Expanding the WLAN on a campsite/RV park

 

Background

The campsite »Campingplatz am Waldbad« is a popular destination for campers in the Mittelgebirge near Neustadt im Harz, Germany. For outdoor enthusiasts there are over 100 parking bays and pitches available for recreation vehicels and tents. In its idyllic location and quiet atmosphere, families with children and nature-loving campers can enjoy a pleasant break from everyday life.

 

Challenge

The existing solution for providing guests with WLAN was previously limited to a single Access-Point located at the main building of the RV park, which was chronically overloaded during the peak season. In addition to insufficient network capacity, the old solution experienced signal losses and connection interruptions, which were to be resolved with a new installation of outdoor APs. Pitches/parking bays further away from the main building are to be integrated into the WLAN via a directional radio link. The outdoor APs are to be managed by a central management system, with the technical service provider about 400 km away from the campsite.

 

Solution

As outdoor APs for the pilot project two Omada EAP110-Outdoor were used, one at the main building and another approx. 100m away at an existing mast. Two Pharos CPE510 are used for the directional radio link between the remote location and the main building. The EAP110-Outdoor are centrally managed by the Omada controller running on the Internet server of the technical service provider.

 

 

 

The EAP110-Outdoor offers a 300 Mbps wireless bandwidth, two high-gain omnidirectional antennas with excellent WLAN coverage over an area of approx. 200m and very good energy efficiency with only 6.3W power consumption. The Pharos CPE510 also offers 300 Mbps bandwidth, two high-gain directional antennas and an equally good energy efficiency with 10.5W power consumption. The EAP110 outdoor is supplied with power via PoE pass-through of the CPE510 v1, thus requiring only one power supply at each location. A fully customizable WiFi gateway connects the EAPs with the Internet.

 

 

 

One pair of EAP110-Outdoor/CPE510 is mounted at the main building, the other pair is mounted on an antenna mast about 70m away on the campsite:

 

 

 

 

For central management a software Omada Controller running on an Internet server is used to control the EAP110-Outdoor. The controller is the community version with a modified web UI. 

 

 

 

Performance measurements have shown that WLAN quality, stability and throughput have improved significantly. Where previously only a few campers had a WLAN reception near the main building, now all guests can use the WLAN.

 

 

 

The signal quality of the EAP110 Outdoor is excellent, as can be seen from the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).:

 

 

 

RESULTS

The management of the campsite is highly satisfied with the outcome of the pilot project, as are the camping guests. The Omada controller allows the technicians to tune the system, monitor its operation and update the firmware of the EAP110-Outdoor remotely. The campsite will be equipped with additional TP-Link outdoor access points next season to be ready for a faster Internet connection, which hopefully will be provided soon by the ISP in this area.