Leading Innovation in Fixed Wireless
As wireless equipment vendors prepare for 5G, Etheric Networks led an extensive head-to-head study of non-light of sight solutions for fixed wireless, with AbsoluteAir 2 radios from Santa Clara-based Tarana coming out on top.
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Heavy Reading reported on Etheric Networks’ exhaustive real-world performance assessment of fixed wireless access solutions. Tarana’s AbsoluteAir 2 radios were tested along with the best of the industry’s other commercially-available point-to-multi-point (PtMP) options for sub-6 GHz fixed access – Cambium cnMedusa, Mimosa A5, and Radwin Jet NLoS.
Heavy Reading’s report shows that Tarana’s distributed massive MIMO™ architecture and suite of unique algorithms consistently outperformed the variety of more conventional radio designs – achieving reliable links in many cases where others failed completely and three to seven times the throughput of any of them that were able to stay in the race. By delivering 554 Mbps in a 20 MHz channel in NLoS conditions, the Tarana architecture clearly pointed the way to broadly-deployable gigabit service in either wider channels or with carrier aggregation.
The evaluation was exhaustive, with 22 different tests per system across five classes of radio challenges: light urban and residential non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions over a range of distances, unlicensed-band interference, moving obstructions and reflections, PtMP co-channel spectral efficiency, and a worst-case combination of te first three.
“We needed this rigorous and objective side-by-side assessment to help guide critical technology choices in our network expansion strategy development, as we work to meet rising demand in our market,” said Etheric CEO Alexander Hagen. We’re excited by the new possibilities Tarana opens up for us in reaching customers we couldn’t even think about with any other solution, while still maintaining our strict enterprise service SLAs.”
“This is gratifying validation of both our current commercial product and the core technology we’ve developed to address the fundamental challenges of gigabit fixed wireless,” said Dale Branlund, Tarana’s CTO. “We’re looking forward to sharing more about our work in 5G in the coming months.”
Etheric’s testing was documented in by industry analysts at Light Reading:
“Fixed wireless access (FWA) technologies look increasingly important to operators’ 5G deployment plans. It is clear that some operators plan to base early 5G networks on fixed wireless infrastructure rather than rolling out 5G networks to deliver full mobility. Why? Because FWA can be used to deliver broadband services into a neighborhood without the expense or effort of deploying fiber close to the home. It can typically be installed faster than new networks requiring fiber deployment to buildings. There is a business case for deployment that is easily understood.
“But for FWA to work best in a 5G context (and indeed within LTE networks, too), significant challenges related to non-line-of-sight (NLoS) performance, motion, interference and lack of sufficient suitable spectrum need to be addressed. These issues have so far prevented much wider use of FWA technologies in sub-6GHz bands. In urban and suburban areas, they have meant that FWA networks simply have too many no-go zones to be viable.
“A report published by Heavy Reading, Broadband Fixed Wireless: Overcoming Delivery Challenges, reviews a series of tests of fixed wireless access systems carried out over the summer and fall of 2017. These tests demonstrated it is technically possible to provide reliable high-speed broadband services over FWA networks where there is no line of sight — even where issues such as motion or interference need to be overcome — and without using dedicated, licensed spectrum.”
Click to read the Light Reading blog post and full Heavy Reading analyst’s report.
“Our tier 1 service provider customers have extensively validated our technology and all found similar results. We are very pleased that Heavy Reading and Etheric have made it possible for others to learn more about these comparative advantages from detailed public reporting on real-world testing.”
Challenge
For fixed wireless to work best in a 5G context - and within LTE networks, too - significant challenges related to non-line-of-sight (NLoS) performance, motion, interference and lack of sufficient suitable spectrum need to be addressed. These issues have so far prevented wider use of FWA technologies in sub-6GHz bands.
Solution
Etheric tested the best solutions, with 22 different tests per system across five classes of radio challenges: light urban and residential NLoS conditions over a range of distances, unlicensed-band interference, moving obstructions and reflections, PtMP co-channel spectral efficiency, and a worst-case combination of the first three.
Results
Tarana's distributed massive MIMO™ architecture and suite of unique algorithms consistently outperformed the variety of more conventional radio designs - achieving reliable links in many cases where others failed completely and three to seven times the throughput of any of them that were able to stay in the race. The Tarana architecture clearly pointed the way to broadly-deployable gigabit service in either wider channels or with carrier aggregation.