenance over its operational lifetime and provides a “future-proof” solution, in terms of adding capacity and reconfiguring the network whenever needed.

If you’re interested in any of the products or services mentioned above, please get in contact:

siklu@purdi.com

+44 (0)1488 647 647