The On-Ramp Advantage
Receive Sensitivity | Capacity | Power Consumption
Robustness | Simple Network Architecture | Total Cost of Ownership
On-Ramp’s advantages are derived from our unique innovation that leverages the proven technology of Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum modulation. On-Ramp technology is optimized from the ground up to solve critical issues in applications such as the Smart Grid, industrial sensing, and asset tracking. Most other attempts at solving these problems are merely adaptations of vaguely related industry standards, leading to complex network infrastructures and high costs. There are numerous technical terms in the industry to explain networking solutions in complicated detail, however, the performance of wireless systems can be effectively summarized and objectively compared by simply looking at receive sensitivity, capacity, and power consumption.
Receive Sensitivity
A radio’s ability to find weak signals over vast geographic areas in the face of high interference can be measured by receive sensitivity; an objective measure of the radios ability to demodulate a signal bounded by power levels. Receive sensitivity is the only way to accurately measure up range and robustness of wireless systems in an apples-to-apples comparison. On-Ramp’s ability to achieve 40dB of additional receive sensitivity compared to other free spectrum radios translates in to an enormous. The following comparison is based on an Okumura-Hata propagation model, which is well accepted in the industry as an accurate predictive tool of coverage in various types of real world environments.
Capacity
A measure of a wireless system’s efficiency in using available wireless spectrum or bandwidth is called capacity. Due to the fact that many existing radios were designed for Ethernet or large payloads of data, they incur a significant protocol overhead penalty for sensor data, meter data, and other low data rate transactions. Furthermore, these systems are typically based on Carriers Sense Multiple Access (CSMA), which is not designed for high-capacity Wide Area Network (WAN) communications. ULP uses a new multiple access scheme called Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA). This technology offers a higher capacity system, which translates in to a higher number of users/endpoints in the same area with less network infrastructure. Additionally, with RPMA the capacity remains constant as a function of the distance and doesn’t decrease as in other systems. As shown in the graph here, ULP instead allows several transmitters to send information simultaneously over a single communication channel; the higher the processing gain, the larger the number of transmitters. The lower bit rate, combined with a larger number of users, works to balance and maintain the total capacity constant, making the system ideal for high-capacity WANs for machine-to-machine communications.
Power Consumption
Power consumption is the measure of a system’s power usage, reflected in battery life (given an average usage case such as updates per minute). Cellular systems and free spectrum radios are modified to achieve low power but have very high protocol efficiency penalties. Alternately, On-Ramp’s technology is designed for highly duty cycled, low data rate applications and can achieve a battery life of up to 15 years (e.g. when supporting water and gas meters).
Some of the main power saving features of the system include:
- Protocol Efficiency: Because the On-Ramp ULP wireless network operates in a simple star topology, it operates with nearly 50% protocol efficiency, meaning nearly 50% of all bandwidth is consumed by user application data.
- Advanced Signal Processing: ULP’s ability to acquire weak signals at -145 dBm with 10,000x less hardware processing logic than conventional radios is unique to the industry and directly translates to lower energy consumed per link connected
- Range and Robustness with Low-power Amplifier: Due to the breakthrough in receiver sensitivity, ULP achieves extreme range when the eNode operates with only a 20 dBm PA (can be configured down to 0dBm depending on range and certification requirements). Most competitive products require 30 dBm
TThe On-Ramp ULP communication system provides a total allowable path loss of up to 172 dB, which explains the extreme range of the system. Extreme range (especially in adversarial propagation environments) is often the most obvious benefit gained from a very large link budget; however, abundant link budget can be utilized for the critical deployment benefits of robustness as well. Real world conditions often include changing RF propagation environments and dynamically changing interference levels (especially in the ISM bands). Deploying a network with excess link budget is a foolproof mechanism for dealing with both of these issues. For the conventional free ISM band technologies, deploying with excess link budget is all but impossible without shrinking the coverage area to a practically useless size. For the ULP network, a system can be deployed with very large range while simultaneously possessing the excess link budget to provide the required robustness.
Simple Network Architecture
Simple network architecture means lower costs; less upfront capital cost to roll out the network and often, more importantly, lower maintenance costs. This leads to an overall lower Total Cost of Ownership.
On-Ramp’s simple, yet powerful, star topology creates a system that is significantly easier to deploy and maintain when compared to any available wireless sensor-networking alternative. Because of the extreme range of the ULP system, no meshing is required, which not only saves on cost, but also improves overall network performance and robustness.
A ULP network can be deployed in a Single AP configuration, where potentially thousands of Nodes communicate with one Access Point. Where wider coverage is required, a Multiple AP network can be deployed. The AP’s can also be deployed with overlapping coverage to enable dynamic failover for the nodes between AP’s, further improving reliability. This type of network can provide virtually unlimited coverage, e.g. for a metropolitan or even a countywide area.
Total Cost of Ownership
Because of our extensive range and capacity, customers can implement very simple network architectures, thereby lowering costs. Cost advantages are gained from limiting the networking infrastructure requirements (in a metro environment, a single On-Ramp Access Point can replace several hundred competing gateways), hence the upfront capital costs are also reduced. The simplicity of the network lowers maintenance costs for an overall significant reduction in Total Cost of Ownership.
