User's Manual

pulsAR radio Operator’s Manual
1-1
1 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
1.1 Radio Overview
The family of pulsAR Wireless Ethernet Bridges consist of license free radios that can be used to
bridge Ethernet LANs (Local Area Networks) across distances ranging from a few hundred feet to 50
miles (80 km) and beyond. You can deploy them in a variety of topologies from a simple point-to-
point link to a general mesh “tree” topology where any subscriber node can also be used as an access
point to nodes further downstream. For mobile applications you can configure subscriber nodes to
autonomously roam between multiple access points, keeping the mobile nodes connected to the
network at all times.
All radios use Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum and operate in the “Industrial Scientific and
Medical” (ISM) bands, either at 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz. Table 1 shows the main characteristics of the
5 models. Refer to appendix B for the complete specifications.
Table 1.1 pulsAR radio models
Model number: AR-9010E AR-9027E AR-24010E AR-24027E AR-240110E
Frequency Band (MHz) 902 to 928 902 to 928 2400 to 2483 2400 to 2483 2400 to 2483
Occupied Bandwidth (MHz) 1.7 4.6 1.7 4.6 17
Maximum data rate (Mbps) 1.1 2.75 1.1 2.75 11.0
The pulsAR radios are designed from the ground up to provide reliable wireless networks under
adverse conditions, often encountered in the unlicensed bands. This includes the following features:
1. All the electronics are housed in an environmentally sealed enclosure rated for outdoor
installation. You can mount the unit in close proximity to the antenna, which increases system
performance by avoiding RF cable losses or expensive rigid coax cables. The radio is powered over
the Ethernet cable.
2. Several models have an RF bandwidth that is much narrower than other unlicensed devices. This
has several advantages, namely (i) the radio sensitivity is greatly improved allowing longer ranges,
(ii) there is a much larger number of non-overlapping channels to choose from, and (iii) it is much
easier to find an unused gap in a crowded spectrum.
3. For long range links in a crowded spectrum the most desirable receive frequencies at each end of
the link are often different. In all pulsAR radios the transmit and receive frequencies can be selected
independently of each other.
4. The radio incorporates spectrum analysis and timing analysis tools, which allows you to quickly
perform a survey of the RF environment without the need for spectrum analyzers.