POYNTING ANTENNAE An introduction to wi-fi on a boat
OMNI-600-02 is a unique new design with vastly improved 2x2MiMo performance, covering all current operating frequencies with excellently balanced gain across all bands. Higher frequencies are not compromised and the patent ensures exceptional pattern control over the range. The antenna ensures optimum reception in difficult environments, by using multiple dipoles and a unique (patented) feed network. The antenna is also future-proofed.
• 2x2 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MiMo) uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at one time. All wireless products with 802.11n support MiMo. 802.11n is an addition to the 802.11 family of standards which increase wireless local area network (WLAN) speed, improve reliability and extend the range of wireless transmissions.
Application areas ... increase data transmission
• Machine to machine (M2M) ability
• reduce poor data signal reception
• eliminate unstable connections
• increase system transmission reliability
• a wide range of current and future Wi-Fi Applications
• 2.4 - 2.5 Ghz band can be used as WiFi antenna
OMNI-600-02 is a unique new design with vastly improved 2x2MiMo performance, covering all current operating frequencies with excellently balanced gain across all bands. Higher frequencies are not compromised and the patent ensures exceptional pattern control over the range. The antenna ensures optimum reception in difficult environments, by using multiple dipoles and a unique (patented) feed network. The antenna is also future-proofed.
• 2x2 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MiMo) uses multiple transmitters and receivers to transfer more data at one time. All wireless products with 802.11n support MiMo. 802.11n is an addition to the 802.11 family of standards which increase wireless local area network (WLAN) speed, improve reliability and extend the range of wireless transmissions.
Application areas ... increase data transmission
• Machine to machine (M2M) ability
• reduce poor data signal reception
• eliminate unstable connections
• increase system transmission reliability
• a wide range of current and future Wi-Fi Applications
• 2.4 - 2.5 Ghz band can be used as WiFi antenna
Wifi allows computers, smartphones etc., to connect to the internet or communicate wirelessly with each other within a particular area. Any device that connects to a Wi-Fi (wireless) network is a 'client'. Laptops, printers, smartphones, cameras, tablets are all Wi-Fi 'clients'.
Antenna Considerations for 4G/LTE:- With 4G (LTE) services increasingly emerging on the UK market, users find download speeds not what they were expected or promised. Some of this shortfall can be due to poor reception but there are other factors.
LTE is a multi-stream MiMo radio service. It is NOT 4G. Wiki has several good articles on what LTE and 4G are. LTE improves performance by enabling multiple radio data-streams between the router and the end client. Any increase in streams means faster effective broadband. The number of streams is expressed as TxR where T is the number of transmit streams and R is the number of receive streams the connection can support. If a client supports 2x2 streams it can handle twice the upload AND download of a 1x1 device. In the world of LTE you can have anything from 1x1 right up to 8x8 with all possible mixes in between. You get what you pay for and data costs money. A client needs an antenna for each radio stream. For a 1x1 service the client needs a single antenna. For 2x2 the client needs two antennae. The number of streams a connection can support depends upon the capabilities of the service provider's masts and also the capabilities of the client.
Various types of LTE (4G) antennae are advertised at different prices. The difference is the number of connections they have. Typically you see antennae with single connections or dual connections. Dual costs more. Since most routers now support dual stream ensure that your antenna has dual stream, MiMo functionality. However a dual antenna set-up that doesn't mean the antenna is going to be any good! Polarization matters. The antenna receiver set-up needs some physical aspect of the radio streams to differentiate. One way is by spatial separation of the antennae i.e. mounting them with a small gap between them and this assumes signal polarization is vertical, which is very unlikely. Radio waves will leave a transmitter mast nicely arranged vertically but after a few reflections orientation can and will be all over the place; they certainly won't be nice and vertical.
So using a couple of antennae set up to receive waves vertically polarized is not best. Better is to orientate the two in a cross pattern at 90 degrees to each other so you're more likely to pick up a range of polarizations and consider whether to go mono or omni-directional. Most users and many suppliers think that the higher the gain the better the reception. But in most cases a directional antenna is a bad choice. Radio waves, as a rule, are obstructed or deflected by solid objects and the whole topic is rocket science. A wet concrete wall is inclined to absorb radio signals whereas the same wall is likely to bounce them when it is dry. With line-of-sight considerations and environment changes (rain!?) how the signal has reflected can change as will alignment!
In addition it's much harder for the system to switch to a different mast which might be dictated by the provider or if you change providers. And in a canal context your boat could be almost anywhere in the waterways network. In real life a signal gets from mast to antenna by a process of reflecting, scattering and bouncing off neighbouring objects. In practice this means that the same signal could be arriving at your device from a multitude of different directions and even out of phase. For that reason a high-gain directional antenna, which has a very limited angle of coverage, will frequently make things worse. Unless you have perfect line of sight between a mast and your antenna, a directional should be avoided as a very bad idea.
Go for an omni; it may or will have lower gain but at least it should pick up a signal. Do not get fixated by gain. The antenna in a typical data-dongle has less than zero gain; a LOT less than zero. So even a low-gain external Omni has 2 or 3 dBi “decibel relative to isotrope” which measures antenna performance and some have more. The other issue is location. The fact that the external antenna is placed outside (and high up) is significant in improving signal intensity and purity.
CREDIT copyrighted material from Steve Mace of Solwise
Antenna Considerations for 4G/LTE:- With 4G (LTE) services increasingly emerging on the UK market, users find download speeds not what they were expected or promised. Some of this shortfall can be due to poor reception but there are other factors.
LTE is a multi-stream MiMo radio service. It is NOT 4G. Wiki has several good articles on what LTE and 4G are. LTE improves performance by enabling multiple radio data-streams between the router and the end client. Any increase in streams means faster effective broadband. The number of streams is expressed as TxR where T is the number of transmit streams and R is the number of receive streams the connection can support. If a client supports 2x2 streams it can handle twice the upload AND download of a 1x1 device. In the world of LTE you can have anything from 1x1 right up to 8x8 with all possible mixes in between. You get what you pay for and data costs money. A client needs an antenna for each radio stream. For a 1x1 service the client needs a single antenna. For 2x2 the client needs two antennae. The number of streams a connection can support depends upon the capabilities of the service provider's masts and also the capabilities of the client.
Various types of LTE (4G) antennae are advertised at different prices. The difference is the number of connections they have. Typically you see antennae with single connections or dual connections. Dual costs more. Since most routers now support dual stream ensure that your antenna has dual stream, MiMo functionality. However a dual antenna set-up that doesn't mean the antenna is going to be any good! Polarization matters. The antenna receiver set-up needs some physical aspect of the radio streams to differentiate. One way is by spatial separation of the antennae i.e. mounting them with a small gap between them and this assumes signal polarization is vertical, which is very unlikely. Radio waves will leave a transmitter mast nicely arranged vertically but after a few reflections orientation can and will be all over the place; they certainly won't be nice and vertical.
So using a couple of antennae set up to receive waves vertically polarized is not best. Better is to orientate the two in a cross pattern at 90 degrees to each other so you're more likely to pick up a range of polarizations and consider whether to go mono or omni-directional. Most users and many suppliers think that the higher the gain the better the reception. But in most cases a directional antenna is a bad choice. Radio waves, as a rule, are obstructed or deflected by solid objects and the whole topic is rocket science. A wet concrete wall is inclined to absorb radio signals whereas the same wall is likely to bounce them when it is dry. With line-of-sight considerations and environment changes (rain!?) how the signal has reflected can change as will alignment!
In addition it's much harder for the system to switch to a different mast which might be dictated by the provider or if you change providers. And in a canal context your boat could be almost anywhere in the waterways network. In real life a signal gets from mast to antenna by a process of reflecting, scattering and bouncing off neighbouring objects. In practice this means that the same signal could be arriving at your device from a multitude of different directions and even out of phase. For that reason a high-gain directional antenna, which has a very limited angle of coverage, will frequently make things worse. Unless you have perfect line of sight between a mast and your antenna, a directional should be avoided as a very bad idea.
Go for an omni; it may or will have lower gain but at least it should pick up a signal. Do not get fixated by gain. The antenna in a typical data-dongle has less than zero gain; a LOT less than zero. So even a low-gain external Omni has 2 or 3 dBi “decibel relative to isotrope” which measures antenna performance and some have more. The other issue is location. The fact that the external antenna is placed outside (and high up) is significant in improving signal intensity and purity.
CREDIT copyrighted material from Steve Mace of Solwise
