@oxwivi
I think you need a bunch of Microtik LHG 60G point to multipoint units or equivalent from some other manufacturer.
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Agreed, most seem to use the wil6210 802.11ad PCI card, openwrt frees @oxwivi from licensing restrictions, so realistically, there's going to be 60G backhaul for the wireless APs, powered via PoE.
Shame the Ubiquiti Wave Pico is not yet supported, has both 802.11ad and 802.11ax radios.
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That's actually my idea of a "wired" setup. Multipoint receivers at various regions of the track with wired connections to the cameras (hopefully better ones with Ethernet support). But I haven't had the project's buy in for that. Understandably so, because we have to roll and unroll cables all over the track every time.
With that said, this sort of "hybrid" approach might be more favorable to the project managers. Receiver links on the track with Ethernet connection to the existing APs.
From what I understand, if I want PtMP links wAP 60G needs to be the master node, with the LHG being the receiver. But I also see that only LHG 60G is supported by OpenWrt, so unless I opt for PtP link, I'm stuck with MiktroTik's RouterOS?
If I can't use OpenWrt anyway, this might be good too. Can this thing to do PtMP links, and be operated without the UniFi?
Actually, what are some good 2.4 GHz/5 GHz PtMP devices with OpenWrt? I still can't figure out how to look for these on the ToH.
I'm slowly figuring out how to parse the PtMP hardware offerings. In the absence of OpenWrt support, the master node providing the connection are usually have "AP" in the name and mention "AP" or "access point" for operating mode in specs; whereas the receiver nodes have nothing in the name to indicate such, but have point to multi/point mentioned somewhere in the specs or docs.
I see CPE mentioned every now and then, still not sure what it indicates. From the name (customer premise equipment), probably only applies to clients in PtMP situations, or PtP links.
Regarding PtMP, I am still a bit skeptical. Since there's only a single master node, will it handle continuous traffic from the other nodes? In terms of bandwidth, I know these can handle up to 5 Gbps or something without breaking sweat. I'm just worried that I'll end up with the same issue with the client nodes competing for air time and ending up tanking the stream.
Where are you thinking of putting the Master Node on the 1.2km circuit?
The beauty of Openwrt is that none of that applies as you bypass the licensing restrictions.
CPE might refer to TP-Link Pharos CPE devices, CPE210 CPE510 CPE610 and CPE710 for example, all supported by Openwrt I think:
https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/start
If you refer back to the map I uploaded, the white building at the immediate vicinity of the yellow point 10 would be where the video feed needs to go. The master node will be there, connected to the streaming device alongside the upstream internet.
That's fantastic. But how do I look for such models though? I don't see 60 GHz filter on the ToH. Or any other way to search for these of 2.4/5 GHz long-distance link category.
Yeah, they use CPE as part of their model number, but it's a category that other vendors lists stuff under as well, like Ubiquiti and at least one other that I can't recall the name of. I've used both TP-Link and this other vendor's CPE stuff before in PtP links, sans OpenWrt.
EDIT The other brand I was thinking of is EnGenius.
CPE does indeed stand for "Customer Premises Equipment". It is a generic term used to describe the crossover point between a distribution network and an end user network and is most commonly used by Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), for the equipment a customer will have on or in their premises. It is simply a "routed wireless repeater", usually with either one wireless STA interface connecting to the WISP or an ethernet connection to a wisp node mounted eg. on the roof - and a wireless/ethernet with a dedicated ipv4 nat network for the premises.
Typically a WISP will have a point to multi-point service with a customer node on the roof and a CPE inside. The WISP having responsibility for everything outside and the "customer" for everything on the inside.
So your existing APs will be your CPEs and new 60GHz stuff your private wisp.
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@hecatae, @bluewavenet, could you please explain to me how the master nodes can maintain so many links without getting overwhelmed? I do not want to spend a not insignificant amount of money just to discover it just moved the problem to a different frequency range.
I mean, I understand it's a solved problem. Mobile networks maintains orders of magnitude more links and still provide service to numerous devices. I just want to know how.
@oxwivi what's the current Wavlink model?
according to the firmware, that's a mt7981 with 16 NAND and 256MB RAM.
similar model for specs is https://openwrt.org/toh/cudy/wr3000_v1
The Cudy WR3000 has multiple posts on this forum about performance issues, even after installing Openwrt.
All I can say is, as an ordinary AP, it performs fine. As repeater, the throughput naturally stepped down at every hop, but worked. But when live streaming, the hard limit seems to be about 5 cameras consistent 720p stream. No matter which node the the 6th camera is connected (over 5 GHz) it causes to the packet loss failure to spike.
(6th camera, in addition to to the "Steward Cams" labeled on the map)
Because the 60GHz can have links, depending on how you set them up, somewhere between 1.08GHz and 8.64GHz BANDWIDTH.
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What do you mean by links? Are you talking about multiple channel within the allowed 60 GHz spectrum, as in different nodes assigned a specific channel? Is there any sort of intro I can read up on, or OpenWrt guide for 60 GHz setups? I couldn't find any on my own.
Point to point links, radially coming back to a common point.
No.
Think of it just like all your home devices connecting to your home router, only with MASSIVE amounts of bandwidth.
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I'm sorry, I'm sure my responses are frustrating to you, but I just don't understand. Why will the 60 GHz links not have the same issue I'm facing with the current Wavlink APs. Bandwidth clearly isn't the problem here, because six 720p video streams won't even exceed 50 Mb/s...
... You know what? Never mind. I don't need to know. PtMP is the only way forward, so I'll just look for hardware, understanding be damned.
Now if only OpenWrt's ToH were more amenable to searching for such devices...
Not frustrating to me and it is clear you have not grasped the concept.
That is why I tried to help by saying:
The problem is the sustained bandwith required for multiple streams. With 80MHz bandwidth, your streams have to wait for a timeslot and buffers overflow etc resulting in many dropped packets and broken streams.
With 8GHz of bandwidth everything is faster, very much so. Buffers get emptied fast, no packets are dropped.
Does this make more sense?
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Let's go with the known PtMP hardware vendors:
Mikrotik
Ubiquiti
TP-Link
Think there may be some more, but those are the ones I'm aware of