ICTworks by Inveneo

Most of the time, when our Inveneo engineers are setting up WiFi antennas it's to link schools or villages in rural Africa. Sometimes, though, we get to do a little networking right in our Bay Area backyard.

Testing the 24 dBi grid antenna

The Challenge: Test the Performance of Two Antennas Across the San Francisco Bay

Yesterday, we loaded up two teams with wireless networking gear and sent them out to locations on opposite sides of the San Francisco Bay. The day's goal was to compare performance of two antennas: the Teletronics International 24 dBi grid dish and the ARC Wireless 19 dBi patch for use in an upcoming deployment.

Prior to the test, we used radio link analysis software called Radio Mobile to identify locations with similar conditions to what we expect to see in the field for this project. We needed a 30 km WiFi shot from one point high on a hillside to another with lowland in between.

Our site on Google Earth

Once we had prospective test sites identified, we used Google Earth to make sure there were actually roads leading to the spots we wanted to reach. For permanent installations, we're glad to hike in equipment and coordinate installation of power infrastructure (we and our ICIP partners have done so many times).

For this quick temporary setup, though, we wanted to roll up, throw the antennas on tripods, and power the systems from car cigarette lighters using small AC inverters.

With this analysis complete, we had our sites: a secluded spot near the top of a ridge in San Bruno and a location in the Berkeley Hills.