RACOM microwave links can be found in places you wouldn’t expect. One example is the ski resort of Tignes in French Alps and the Grande Motte Glacier cable car at 3,500 m above sea level.

Nowadays, of course, a cable car operator needs to have a good and reliable IP network to communicate with the top station of the cable car including a high-speed internet connection. In addition to HD camera images, status data from the cable car sensors, meteorological data and much more needs to be transmitted. It appeared that providing such a link is not easy at all…

The original connection did not work well, so when looking for a replacement, the choice turned to RAy microwave link from RACOM. At first RAy2 at 24 GHz was used on part of the link and when it proved to be successful, it was decided to implement the whole link on RACOM microwaves in the 80 GHz band.

The original connection did not work well, so when looking for a replacement, the choice turned to RACOM’s RAy microwave links. Initially RAy2 at 24 GHz was used on part of the link and when it proved to be successful, it was decided to implement the whole link on RACOM microwaves in the 80 GHz band.

Our partner Seirel invited RACOM’s technical support to help so that the installation and commissioning be carried out quickly and without complications. Although the installation took place in the summer in late August and early September, it was not easy at these altitudes. Due to the strong winds, the cable car could only travel at 1.5 m/s instead of the standard 10 m/s. On the second day it even snowed and about 700 kg of snow had to be removed from the roof of the cable car in order to climb from the cabin to the mast about halfway along the route where the repeater is located.

The connection between the top and bottom stations is realized by three RAy3-80 links. There is one link between the top station and the repeater, between the repeater and the bottom station the communication is fully backed up and there are two lines in parallel.

Despite adverse weather conditions, everything was installed and up and running within two days and all links are running reliably at 2 Gbps.

Highlights

• RAy
• Backhaul and Last Mile
• Systems Integrator / ISP
• Corporates and private
• Resistance to Interference
• High reliability

CloudNet IT-Solutions Ltd is a System Integrator / Wireless Internet Service Provider. Its networks are specifically designed to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of customers. It delivers interconnectivity to problematic and hard to reach areas in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland providing domestic ISP services as part of the UK Government National Broadband strategy to provide 30 Mb into every home. It also provides onshore windfarms with a connection to Scottish and Southern Energy plc (SSE).

CloudNet even provided the broadband network that underpinned transmission of rural 5G traffic in the  ‘5G rural first’ project, delivering backhaul connectivity for testbeds and trials to exploit 5G benefits for rural communities and industries like agriculture, broadcasting and utilities.

The biggest issues in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland are always weather, the topography and the robustness and reliability of microwave links used. Historically, most links didn’t last more than three months without serious corrosion and the need for frequent, costly maintenance. That is, until RACOM’s RAy3 microwave link was trialled!

Thanks to its industrial hardened design and use of heavy-duty industrial components, RAy3 has withstood everything the North Atlantic could throw at it through rain or shine. Apart from some early ‘tweaking’ of the set up to change parameter settings, the radios have continued operating maintenance free. The first link was installed in the Spring of 2018 and is still on site without the need for any hardware maintenance!

Many RACOM links are across bodies of open water connecting island communities. Thanks to RAy’s exceptional robustness against noise and interference, there have been no reflection issues with the signal and CloudNet have maintained the high levels of service and availability they have built their reputation on.

RAy3, with its higher specifications and 1 Gbps speed capability is now a firm part of the network covering the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland and provides stable and maintenance free connection in environmentally challenging conditions.

Highlights

• RAy, 10,11 & 17 GHz
• Government services
• Backhaul links
• B2G — Business to Government services
• Equatorial conditions
• Excellent Stability & Reliability
• Long links — 24 Km

RAy backhaul links have been deployed in Ghana to provide a fast and reliable wireless radio communications service to major organisations in the country. They are helping the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority realise its vision to be the leading trade and logistics hub of West Africa. Ghana Community Network Services Limited, an Information and Communication Technology Public-Private Partnership, is also using RAy backhaul links to fulfil its mandate to provide e-Solutions to the Ghanaian government.

Both companies found that their existing communications networks were completely unsatisfactory. During the frequent and heavy equatorial rains, communications signals were constantly being dropped, failing to meet the high demands of these blue chip companies.

As an initial stage to source a robust solution, all available technologies were considered and eventually it was decided to install Microwave links. The cost for deploying microwave is less expensive compared to other technologies, Microwave links satisfy the bandwidth requirement of the clients and the links are easy to deploy.

During the more detailed link design, the optimal Microwave unit proved to be RACOM’s RAy products. The end users were impressed with stable data speed of over 100 Mbps, network availability above 99% and easy management with the ability to setup Vlans and other modern IP functionality.

All the links that have been installed offer at least 100 Mbps speed and dependent on link length, they use 90 cm, 68cm or 40cm antennas. The longest link, using RAy -11 units covers a distance of 24 Km.

Such is the satisfaction from both end users of the level of service being provided by RACOM’s RAy microwave units that expansion of the network has been planned and is ongoing.

Highlights

• RAy, 11 GHz
• National Emergency system
• Fibre backup
• Two-way mobile backbone
• Government centres connectivity
• Exceptional reliability
• Ease of installation

The Jamaican government recently commissioned a major project to provide connectivity for a National Disaster-Emergency Two-Way Mobile Communication System. Having investigated a number of options, they realized that Microwave links were the most effective technology and after thorough testing, RAy proved to be the optimal solution for a number of reasons. Selected initially for its bandwidth, throughput, reliability and pricing, the quality of the product and ease of installation also impressed the customer.

During the final design of the network, additional functionality was added to maximize the overall efficiency of the solution and investment made:

• The network provides broadband connectivity between the government head office and municipal councils, in places backing up fibre connections
• For certain local government centres the backbone provides last mile connectivity for the transportation of voice, high speed data and image transmission
• The network will additionally be used to provide interconnectivity for Traffic Lights, Camera System and Redundancy High Speed Communication and for any other demand as determined by the authority

The backbone interconnects more than Twenty-Five (25) Two-Way Radio Repeater sites and Fourteen (14) Local Government Centres.

Mr. Antonio Peterkin, distributor for RACOM in Jamaica reports there were no problems with installation and that everything functions very well with no downtime experienced.

Highlights

• RAy, 17, 18 & 24 GHz
• Service provider in Ireland
• Backhaul & Last mile
• Corporates & Private
• 100 links by 2017
• Easy configuration
• Resistance to disturbances

Ripplecom operates the largest fixed wireless network in Ireland. It is a Limerick-based technology solutions provider, delivering broadband, voice and other IT services to business and private customers. Ripplecom combines industry expertise with their leading network technologies to provide complete and tailored business solutions for connectivity, voice, security and data backup that help drive business growth. In 2017 Ripplecom’s network is providing services to 2,000 business and 4,000 private households with customer numbers growing continuously.

Ripplecom uses RAy microwave links as part of its product portfolio since 2015 and by end 2017 had about 100 links installed. The links are mainly used for Backhaul of Fixed Wireless Access Sectors, facilitating the delivery of dedicated synchronous bandwidth to corporate customers. Renowned for its exceptional system gain and resistance to disturbances, RAy provides a perfect solution for this type of application. In some instances the links are also used for high speed last mile connections.

RAy microwave units excel in their technical parameters, professional design, exceptional reliability and quality. However, Ripplecom’s field engineers like working with this unit because of another feature of the product. They really like RACOM RAy microwave units because they are so easy to configure and set up compared with other products in the Microwave space.

They are quoted as saying “RAy was clearly designed with engineers in mind which makes it much easier and faster to roll out.”

Highlights

• RAy, 11 GHz
• Air traffic control
• Desert environment, +50 ^oC
• Long haul link, 18 km
• 90 cm antennas
• -65dB RSSI recorded
• No downtime from 2015

The GCAA, an Emirate ‘blue chip’ company, maintains control and regulation of civil aviation in the UAE including provision of en-route air navigation services and all aspects of flight safety throughout the region. In 2009, the GCAA opened its new Air Navigation Centre, considered one of the busiest and the most technically advanced air traffic management facility in the region, if not the world.

One major problem that has since been identified and needed to be overcome was poor communication between Fujairah airport air traffic control centre and the communications tower. Since there are base stations for voice communication with aircrafts and other important services on this tower, the quality and stability of the link between tower and centre is very critical.

When looking for a solution to this problem GCAA quickly identified a major factor that would make finding an optimal solution more complex. The distance between Fujairah airport and the media mast is over 18 km with hilly terrain lying between the two sites.

After experimenting with a number of solutions, none of which could provide satisfactory levels of reliability over this critical link, RACOM were invited to perform a full transmission analysis and proposed that its RAy microwave link would provide the optimal solution. The final proposal was to use 11GHz band and 90 cm antennas.

RACOM RAy microwave units offer high radio receiver robustness against unwanted interference and exceptional guaranteed sensitivity that allows data speed gain in very challenging conditions and on links over extreme distances. With each unit individually climate chamber tested and certified to operate in extreme temperatures, GCAA accepted our recommendation and installed the link. Since GCAA wanted to eliminate any problem, during installation and commissioning a RACOM engineer was ready to travel to site, but was eventually not required.

Since becoming operational in 2015 to time of writing (Dec 2017), there has been no downtime over the link. The regulator and carriers are now very happy with the levels of communication provided from this communication tower and GCAA are delighted that RACOM has been able to support them in providing the high quality link for voice and data transmissions they consider to be one of their core operational functions.

Highlights

• RAy, 24 GHz
• WISP in Hungary
• Long-haul links
• Full speed even over 10 km
• Exceptional system gain
• 68 cm antennas
• Full outdoor

ACE Telecom, a 100% Hungarian-owned company was founded in 1997 with the aim of offering alternative Internet technologies including high quality Internet services to business partners in previous blind spots. Since then, ACE has expanded its portfolio with additional Internet based solutions and has, as a result, enjoyed continuous growth. This has only been possible because of the strong trust they place in their IT infrastructure.

In their never ending search to continue offering improved reliability and levels of service, ACE Telecom became one of the first ISP’s in Hungary to start building links using RAy24 microwave units. RAy24 was chosen for its exceptional system gain and resistance to disturbances but has since showcased its excellent technical parameters, and exceptional reliability and build quality.

Despite having a link distance of 10.2 Km, one such link has been operating at full capacity of 360Mb since installation. Attila Farmosi, Managing Director of ACE is very satisfied with the data transfer capability of his new infrastructure.

It will not be long before RAy24 microwave units become an integral component of ACE Telecom’s infrastructure!