InspiAir says their technology can enable full throughput of 11 Mbps over standard 802.11b, and an extended range up to 5 km (Point-to-Multipoint) and 40km (Point-to-Point) using 100 mW radios. They also claim seamless “hand-off” between Wi-Fi cells.

But there’s not much to go on. Katie Fehrenbacher at GigOm, who knows how to use a phone, talked to the CEO, Tamir Galili:

Though, Galili is pretty vague on the details of how his technology is better. He says that the company’s proprietary software for WiFi equipment provides an optimized signal that beats out products like Tropos’ on range, and a better use of voice and video. When I asked for more of an explanation of the technology he pointed me to the company’s white paper — thanks, more jargon. Galili says the company has WiFi networks mostly in Asia and Europe, including the city of Helsinki and a hotspot in Manhattan. When I asked him about the limitations of mesh vs WiFi, he said “the “Mesh people” can blame the WiFi, however, as I told you, those “WiFi limitations” do not exists for InspiAir users.”

InspiAir claims their solution is available TODAY and has already been installed throughout the world, serving thousands of subscribers. Odd, then, that more information isn’t available. WiFi Planet says the company is supplying free wireless access in New York Parks. I don’t remember hearing of them before.

According to InspiAir’s white papers (pdf), their architecture divides a network into a number of network “regions,” each fulfilling a specific network function.

The InspiAir solution installs six transmitters on top of a mast. Each transmitter is connected to two sector antennas through a power divider.

• Antenna #1: 17 dBi 60o is usually pointing toward the most remote areas.
• Antenna #2: 14 dBi 60o points downwards, towards the area that is closest to the mast.

This six-transmitter mast, says InspiAir, allows coverage of 360 degrees, with an overlap between regions. Each transmitter is capable of supporting 48 concurrent users. A full mast is able to support 288 users. For support for more users, another set of transmitters and antennas can be added.

For the Backbone (Point-to-Point) Connection, the mast is connected to the network backbone using either in the 2.4 GHz or 5.7 GHz directional antennas. The AirPoint2400 is connected to a 19dBi antenna pointed towards the main system mast , usually installed in the NOC layer.

The Network Operation Center (NOC) is installed with AirPoint2400s and directional antennas pointing to the remote masts. The point-to-point connections go to a QoS-capable switch.

I don’t know. Sounds like happy talk. The company might have something, but without a real-world deployment to point to, it’s hard to judge.

Wavion, by contrast, has pictures of their gear and is selling Wi-Fi MIMO radios for city-wide deployments. Wavion’s WS410 Spatially Adaptive Wi-Fi Access Point claims to deliver up to 42 dBm of effective radiated power through beamforming. MIMO may improve the economics and performance of metro Wi-Fi deployments by doubling the range (quadrupling coverage). Wavion employs about 60 people in San Jose, California and Yoqneam, Israel, home of founder Dr. Mati Wax. He did early work in the ’80s on MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) radio technologies.

In a year or two, 802.11n may be deployed. Of course you need a MIMO client, to get full advantage from that system.

Can anyone really expect reliable long range service using three unlicensed 2.4 GHz channels? I have my doubts. WiFi’s strength may also be its primary weakness - short range. Cellular and WiMAX network standards were designed for longer range.

It’s good to have lots of options — one size doesn’t fit all applications. There may be a niche for lots of innovative product designs.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006 at 3:29 pm.