Applications

Wi-Fi for K-12 Schools

Education in the 21st century has grown to be far more interactive and technological, with computer usage and online access becoming an everyday requirement, rather than a nice-to-have option. The increased availability of mobile computers in schools, the online curriculum and greater educational usage of e-literature, have resulted in an intensified demand for internet access, and an augmented need for stable, consistent and safe Wi-Fi for every student in the school. Furthermore, the ever-growing quantity of mobile handheld devices in schools, necessitates comprehensive coverage in the playground and the playing fields – not just the classroom.

The Wavion Base Station solution with 802.11n (WBSn) utilizes spatially adaptive two-way Beamforming technology for best outdoor-to-indoor coverage, enabling a unique solution for kindergartens and schools. Using minimal equipment while offering maximized coverage, the Wavion solution provides coverage over a wide area that includes the entire school campus. By installing a few units outdoors, as opposed to tens of units indoors, Wavion’s solution reduces overall radiation and power consumption. With such a significant decrease in the quantity of the required equipment, WBSn offers a far lower overall total cost of ownership (TCO), lowering both the time for initial installation as well as the long term costs and effort of maintenance.

WBSn is a family of advanced gigabit outdoor Wi-Fi base stations operating in the 2.4 and 5 GHz unlicensed bands. WBSn base stations use 802.11n 3x3:3 MIMO capabilities with Wavion’s unique true spatially adaptive Beamforming, to deliver the best range and capacity, and address the rapidly growing needs to deliver new content-rich services, while simultaneously maintaining quality of service and profitability.

In rural areas, where the population is wider spread across geographical locations, governments and international organizations, such as One Laptop per Child (OLPC), are investing great efforts in projects that enable the provision of Internet access to schools and communities. In the absence of landline infrastructure, Wi-Fi networks have become a prevalent choice for these kinds of projects, with Wavion’s solution proving to be highly effective in terms of performance and cost.

Wavion Base Station Advantages:

Wider coverage
Consistent and uniform Wi-Fi access across the entire campus, both indoors and outdoors, enabling in-class study as well as online research, informal group study and homework
Comprehensive indoor and outdoor coverage
All-encompassing continuous and uniform coverage, enabling constant portability and mobility, with fewer dead zones
Higher capacity
A tenfold increase in user support – over 100 and sometimes up to 200 computers per WBSn unit, dramatically increasing capacity in comparison to traditional indoor solutions
Enhanced safety
Fewer base stations per school, plus the use of Beamforming to focus transmitted energy to subscribers’ devices, significantly reduces the potential effects of radiation, resulting in a safer and healthier learning environment
Better economics
Less equipment required, means less overheads for both installation and continued maintenance, resulting in a lower TCO
Interference immunity
Wavion’s Interference Immunity Suite combines various capabilities: the inherent Beamforming ability to suppress interference, the Dynamic Interference Handling (DIH) algorithm, the Automatic Channel Selection (ACS) algorithm, and the Wavion Automatic Rate Adaptation (WARA). In addition, the Suite utilizes the capabilities of both Down Tilted Antennas (DTA) and sector antennas to reject noise out of their field-of-view, supplemented by the diminished interference offered by the reduced number of base stations.
Environmentally friendly
Fewer base stations per school, with low power consumption per base station, enables schools to save power using on-grid topology, or to power their online access using solar power when installed off-grid

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