By Naomi Graychase
November 1, 2007
Good news today for those seeking to deploy access points in parks, tree-filled campuses, or other areas where leaves and branches abound. ArrowSpan today announced the release of a rugged new multi-radio full-duplex switching wireless 900 MHz mesh network access point for areas with heavy foliage.
Santa Clara-based ArrowSpan, which also has offices in Beijing, China, specifically designed the MeshAP MA3100-A9 to provide Wi-Fi access for outdoor communities, such as campsites and RV parks, where dense tree growth can interfere with coverage. By using a dedicated 802.11b/g radio for client connection, and dual 900 MHz radios for backhaul, it supports node-to-node distances of up to 5,413ft (under ideal conditions), and can penetrate foliage to extend the hop count.
Because it is designed for outdoor environments, it is protected by a weatherproof enclosure, which can stand up to wind, rain, and extreme temperatures of as low as -40 degrees F, and as high as 131 degrees F.
The multiple radio, full-duplex design for both backhaul and user traffic helps to eliminate adjacent signal interference, and minimizes network performance degradation.
It supports both WEP and WPA.
