How Far do You Want to Go? Near or Remote Site?

Many TP-Link products can extend the Internet coverage from your home or business to outdoor areas. This Solutions Guide will introduce the various ways to expand your indoor network to outdoor spaces, including a backyard, a remote barn or guest house, a dock or yacht club, campgrounds, and other large outdoor areas.

Depending on how far from the house or building you want to extend your wireless connection determines what solution will best meet your needs. There are many possible solutions to expand the network just around your house’s outdoor perimeter within 100 meters (300 feet). A network extension to a back house or secondary workshop farther than 300 feet will need a point-to-point wireless bridge to re-broadcast the signal on to the remote location. Each outdoor application has different environmental requirements; it is essential to review these requirements to determine the best Outdoor Solution for your needs.

 

 

 

 Near Site Network Extension (up to 100 meters or 300 feet)

If you have strong indoor wireless, you can easily extend your network to the patio, pool area, or large yard. While wireless signals can penetrate glass windows, it is much harder for signals to penetrate wire-filled stucco walls. These metal wires are perfect for preventing wireless interference inside your home by blocking signals from the outside. While ensuring better protection for your home, stucco walls can stop the wireless transmission from the indoors to the outdoors.

You can choose the power line communication adapters help extending your network out of your house. Or, you need to put a network wire through the exterior wall to get the data out.

 

 

 Near Site Solution 1: Power Line Communication

If you have a covered patio or waterproof electric box, you can extend the network with TP-Link’s power line adapters. The TL-WPAxx Series Power Line Wireless Adapter Kit is the easiest solution and includes two power line communication adapters. One adapter installed indoors relays the data from the network cable to the power line, while the second adapter broadcasts the WiFi signal to your computer or phone.

 

 

Plug-in the first power line (PLC) adapter to a power outlet near the home router. Now, connect the network port on the PLC adapter to the router with the network cable. Finally, plug the second PLC adapter (with the wireless features) into the power socket on your patio or in the waterproof box.
 

 

 PLC for the back house/office

If you have, or recently added, a back yard office/shed, back house, or summer pool house, you may be ready to extend the internet to the area. If there is power to the isolated building, there is a good chance the main house’s power line is buried. If you do have a power line run to the building but no data wiring run, you can easily extend your network using the buried power line.
 

To also use the power line as a data line for the back house/office, you need to find the direct connect electric loop connecting your home and the back yard office. In most installations, the power line is connected between two circuit breaker panels. One on the main house and one on the back house/office. Therefore, the PLC adapters must communicate to each other through at least two (2) circuit breakers. With the latest technology, the data communication can pass through a simple breaker, but not the AFCI or GFCI type circuit breakers. Find the close by power socket to the power panel to build the best communication that you can have.
 

 

 

 Near Site Solution 2: Outdoor Wireless Access Point

If your patio is not enclosed or the power line method is not the best option for you, it is advisable to install an outdoor access point.

TP-Link offers two (2) different outdoor wireless access points, the omni-directional EAP outdoor access points (EAP225-Outdoor and EAP110-Outdoor) and the directional CPE outdoor access points (CPE210, CPE510, and CPE710). All outdoor wireless access points come with waterproof housing, which can be placed with a cover or not.
 

 1. Omni-directional EAP outdoor wireless access points

The EAP Outdoor wireless access points are part of the Omada SDN business network. With Omada, you can control the indoor and outdoor network with the same Omada SDN controller. Or use the Omada outdoor EAP as a standalone wireless access point without a controller. Two available models:

• EAP110-Outdoor 2.4GHz N300 Outdoor Wireless Access Point

• EAP225-Outdoor dual-band AC1200 Outdoor Wireless Access Point

 

Setting up the EAP Outdoor wireless access point is quick. Plug one end of the network cable into the Outdoor EAP and plug the other end into the PoE port on the included PoE injector. Finally, prepare another network cable to connect the network port of the PoE injector to your home gateway.
 

 

The coverage of the wireless can be 100 meter (300 feet) radius from the access point.

 2. Outdoor wireless mesh networking

Extending radio signals with outdoor EAP access points is different from the outdoor CPE. The only outdoor EAP that supports the wireless extender feature is the EAP225-Outdoor. To extend the radio signal, you will set up a wireless mesh network. The wireless mesh network requires a controller to coordinate the traffic, so a basic topology of an outdoor EAP mesh network can be like this.
 

The EAP225-Outdoor mesh can wirelessly link back to the network up to 3 hops. As you can see, a complex dock or yacht club wireless deployment is achieved easily with the outdoor EAP mesh network.

 

A yacht club wireless deployment example with EAP225-Outdoor

 3. Directional outdoor wireless access points

The CPE Outdoor wireless access points are part of Pharos long-distance wireless bridge products. You can also use outdoor APs to extend the signal around your house if the beam width coverage is suitable to you:

• CPE210 2.4GHz N300 Outdoor Wireless Access Point 

• CPE510 5GHz N300 Outdoor Wireless Access Point 

• CPE710 5GHz AC867 Outdoor Wireless Access Point 

The CPE Outdoor wireless access point provides a strong transmitting signal as well as a high receiving sensitivity. Building a wireless bridge with two identical CPEs can give optimal range and performance. When installing only one CPE device to extend the wireless range, the weaker transmitter will decide the communication range, this is usually your wireless client such as a laptop or a cell phone.
 

Different model of the Outdoor CPE has different beam width

Access point radio beamwidth

Model	CPE210	CPE510	CPE710	CPE710 - Feed only
Beamwidth	65°	45°	9°	~ 45°
Antenna	9 dBi	13 dBi	23 dB	~

Choose the Outdoor CPE which has a good coverage and the best wireless gain for your project.

 

 

The CPE710 access point comes with a feed antenna and an optional reflective dish. Use the reflective dish when sending your signal longer ranges to refocus the wireless signal to your remote client with concentrated power. If you use the CPE710 just around your house, you can remove the reflective dish. However, remember the direction of the radio waves is the opposite (see graphic).

 Remote site network expansion (more than 100 meter or 300 feet and up to 18 miles)

If you have a barn or back house, a remote surveillance camera, or a video doorbell on the vineyard entrance, and the distance from your home is more than 300 feet, you can use the outdoor CPE to build a wireless bridge to further expand the network for miles.

You can also broadcast the wireless signals with an additional wireless access point on the remote site when necessary.
 

 

 How to calculate the wireless range

A good radio power is required for a successful radio communication. The original emitting radio power was usually marked as Tx power with the unit in dBm. The attached antenna enhance the radio wave with the unit in dBi. The radio wave travels to the destination with attenuation. Gained with the receiving antenna again and finally reaching the receiver. If the receiver sensitivity is good enough, the signal can be successfully transmitted.

The transmitting power, receiving sensitivity, and antenna gains are known parameters when you choose the devices. The path loss can be the only variable. The path loss can be contributed by the equipment setup, transmitting medium, such as glass or wall, reflection, deflection or other environmental factors. It is hard to estimate the path loss when the path condition is complicated. In practice, we will choose the clear line-of-sight wireless path to avoid the possible path loss. Then, we can assume the transmitter and the receiver are face to face with no obstacles in between and neglect the factors of the reflection and deflection. Under this condition, the major factor of the path loss is the Free Space Path Loss, FSPL.

The radio waves are directional and guided by the antenna. The CPE access point concentrates the waves in a limited angle of the direction. However, the receiver still cannot receive 100% of the transmitted power. As the distance between the transmitter and receiver increases, the receiving percentage decreases. The detailed calculation can be expressed by FSPL formula.
 

 

 Device characteristics

Here’s the TP-Link outdoor access point wireless characteristics. They are the key factors for good radio signals. On the cell phone, we simply use an average number. If you happen knowing the device you use, you can replace it with the numbers you have.

Device Radio Characteristics

Model	CPE210	CPE510	CPE710	EAP225-OD	EAP110-OD	Cell Phone
Beamwidth	65°	45°	9°	360°	360°	360°
Antenna	9 dBi	13 dBi	23 dB	3 dBi	4dBi	2 dBi
Tx Power	25 dBm	26 dBm	27 dBm	30 dBm	30dBm	10 dBm

The Outdoor EAP has omni-directional antennas with 360° radio emitting directions. The Outdoor CPE access points are focused on one direction.

 

 Calculate the range from the outdoor AP to a cell phone

To find out the communication range, we can figure out the FSPL allowance and then translate the FSPL into the distance. We can rewrite the FSPL formula like this:

Where the d is the distance in meters and the f is the frequency in MHz.

With all the formula and device parameters, let’s calculate the estimated wireless range.

A good receiving sensitivity on the cell phone is assumed to be -75dB. Sometimes the sensitivity is better or worse and it can be included in the 20dB margin.

Range estimation from an AP to a cell phone

From the table, we can find that the transmission from the outdoor access point to the cell phone. It looks pretty good. But, most of the applications we are using today require two way communications. Let’s take a look at the return path.

Range estimation from a cell phone to an AP

The distance estimation is much shorter because of the radio power provided by the cell phone is usually lower. With a better antenna on the access point, you can still get a better range compare to home wireless routers. The transmit power on the client side is the major factor in the wireless ranage.
 

 

 The range for a pair of Outdoor CPE

The maximum range of the CPE wireless bridge was tested in the field and listed below. If you have special environmental conditions, you can use the formula above for better estimation.

Maximum range to a pair of CPE

Model	CPE210	CPE510	CPE710
Range	3 miles	6 miles	18 miles

When you set up a pair of CPE as a wireless bridge. You can set one of the CPE to be the access point and the other CPE as a client to build the bridge. Please reference the the user’s manual for how to set up the CPE.

 

 Outdoor EAP mesh connectivity and maximum range

The EAP225-Outdoor mesh network can be extended up to 3 hops with only the wireless connections. The recommended maximum distance on each hop is 100 meters. So, the maximum mesh coverage will be 400 meters radius area.
 

An example of outdoor mesh wireless planning for a paintball battle field

 

 Frequent Asked Questions
 

1. The range estimation was based on clear line-of-sight radio path. What if I have something in between?

Electromagnetic conductors, such as a metal plate, is definitely a major blocker of the radio wave. Other materials have different effects as well. Here’s a list of material and radio attenuation in general. You can put the attenuation in the rangefinder formula for a new estimation.

Building Material	2.4 GHz Attenuation	5 GHz Attenuation
Solid Wood Door 1.75”	6 dB	10 dB
Hollow Wood Door 1.75”	4 dB	7 dB
Interior Office Door w/Window 1.75”/0.5”	4 dB	6 dB
Steel Fire/Exit Door 1.75”	13 dB	25 dB
Steel Fire/Exit Door 2.5”	19 dB	32 dB
Steel Rollup Door 1.5”	11 dB	19 dB
Brick 3.5”	6 dB	10 dB
Concrete Wall 18”	18 dB	30 dB
Cubical Wall (Fabric) 2.25”	18 dB	30 dB
Exterior Concrete Wall 27”	53 dB	45 dB
Glass Divider 0.5”	12 dB	8 dB
Interior Hollow Wall 4”	5 dB	3 dB
Interior Hollow Wall 6”	9 dB	4 dB
Interior Solid Wall 5”	14 dB	16 dB
Marble 2”	6 dB	10 dB
Bullet-Proof Glass 1”	10 dB	20 dB
Exterior Double Pane Coated Glass 1”	13 dB	20 dB
Exterior Single Pane Window 0.5”	7 dB	6 dB
Interior Office Window 1”	3 dB	6 dB
Safety Glass-Wire 0.25”	3 dB	2 dB
Safety Glass-Wire 1.0”	13 dB	18 dB

 

2. How to place your wireless device for optimal reception and performance?
 

1. Make sure there is no blocker between two wireless devices (Line-of-sight)

2. Adjust outdoor EAP adjustable antennas 90° to each other in a complex environment. Try different angles to get the best reflection and deflection in the radio path.

3. What is Line-of-sight?

The electromagnetic line-of-sight defined by a Fresnel zone . Other than the line that draws from the center point from one access point to another. Any obstacles falling in the Fresnel zone will be considered a blocker of the radio waves. The easiest way to avoid the blockers is elevating the antenna. The height of the antenna should be good enough to remove blockers in the Fresnel zone.

 

 How To Guides

Here’s the step by step set up guides for your reference. For up-to-date product information or product firmware, please visit https://www.tp-link.com/us/

 

 How to set up a CPE

The TP-Link Pharos CPEs are the outdoor wireless access points designed for long range point to point communications. Here are related terms for the outdoor CPEs:

Pharos

Is the name of the product line for long range wireless bridge.

PharOS

Is the name of the cross model firmware. All Pharos products share the same hardware architecture and the same firmware for easy management and are named PharOS.

Pharos Control

Pharos Control is a controller to control multiple Pharos products. It maintains location information and has TDMA, Time Division Multiple Access, management features mainly for point to multiple point long range communications. For a single point to point bridge or a single access point, you don’t need the controller to manage the network.

Product list

TP-Link Pharos CPEs

Model	CPE210	CPE510	CPE710
Frequency	2.4GHz	5GHz	5GHz
Class	N300	N300	AC867
Beamwidth	65°	45°	9°
Max Paired Range	3 miles	9 miles	18 miles

Log in to the PharOS

The Pharos CPE has the default IP at 192.168.0.254/24. To access the PharOS web GUI page, you have to set your computer’s IP address within the same subnet such as 192.168.0.10.
 

When you first time log in to the PharOS, enter the user name admin and password admin.
 

You have to change your user name and password on the first time login. Set up account information and then login again.

1. Set up CPE as an access point

The CPE can work in different operation modes, it is set to access point mode by default. You can simply change the wireless settings to complete the setup.

Choose the WIRELESS tab. Then in the Wireless AP Settings section, change the SSID name, choose WPA-PSK security mode, and then enter the password in PSK Password. (PSK stands for pre-shared key). Then click Apply.

The CPE is an enterprise product and has separated stages of working image, one is running image and one is boot image. After you change the wireless settings, you have to click the Save again to save the running configurations to the boot configuration. Otherwise, the settings will not be remembered after the power cycle.
 

2. Set up CPE as an client

To build a wireless bridge, you can set one of the CPE as the access point and then the second CPE as a client connecting to the first access point. To set up a CPE as an client, you have to change the operation mode.

Choose the Client in the Operation Mode.
 

Click Yes to confirm the mode change.

In Wireless Client Settings section, enter the SSID and password, then click on Apply

Click on the Save to save the settings.

 

 How to build a CPE wireless bridge

The easy way to build a wireless bridge is to set one of the CPE works in the access point mode and the other CPE as a client. You can enable the Lock AP to build the one to one relationship for security and interference resisting purpose.

A complete setup involves

• Planning

• CPE settings

• Physical installation

1. Planning

To set up a long distance wireless bridge, you need to make sure there is a clean Fresnel zone between the CPEs. The most easy way to avoid the trees or fences in the Fresnel zone is to raise up the antenna/CPE.

2. CPE Settings

It is suggested that you open the box, upgrade them to the latest firmware and set up the network before you go for the physical installation. When you go physical installation, you can then focus on how to align two CPEs facing each other. Check How to set up a CPE for a step by step setting guide.
 

3. Physical Installation

There is a plastic zip tie that comes with the package. You can replace it with a metal one if you expect the weather condition to be more severe.

The PoE injector included in the package comes with a mounting plate. Properly secure the mounting plate and then mount on the PoE injector in an indoor location.

Set the CPE set to access point mode as the radio source and observe the signal strength on the other CPE set to client mode. Log in to the PharOS and check the radio status. Adjust the aiming angles on both CPEs to get the best signal strength.

Grounding

Grounding is extremely important especially for outdoor devices. The Pharos CPEs have a grounding point for easy connection to the ground wire.

If you do not have a separate grounding point, you can still make the ground connection through the shielded twisted pair network cable, STP. The network module on the CPE can ground through the STP cable, to the PoE injector and to the ground wire on the mains power ground. Please make sure your AC power source grounding is properly set up.

Video Guide

A complete set up video guide is available here:

 

Frequent Asked Questions
 

1. Should I set the IP address of the CPE to the DHCP client?

You can set the CPE’s IP address assigned by the DHCP server so you can dynamically manage the CPEs. When you build a wireless bridge using a pair of the CPEs, it is recommended that you set the management IP static. It can save unnecessary bandwidth and guarantee that you can always visit the CPE with the assigned IP address.

2. Should I set the IP address of the CPE within the LAN subnet?

It depends on the complexity of your local network. If you have a small network, reserve the IP address within the LAN subnet is easier to manage when necessary. If you have a more complex network environment, you can leave the IP address of the CPE out of the LAN IP range, so the local user cannot visit and manage the CPEs. A formal way of isolating management subnet and user subnet is setting up the management VLAN. You can set up the management VLAN on the CPE. Please reference the user’s guide for more detail.

 

 How to set up static IP in Windows 10

There are many ways to set up the static IP on your network card in Windows 10. One of the way is setting up the static IP through the control panel.

1. Type in network status to open the Settings panel. Click on the  Network Status to open the network status panel.

2. On the Network Status panel, click on Ethernet to see the status and options of the Ethernet card. Click on Change adapter options.

3. Choose the network card you want to set up the static IP and double click on it.

4. Click on Properties to change the network card options.

5. Highlight the Internet Protocol Version 4(TCP/IPv4) and then click on Properties.

6. Enter the IP address and subnet mask. Then enter the default gateway and DNS when necessary. (it is not required for wireless access point setup)

7. Click OK and close the network card property windows to make the change effect.

 

 How to set up static IP on the macOS

1. Open the System Preferences

2. Click on the Network

3. Choose the Ethernet or the Wi-Fi card you want to set the static IP. For wireless access point setup, you can choose to connect the default SSID (TP-Link_xxxx).

4. Choose the TCP/IP tab, then Manually configure IPv4. Enter the IPv4 address and subnet mask. The Router is not required if you just want to set up the wireless access point. Or, you can enter the gateway address for your local network.

5. Click OK then Apply to apply the network card setting change.

 

 How to set up an EAP in standalone mode

The Omada EAP can work in controller mode or standalone mode. You can set up and use the EAP as a simple access point without a controller.

List of outdoor EAPs

TP-Link Outdoor Omada EAPs

Model	EAP110-Outdoor	EAP225-Outdoor
Frequency	2.4GHz	2.4GHz and 5GHz
Class	N300	AC1200

Network topology

The Omada EAP has a built-in DHCP client enabled by default. It can get the IP address from the home gateway dynamically. Connect the EAP to the PoE injector that comes with the product, plug in to the PoE port. Connect the LAN port of the PoE injector to the home gateway. Power on the EAP.

Set up wizard

On your computer, search for the SSID TP-Link_xxxx and connect to it. No password was required from factory default. Make sure your computer can get the gateway GUI or Internet. Enter http://tplinkeap.net in your browser to get the EAP login page.

Enter admin as the username and admin again for the password to login to the set up GUI. Change the user name and password before you proceed to change other settings.

Follow the setup wizard to enter the SSID and password and save the settings.

 

 Outdoor wireless set up examples
 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Backyard WiFi
 

The most obvious solution to a backyard Wifi is adding up an EAP or CPE. An EAP comes with two 360° omni-directional antennas which can cover 100 meters (300 feet) radius outdoor area.

The CPE access point has more focused wireless beam width and better sensitivity for the wireless connection.

Access point radio beamwidth

Model	CPE210	CPE510	CPE710	CPE710 - Feed only
Beamwidth	65°	45°	9°	~ 45°
Antenna	9 dBi	13 dBi	23 dB	~

 

The EAP has a dual band model which can service 2.4GHz and 5GHz at the same time. CPEs work in a single band, 2.4GHz or 5GHz, for focused clients. If you do have a focused client area, CPE will be a good choice to you. Otherwise, EAP will be a good choice.

Both CPE and EAP come with weather proof housing resisting the dust and moisture. The PoE injector comes with the product supply the power and data on the same wire remotely allowing the flexible installation in the outdoor area.

Installation

• Reference How to set up a CPE or  How to set up an EAP in standalone mode for detail instructions on access point set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : School football stadium
 

At the school football stadium, you may want to provide basic Internet access to all the audiences, to share the pictures or the videos. Most of the time, the football stadium is away from the office and has no network cable buried when it was built. How can we provide the network services to the bench area?

To the bench area

Separate the bench areas in different sections of services. In this example, there are 2 major bench areas and each area can be covered by 250 feet radius from the stadium lighting poles. We can mount a 360° EAP access point for the service. Since the uplink speed is up to 300Mbps, we can simply deploy an EAP110-Outdoor here.
 

To the office

The distance from the stadium lighting poles to the office is about 1,200 feet and has a good line-of-sight condition. We can use CPE510 to build a 5GHz uplink. Since two of the stadium lighting poles are within 45° angle looking from the office, we can set up one CPE510 outside of the office as an access point connecting to two CPE510 on the stadium lighting poles set up as clients.
 

Installation

The network topology looked like this:

• Reference How to set up a CPE or  How to set up an EAP in standalone mode for detail instructions on access point set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Outdoor Cinema
 

There’s nothing quite like watching a movie outside in your own backyard. Bringing you blankets and pillows hanging around with your family together enjoy the summer night.

It will be even better if you can stream the video from the Internet and streams it smoothly. With a strong WiFi signal in your backyard, you can wireless stream video on your cell phone and cast to the big screen with a projector.

WiFi for your backyard

An EAP outdoor access point can provide a reliable signal for your video. The EAP access point comes with two 360° omni-directional antennas which can cover 100 meters (300 feet) radius outdoor area which is good for most of our backyards.

Installation

• Reference How to set up an EAP in standalone mode for detail instructions on access point set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Swimming Pool
 

Here comes the summer. You may want to hang around the pool to enjoy the chill and fun. And some funny videos as well? You bet!

Expand your WiFi signal from your house to the pool area is easy. An EAP outdoor access point can provide a reliable signal around the pool.

The EAP access point comes with two 360° omni-directional antennas which can cover 100 meters (300 feet) radius outdoor area, and it also comes with waterproof housing resisting the water splashes. The PoE injector comes with the product supply the power and data on the same wire remotely allowing the flexible installation in the outdoor area.

Installation

• Reference How to set up an EAP in standalone mode for detail instructions on access point set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Remote Camera
 

You may have a far away grassland and you want to monitor your cattles there. You may have a parking lot that needs to be monitored on the other size of the building. The easiest way of sending back the pictures is using wireless.

One way or two way communication?

Most of the IP cameras send pictures using TCP two way communication by default. Some of the cameras can be set to UDP for one way communication. If you are setting up the camera with UDP communication, you need a strong signal casting from the camera. If you are using the default TCP two way communication, you need strong signals both from and to the camera.

On the camera

You can set up a Pharos CPE side by side to the camera using the network port on the PoE injector connecting two devices together. You can set up this CPE works in client mode (most of the time) or in access point mode and connects to the access point or client on the other end.

Installation

• Reference How to set up a CPE for detail instructions on the CPE set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Parking Lot Surveillance
 

Parking lot surveillance is more important than ever. Whether you need the IP camera for security surveillance, for better curb side service, or simply for car counting or parking alerts with artificial intelligence. You may want to install a camera outside of your building or on the light pole in the parking lot.

Topology

Connecting to a camera installed on the light pole of the parking lot is easy. Simply install a Pharos CPE configuring as a client. Powering up the CPE with the PoE injector comes with the CPE product. Connect to the camera with the second port of the PoE injector.

On the office side, if the signal is strong enough that the CPE can detect the signal, you don’t have to do any change. Otherwise, install another Pharos CPE outside of the building. Again, connecting the CPE to the PoE injector and connecting the other port of the PoE injector to the office network.
 

Installation

• Reference How to set up a CPE for detail instructions on the CPE set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : RV Park
 

Traveling with RV is fun, not having the Internet connection is not. Providing a good WiFi connection to the RV campers is import and necessary. But, how?

Single AP coverage

In a small size of the campground, a single access point can service all the campers. The EAP225-Outdoor has recommended coverage 100 meters (300 feet) with the maximum coverage 200 meter radius. The dual band access point provides services on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. MU-MIMO makes the multiple user access more efficient.
 

Outdoor wireless mesh

A large size of the RV park may need more outdoor access point for the coverage. This is an example of 14 acre RV park WiFi. It was planned using four (4) EAP225-Outdoor for the overall coverage. The EAP225-Outdoor is capable of creating the back link to the root access point wirelessly. No cabling is required. It supports up to three (3) uplink hops.
 

The outdoor mesh network can be controlled by an OC200 network controller. The controller monitors the network all the time. It creates, maintains, and heals the wireless mesh network.

What about the line-of-sight requirement?

It is critical in point-to-point CPE communication and has alternatives in EAP mesh networking. Any non-direct wireless beam from the sender to the receiver will be considered interference. Especially in miles long communications. However, it is more tolerated in shorter outdoor wireless communications. The EAP mesh networking not only can pick up the direct wireless beam, but also can take reflected and deflected beams as the wireless path. The wireless MIMO coordinates the direct and indirect communications. So, the wireless communication is still available with partial blocking by the woods or leaves.

On the RV

You may visit different campgrounds from time to time and the WiFi signal quality will be varied from one to another. A sensitive wireless antenna (receiver) is what you need to receive the best signal from the campground office.
 

The Pharos CPE has 2.4GHz (CPE210) and 5GHz (CPE510). Most of the campgrounds provide 2.4GHz service. Therefore, the CPE210 is your best bet as a receiving device. 5GHz has less interference, you may get better traffic over 5GHz if the campground provide the service.

Installation

• Reference How to Build a Mesh Network via Omada EAP in Your Home.

• Reference how to set up a CPE as a receiver for detail instructions RV receiver set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Yacht Club

Here is an outdoor wireless coverage example. A yacht club wants to provide Internet services to all yacht owners. Yacht owners need Internet connections to browse the Internet, access emails and watch Netflix videos. Wireless access points can be mount on the wall of the buildings.
 

According to the recommendation of the Netflix.com, the bandwidth requirements are:

Service	Bandwidth
Minimum	0.5Mbps
SD Video	3.0Mbps
HD Video	5.0Mbps
Ultra HD	25Mbps

A reasonable bandwidth allocation for each boat is 6Mbps for all the services. Because the wireless communication shares the total bandwidth, each boat can get more than 6Mbps connection when the total number of clients is low and gets allocated bandwidth when the number of clients reaches the capacity of the plan.

Plan 1 : minimum access points

A simple 3 access points plan with EAP225-Outdoor can cover all the boats. All 3 access points can be mounted on the exterior walls of the club and provide services to 11 ~ 30 boats. The planned bandwidth capacity 30 x 6Mbps = 180Mbps can be easily handed by EAP-225-Outdoor.

The access point C has a 320 feet radius service range to 30 boats. The wireless path is longer and the loading is heavier. The customer has some concerns on it. It is possible to make the service area smaller to distribute the load. So, we then break the lower single access point service area to be served by 3 EAP225-Outdoor.

Plan 2 : with all EAPs for easy management
 

 

When an access point can be hard wired to the network, it is easier to maintain and the hard wire provides the separate bandwidth for uplink than wireless downlink. In this 5 EAPs wireless plan, you can see the access point E is not attached to the building. It was planned to be mounted on the sidewalk lamp pole and wirelessly meshed to the main network. This installations provides a great flexibility when choosing the installation spot.

Plan 3 : balance the service group size with minimum network management

After the discussion between the installer and the landlord. They decided that they want to break the clients in smaller service groups for better bandwidth and network management, at the same time, they want to attach the access points on the main building for easy installation. Therefore, the plan was modified again mixing the CPE510 in this service plan. In this service plan, we leave the first three EAP225-Outdoor access points to service upper part of the boats and use two CPE510 (45° beam width) to service the 4th and 5th group, so the total number of the clients to each access point is lower and the bandwidth plan for each boat can be upgraded.
 

 

Installation

Since both CPEs and EAPs work in access point mode, the customer decided to set them one by one in standalone mode. You can reference the how to section of this document about how to set up EAP and CPE as an access point.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Highway Billboard
 

In this example, a customer wants to update the content display on a highway billboard. The control PC is sitting in a nearby building. There is a small hill along the highway between the building and the billboard. The customer wants to know how high the CPE should be installed.

Determine the height of the installation

In the How to calculate the wireless range we have explained the details of the radio transmission as well as the Fresnel zone. The most ebay number you can get is the distance from the building to the top of the hill and from top of the hill to the billboard. Visit the Google map with the computer. Right click and then choose the measure to get the numbers.

It is relatively hard to decide the ground level of the building and the billboard, or the relative heights on the top of the billboard, hill top, and roof top of the building. A sight scope with a level can be very helpful to determine the heights of these objects.

From the customer’s description, the distance from the building to the hilltop is 280 meters. The distance from the hill top to the billboard is 45 meters. The hilltop is 6.6 meters higher than the ground level of the billboard. With the Fresnel zone formula, we can find the center line between two CPEs should be at least 4.8 meters higher than the hilltop.

Installation

Customer installed the CPE on the building as an access point and the one on the billboard as a client at the estimated height. The average throughput in this installation was measured 87 Mbps in average.

 

 Outdoor Wireless Example : Hotel Swimming Pool
 

Hang around the pool to enjoy the chill and fun. Read a book, share a photo, chat with friends, or watch the video clips. Yes, you definitely need the WiFi to make that happen.

Providing WiFi services in the pool area is easy. An EAP225-Outdoor access point can provide a reliable signal around the pool. The outdoor EAP is IP67 waterproof rating which is ready for outdoor use.

It also comes with the mesh feature, if you want to extend the service area, just power on the second EAP225-Outdoor. The mesh network manager will handle everything else.
 

Installation

• Reference How to set up an EAP in standalone mode for detail instructions on access point set up.

• Remember using a shielded Ethernet cable to connect to the access point and ground the PoE injector proper to provide the best lighting protection.
   

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For questions on these and other TP-Link Business Solutions, please contact Business Support at https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/contact-technical-support/
 

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