¶ What is the Meshmerize Tunnel Construction solution?
Tunnel construction sites pose unique and dynamic challenges that require robust solutions for seamless operations. Amidst the constant excavation, heavy machinery movement, and changing environments, maintaining reliable connectivity becomes a pressing concern. Traditional cable-based solutions are vulnerable to damage, resulting in sudden communication disruptions throughout the tunnel. Additionally, the need to expand and scale the network as construction progresses adds complexity. These modern-day challenges demand an adaptable connectivity solution that can keep up with the evolving construction site, ensuring uninterrupted communication and enhancing overall safety and productivity.
Meshmerize enables the establishment of a robust and reliable mesh network infrastructure from a set of Meshmerize-enabled devices paired with directional antennas. This breaks the dependency on the fiber backbone connection in case of a failure and instead allows a seamless switch to the wireless mesh network to offer interruption-free network service throughout the tunnel. Meshmerize offers flexibility in hardware selection, allowing customers to choose from a selection of devices that suit their specific needs. It seamlessly integrates with both static installed hardware and movable equipment and vehicles, providing flexibility and scalability.
Key Solution Benefits
- Excellent reliability through multi-path routing
- Best-in-class affordability
- Unparalleled flexibility in setup and deployment
- Truly wireless network coverage expansion through seamless integration of dynamic equipment
- Resilient network backup for mission critical operations
¶ How does it work?
Meshmerize easily overcomes challenges present in tunnel communication. By using multi-path routing, Meshmerize is relaying messages through all nodes, forming redundant communication paths to proactively prevent a loss of communication in case of a single link failure. Instead of relying on single wireless links, Meshmerize uses a decentralized device-to-device communication to strengthen the network from the inside. This enables Meshmerize to expand the network without expensive cabling installations by simply connecting all devices directly and wirelessly, eliminating radio shadows in the tunnel.
¶ Mesh Performance
Depending on your choice of hardware the Meshmerize tunnel communication solution provides reliable network coverage and fail-over ability in case of a fiber breakage.
| Minimum / Average / Maximum expected Throughput | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hop | 2 hops | 3 hops | |
| EnGenius ECW160 | 15 / 58 / 68 Mbit/s | 7 / 15 / 25 Mbit/s | 2 / 4 / 7 Mbit/s |
| Acksys RuggedAir100 | 20 / 34 / 40 Mbit/s | 6 / 10 / 15 Mbit/s | 2 / 4 / 7 Mbit/s |
| Minimum / Average / Maximum expected Latency | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hop | 2 hops | 3 hops | |
| EnGenius ECW160 | 4 / 9 / 76 ms | 4 / 16 / 140 ms | 8 / 23 / 376 ms |
| Acksys RuggedAir100 | 2 / 3 / 6 ms | 3 / 5 / 10 ms | 5 / 6 / 9 ms |
Please note that the above performance numbers assume a correct setup and configuration. They were obtained through measurements in the 2.4GHz band with 20MHz channel width.
Your actually measured numbers depends on a variety of factors beyond the Meshmerize software's control, including wireless environment, hardware selection, antenna positioning, and other. Meshmerize does not warrant for specific wireless or network performance aspects such as data throughput, packet loss, or scalability in arbitrary deployments, as these elements are affected by above factors.
If your measured service quality deviates from our provided numbers please ensure that your setup follows our recommendations. If performance issues persist contact the Meshmerize Support.
¶ Solution Deployment
¶ Hardware Selection
Implementing Meshmerize in tunnel construction sites offers flexibility in hardware selection, allowing customers to choose from a selection of devices that suit their specific needs. The primary devices are installed as static hardware throughout the tunnel to provide comprehensive network coverage. They are strategically positioned every few hundred meters, taking into consideration factors like bends and obstacles. To enhance signal strength and reach, the devices are equipped with directional antennas, ensuring focused and efficient connectivity.
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Key device specifications |
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EnGenius ECW160 |
Acksys RuggedAir100 |
| The recommend hardware choice for this purpose is the EnGenius ECW160, a dual-radio dual-band Wi-Fi access point. Its IP67-rated weatherproof and dust proof housing withstands harsh environments making it the perfect choice for the tunnel construction environment. | A suitable alternative access point is the Acksys RuggedAir100 Wi-Fi access point, client, repeater & Mesh point designed for industrial applications in harsh environments. It offers a ruggedized IP66 waterproof, shock and vibrations proof enclosure, an extended operating temperature range, and industrial standard M12 connectors for more demanding deployments. |
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In addition to the static hardware installations, Meshmerize offers options for equipping mobile nodes, such as vehicles, with hardware to further enhance connectivity in tunnel construction sites. These mobile devices can be equipped with different hardware options to establish additional connections, improving both reliability and coverage in the most challenging and inaccessible areas of the tunnel.
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Key device specifications |
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Doodle Labs Smartradio |
TP-Link EAP225 Outdoor |
| The Doodle Labs Smartradio is an easy-to-carry, easy-to-use Mesh Rider Radio designed to be worn by personnel in order to connect individuals to a mesh network. Its built-in Wi-Fi hot spot makes it easy to connect any internet-enabled device to the same mesh network. It is the perfect choice for a lightweight access point to be carried by construction personnel. | The TP-Link EAP225 Outdoor is the preferred choice for vehicle-mounted access points to act as intermediate distribution and connection points. It is a lightweight easy to install access point with a durable, weatherproof IP65 enclosure rated for for outdoor Wi-Fi applications perfectly suitable for the usage in tunnel construction. |
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For more information on the Meshmerize-enabled devices visit the individual device pages.
¶ Installation Guidelines
When installing the access points in the tunnel their locations should be strategically selected to fully unlock the maximum potential of the mesh network. As they operate as the wireless backbone of the network they build the foundation for the failover which needs to be supported by every intermediate wireless link. Through the usage of directional antennas distances between individual access points can reach several hundred meters. We recommend a survey measurement to determine the distance of the next device to be installed according to the signal strength. This can also be achieved through testing with end user applications such as speed tests. However, access point placement in general should always follow a chain of line of sight connections between adjacent devices. Reaching around bends will affect the overall performance of the network. If possible, static devices should be connected via Ethernet to the fiber backbone to ensure maximum network performance and breakage isolation in case of a fiber disconnect. Installing static access points without a connection to the backbone network will reduce the maximum possible service provided by the wireless network.
As Meshmerize can operate in a stand-alone mode or can be integrated into the preexisting network infrastructure the separation of the networks should be considered. Contrary to fixed cable-based networks the performance of the mesh network using the multi-path routing is significantly more sensitive and will deteriorate when carrying a surplus of network services through the wireless mesh. Therefore, it is recommended to disable or separate common network discovery services and similar broadcast traffic out from the wireless mesh network as to reduce the number of unnecessary traffic transmitted over the air. This will reduce the load on the Wi-Fi to fully utilize its resources.
¶ Software
To deploy your Meshmerize devices you first need to install Meshmerize and create a default configuration. Depending on your selection of hardware Meshmerize might already be installed out-of-the-box requiring only the activation. In case Meshmerize is not included in the factory firmware, please check the respective device page of your device for instructions to install a MeshmerizeOS for your device. Note that all Meshmerize instances at this point will be unlicensed.
The Meshmerize Quick Start Guide will help you to get started with your first Meshmerize installation. It includes instructions on how to first connect to your devices, set up Meshmerize, install a license and customize the configurations.
¶ Configuration
To ensure smooth operations of the wireless network you should adapt the wireless configuration of the devices according to your deployment and its surroundings. This is to ensure that the network avoids unwanted external interference. Make sure to configure the mesh network to operate on an isolated Wi-Fi channel for your deployment. Additional networks transmitting on the same frequency will drain available resources and reduce the overall network performance of the wireless installation. The highest possible Wi-Fi transmission speeds are enabled only by selecting the least occupied available frequency.
¶ Hive
Hive is a comprehensive network management tool which allows you to monitor, configure and control the network. It is available as a cloud-hosted service as well as a self-hosted variant if access to the internet is not possible at your site. Please refer to the Getting Started Guide to see how to connect your devices to Hive.
Hive will allow you to run a collection of provided actions to configure and customize the device settings for all devices in your deployment according to their role in the network. This will ensure proper configuration for all devices fine-tuned for the tunnel construction use case eliminating manual configuration with individual device handling.
¶ Support
For any open questions or custom requirements and configurations please refer to the Meshmerize Wiki Documentation or directly contact the Meshmerize Support.