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Huawei Helps EPMTPQ Build the World's Leading Vehicle-Ground Wi-Fi Communication Network for Buses

2017-12-19 14:35 1567

SHENZHEN, China, Dec. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Empresa Pública Metropolitana de Transporte de Pasajeros de Quito (EPMTPQ) is a tertiary industry company and subordinate of the Municipal Government of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The company operates and manages almost all public transportation vehicles in Quito, including buses, trams, and trolley buses.

With the advent of the information and Internet age, Wi-Fi network access anytime, anywhere has become a strong demand of people in their daily lives. To verify the feasibility of Wi-Fi network deployment, EPMTPQ actively conducted multiple pieces of research and consulted many companies in the industry. The result shows that deployment of Wi-Fi networks for vehicles is faced with the following challenges:

Bandwidth

EPMTPQ's vehicles are mainly three-carriage buses, which are nearly 30 meters long and can carry up to 225 passengers. ETMTPQ plans to deploy three high-definition (HD) video surveillance cameras on each vehicle, so Wi-Fi networks must meet such needs. In addition, to meet passengers' demands for Internet access, the Wi-Fi networks must provide services such as web surfing, social networking, and video calling. Therefore, Wi-Fi networks on vehicles must have a large bandwidth and support more than 100 concurrent users.

High-Density Coverage

EPMTPQ's vehicles drive through complex environments, including elevated roads, urban areas, and suburbs. It is hugely challenging to offer high-quality Wi-Fi services in closed, passenger-intensive vehicles in such complex electromagnetic environments.

Stability

Security is the most important consideration for EPMTPQ, and stability of Wi-Fi networks is critical to emergency communications and video surveillance services. Ensuring the stability and security in complex road conditions and electromagnetic environments is a huge challenge for Wi-Fi networks.

Huawei's world's leading WLAN backhaul solution is especially designed for vehicle-ground backhaul scenarios of the transportation industry. The solution boasts the following highlights and effectively solves EPMTPQ's problems:

"Soft Switching" Ensures Large Bandwidth, Low Delay, and Multi-User Concurrency

Huawei's WLAN vehicle-ground backhaul solution adopts "soft switching" technology, and significantly improves the uplink bandwidth and reduces delay.

  • Real-time link quality evaluation: When a vehicle is in motion, the vehicle-mounted AP continuously evaluates the quality of each link, dynamically deletes poor-quality links, and establishes new links with track-side APs that have high quality forward-transmitted signals.
  • Optimal link switching algorithm: By leveraging the switching algorithm, this solution ensures that optimal data backhaul links are always used, so that data backhaul channels are switched through link switching.
  • Reduced packet loss: Target links to be switched are built before soft switching is implemented. Using the unique optimization technology of the forwarding plane, Huawei's solution minimizes the packet loss probability during switching.

Professional WLAN Planning Tool Reduces Interference

Good Wi-Fi networks require sound network planning. Huawei provides a professional WLAN planning tool which covers a variety of environments such as station platforms, and elevated, straight, and winding roads. Using this tool, users can establish transmission models based on WLAN characteristics, perform calibration for scenario-specific transmission models, and accurately estimate APs' deployment distance. Huawei's WLAN planning tool is also able to obtain network rates based on the cell-edge signal strength, thus matching the required bandwidth. This greatly improves network construction efficiency and reduces construction costs.

Professional Vehicle-Mounted, WLAN Dual-5G AP Provides High-Density Coverage

Huawei's AP9131DN tailored for vehicle-mounted scenarios complies with the 802.11ac standard and provides a maximum rate of 1.75 Gbit/s. The AP9131DN meets waterproof and fireproof requirements, and uses industrial anti-vibration M12 sockets, making it well suited for in-vehicle use.

Dual-Plane Backup Delivers High Reliability

Wireless signal interference caused by roadside green belts and residential buildings adversely impacts WLAN system stability. To solve this problem, Huawei uses the A + B plane solution that deploys backhaul APs in both the front and rear ends of a vehicle. Under normal circumstances, the AP in the front establishes connections with roadside APs and provides uplinks. The link status is monitored using a rapid inspection protocol. If the link quality declines, the uplinks are immediately switched to the AP at the rear of the vehicle. This improves network stability and reliability, even in scenarios with obstacles and interference.

Huawei's WLAN vehicle-ground backhaul solution helps EPMTPQ deliver smooth HD video surveillance images, allowing the O&M personnel to clearly observe the vehicle status in real time. Even during rush hours, passengers can still make calls clearly and download HD videos smoothly. Moreover, passengers can browse websites, send and receive emails, download music, upload photos, and enjoy ultimate Wi-Fi experience.

Nowadays, bus Wi-Fi is booming. Continuously innovative operation and service capabilities and new business models will make bus Wi-Fi more powerful. Services such as user behavior data analysis, location-based business information push, and application in smart cities will be delivered in the near future. Bus Wi-Fi will bring tremendous changes to both global bus companies and people's lives.

Source: Huawei
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