Marine Electronics
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Ferry commuters and recreational boaters as well as commercial vessels can now take advantage of a new broadband wireless network that covers San Francisco’s most heavily traveled waterways. The new network, a creation of Sunrise Wireless, covers the San Francisco Bay from the Bay Bridge on the east side to the Golden Gate Bridge on the west and then finally north to the San Rafael Bridge.
For the consumer market Sunrise Wireless offers the “SFOWetNet-marine” service. That service can be purchased on an hourly, daily or monthly subscription basis and can be accessed with a laptop or smart phone. With the service, boaters will be able to access the Internet up to a half-mile from shore. For extended range past a half-mile, a range extender option is available.
For commercial vessels the system was designed to meet the ongoing needs of a wide variety of ships and professions. The company expects that tugboats, ferries, tankers cargo ships and even dinner cruise liners will use the service. As well, Sunrise Wireless sees markets in the public safety sector, like police, fire, and search and rescue markets.
Currently the commercial network, called “SFOWetNet-comml” provides unlicensed WiMAX connectivity. Plans are to upgrade the service to include wireless VoIP for telephone communications and real-time streaming video for at sea news and entertainment applications as well as ship to shore video surveillance. For activation of the service and direct connection to the WiMAX network, commercial clients must install a device called a subscriber unit. Once connected and signed on, ship personnel can access the 12 to 36 Mbps wireless connection throughout the 62 square mile region.
For the project, Sunrise focused on the use of Proxim’s wireless equipment, equipment that it has seen success with previously in a marine wireless environment. According to Milton Gregory, President of Sunrise Wireless, “We have utilized Proxim’s end-to-end wireless systems for maritime deployments in the past—including our deployment with the Washington State Ferry (WSF) system—and I believe the Proxim solution is the best for marine broadband networks. Not only does the system just work, but also Proxim is the only place I can get a complete Wi-Fi, WiMAX and point-to-point wireless backhaul solution in one place. Proxim has the tools needed to enable high speed roaming applications combined with the ability to provide high-bandwidth wireless connectivity over water, which is an exceptionally demanding RF environment. No other technology is as cost effective for this application.”
Marine hardened hardware that Sunrise used in the network included the Proxim Tsunami MP.11 5054R and 5054R-LR. Sunrise used these devices as base stations and subscriber units for WiMAX connectivity.
The Proxim ORiNOCO AP-4000 MR-LR was also a critical component for the network. The ORiNOCO AP-4000s provide the one-half mile or more long-range Wi-Fi coverage from the shore. For the over forty miles of WiMAX and Wi-Fi backhaul required to talk to the network data center, located in south San Francisco, Sunrise used Proxim Tsunami GX radios.
Although Sunrise Wireless credits much of the success of reliable overwater wireless communications to Proxim, Proxim also gives Sunrise a lot of credit for its expertise in the difficult overwater communication environment, “Sunrise Wireless has always been an exciting partner, because they specialize in creating wireless networks in one of the most difficult environments—over water,” said Robb Henshaw, Senior Director of Global Marketing & Communications for Proxim Wireless.
Henshaw also indicated that Proxim and Sunrise will continue with their working relationship, “At Proxim, we know that people want wireless connectivity wherever they are. Together with Sunrise Wireless, we look forward to continually enabling people to connect in more and more locations.”
