White Paper: High-Speed Passenger Wi-Fi Now a Reality for Commuters By Matteo Luccio April 3, 2014
Introduction Mass transit riders have come to expect a fast internet connection for their mobile devices, enabling them to work during their commutes. Some employers even allow them to do it on the clock, arriving later and leaving earlier, because it boosts productivity and morale. This is one of the many reasons why the highbandwidth wireless connectivity that many of us take for granted in our homes, workplaces, and most public spaces is now in high demand in mobile environments as well. with little or no drop in bandwidth. The company was also looking for a solution with enough telemetry or logic built in that would enable it to address any problem before an end user noticed that something was wrong with the system. Genentech deployed approximately 40 HCMI units. Riders access the system just like they would access any open Wi-Fi hot spot. According to Nate Byerly, gride s Sr. Outreach Manager, the company is extremely happy with FW s performance and has elected to use FW in a turn-key manner to support the system on site. First responders--such as an ambulance or police vehicle-- also rely on in-vehicle real-time data and network access for communications, routing, telemedicine, and en route information about the emergency to which they are responding. Operators of fleets such as delivery vans, busses, utility repair trucks, trains, and ferries want to track and monitor their operations and engine diagnostics. Even farms are beginning to network their machines in the field with each other and with the office. All of these applications require fast and reliable radio communications. Additionally, many fixed applications that require a high level of redundancy to assure continuity of critical operations such as emergency command centers and some financial institutions have a need for this type of application. Two Cases Genentech Inc., a pharmaceutical company located in San Francisco, California, and Santa Cruz METRO, both operate commuter busses in areas where hills, tunnels, and bridges make cell service very difficult. They both rely on FW s High Capacity Mobile Internet (HCMI) device to provide uninterrupted high-speed wireless internet connectivity to riders on their busses. Genentech s fleet of commuter busses, known as gride, carries approximately 2,500 riders each day. The company needed a bulletproof mobile Wi-Fi solution that would support 4G technology throughout the fleet and up to 52 users on each bus Figure 1: Santa Cruz Metro Bus In 2006, Santa Cruz METRO installed a wireless communication system in its fleet of 11 Orion commuter buses used on the Highway 17 Express Service. Anticipating that this technology would appeal to persons wishing to access the Internet and email while commuting, Santa Cruz METRO promoted the service as an alternative to driving a personal vehicle, thus reducing highway congestion between Santa Cruz and San Jose California. In 2008, the agency installed a new version of the modems and routers. However, the manufacturer s support of the units became so poor that complaints regarding the wireless system began to increase and the service became very unreliable. After several attempts to improve the Wi-Fi service on the Highway 17 Express Service, Santa Cruz METRO solicited other companies to demonstrate their products in the hopes of obtaining a better Wi-Fi solution that would 1 FW Toll Free:1-800-683-4818 Fax: 541-284-0030 P.O. Box 2549, Eugene, OR 97402 www.feeneywireless.com
eliminate passenger complaints. The agency chose FW because of the product line that it proposed. Given the topographical challenges presented by Santa Cruz METRO s service area, achieving undisrupted Wi-Fi service throughout the corridor travelled by its commuter busses required an HCMI system. The system, similar to those already being used by Genentech on its fleet of busses, was selected in order to facilitate streaming video while minimizing disruption to other online activities, such as downloading email. To date, according to Ciro Aguirre, Santa Cruz METRO s Manager of Operations, the agency has received numerous compliments and statements from its commuters praising the new Wi-Fi service and has seen a 99% drop in Wi-Fi-related complaints. A short survey of early morning commuters confirmed their total satisfaction with the Wi-Fi service and their renewed interest in using the Highway 17 Express Service. As a result, the agency has added eleven trips to accommodate demand, which is still rising. The Challenge Mobile high-speed connectivity requires sufficient bandwidth to meet the upload and download requirements of all expected users of the system. Network speeds vary among mobile providers; for example, peak download speeds on Verizon s 4G LTE network can be 100Mbps. As video streaming becomes commonplace, these requirements are increasing exponentially. Reliability requires redundancy and access to multiple networks, to compensate for each network s coverage gaps and areas with poor signal strength, such as rural areas and narrow valleys. Systems that meet these speed and reliability requirements are complex. For example, the mobile nature of this type of solution requires properly configured load balancing software, Wi-Fi hotspots, and filters to reduce background electronic noise. Many current users and potential adopters of highspeed mobile Internet systems lack the necessary technical competence or staff to install, monitor, troubleshoot, reset, diagnose, fix, and upgrade them as needed. Even for organizations with qualified inhouse technicians, it is very costly to deploy one to the location of each device. Therefore, remote access to the devices is essential, because it dramatically reduces the number of service calls to their physical locations thereby reducing operational expenses and increasing the return on investment. Additionally, when it is necessary to fix or replace system hardware installed on vehicles, it is very important that it be both easily accessible and modular, so that removing one component such as one of several cellular modems does not necessarily result in disabling the entire device. Figure 2: HCMI Product Cutaway The HCMI FW s High Capacity Mobile Internet (HCMI) is a Wi-Fi solution that balances the traffic load between multiple modems and carriers. It offers public safety agencies, mass transit providers, and corporate fleet operators the ability to offer first responders, passengers, and mobile workers the bandwidth they need for all of their online activities, including multiuser Web browsing and high resolution video streaming. 2 FW Toll Free:1-800-683-4818 Fax: 541-284-0030 P.O. Box 2549, Eugene, OR 97402 www.feeneywireless.com
HCMI is optimized to take advantage of the overlapping coverage footprints of different providers, thereby providing redundancy in areas with poor signal. It is available in configurations with 2, 3, 4, or 5 modems which can easily be replaced and offers 3G/4G broadband connections with automatic failover in areas with coverage gaps. Some vehicles and locations have as many as eight HCMI devices installed. An HCMI is about the size and weight of a 12 pack of soda (7 x 9 x 19 or 7 x 9 x 23 depending on the configuration, weighing between 16 and 18 pounds). It has a 12V or 24V DC vehicle power adapter and supports both CDMA and GSM modems. The supported carriers are AT&T, Rogers, Sprint, T-Mobile, TeleNor, TELUS, Verizon, and Vodafone. Mobile Carriers The geography of coverage and gaps is unique to each of the four major mobile carriers Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and T-Mobile. In rural areas, where cell towers are much more widely spaced than in urban areas, often a single carrier dominates the market. Clusters of no signal or low signal, however, are of interest in that they indicate locations where cellular data connections are commonly lost. Maintaining a robust and reliable mobile network requires a detailed and constantly updated knowledge of these variations in coverage. To achieve this, FW s Remote Monitoring Software continuously logs carrier performance enabling technicians to use this data to create maps that plot signal strength against the coordinates of each vehicle as collected using the GPS receivers in the HCMI devices. On each map, different colors indicate signal strength ranges (acceptable, moderate, low, or none) and different symbols identify carriers. The complete lack of a signal usually indicates that a device was disconnected or powering up at that location. This detailed network analysis enables FW to recommend to its customers the best mix of carrier service subscriptions. Where no past performance data is available, FW s technicians will survey sites and determine which carrier provides the best signal performance in each location. Remote Monitoring System The success of a mobile wireless deployment often requires constant monitoring of the health and status of each device, as well as managing and troubleshooting the complex interactions between devices, software, carrier networks, and security systems. Many organizations do not have the resources to perform this task in-house. FW s M2M Remote Monitoring System (RMS) technology enables FW s support team to detect and correct many common types of issues encountered in these deployments. On the main dashboard, the company s technicians are able to determine at a glance how many devices are online and how many are currently in an alert status. The RMS provides multiple views to locate devices, determine their current health, and generate reports used by FW technicians to provide service. Figure 3: RMS Technician Inside FW s network operation center (NOC), support technicians monitor deployed devices in real-time, including their uptime, connectivity, carrier RSSI gaps, GPS signal strength, schedule, and location. The system alerts these technicians of events or conditions that could cause downtime, enabling them to be proactive, keeping mission-critical applications online. Causes of downtime include signal strength issues attributable to a carrier, 3 FW Toll Free:1-800-683-4818 Fax: 541-284-0030 P.O. Box 2549, Eugene, OR 97402 www.feeneywireless.com
insufficient bandwidth due to a large number of users in the area, device failure due to loss of power, a loose connection, or faulty equipment. FW s response time may vary, depending on the service-level agreement (SLA) in place with each customer. Figure 4: RMS Coverage Map Utilizing the device health and status information, FW technicians perform diagnostics, fix device issues, and reload and update software and settings. FW sends organizations regular RMS reports with performance analytics of their M2M assets, including: fleet signal analytics signal quality company-wide signal quality by device number of alerts time to resolution When RMS detects an issue, a tile pops up in the control center view for FW s technical support team. The tiles are color coded depending on issue severity and whether or not a device is on schedule. Additionally, the tile s shape indicates when a vehicle has multiple monitored devices/modems onboard and only some of them are malfunctioning. For busses and other vehicles that run routes at regular times, the support team can set up a schedule, which enables the system to provide rapid alerts if a vehicle is not heard from during its time of regular operation. By clicking on a tile, technicians can see the phone numbers of the cellular modems on a vehicle and the last time they detected them online, as well as assign a case to an FW support representative. Should an issue be detected, RMS provides strong diagnostic abilities to the technical support team. They can quickly assess the health and status of a device, including its speed, status, and signal strength and the last time it checked in. Just by clicking on a device s phone number, they can show the last 24 hours of detailed data. RMS is configured to alert the team if a device s signal strength drops below defined thresholds or if the device is offline for more than a certain number of minutes. For customers that do not operate their vehicles based upon a fixed schedule, FW can set RMS to alert the team if the device has weak signal strength or has not been heard from for a specified period of time. If a GPS-equipped device drops a connection or has low signal strength, RMS will display the device s last reported location on a map. RMS software can generate weekly reports showing overall availability and carrier performance when devices are powered up. Conclusions Access to a fast and reliable mobile Internet connection boosts the productivity of commuters, increases mass transit ridership, and helps first responders reach emergencies more prepared. However, achieving this level of service is very challenging, especially in areas with a highly varied and complex topography. FW s HCMI compensates for gaps in cell coverage while FW s RMS ensures that any problem is quickly identified and diagnosed early and gets corrected without disrupting the Wi-Fi user s experience. 4 FW Toll Free:1-800-683-4818 Fax: 541-284-0030 P.O. Box 2549, Eugene, OR 97402 www.feeneywireless.com