Visually attractive equipment prioritized in WiFi deployment

WiFi hardware is increasingly being designed to blend in with the surrounding environment or be more esthetically pleasing, and the providers of such technology say they are able to do so without compromising on the quality of network connections. BigBelly Solar Inc., a Massachusetts-based waste and recycling management system company, recently partnered with the City of New York to install waste bins that also deploy free public WiFi. The 11-year-old company uses a cloud-based technology that allows cities to monitor public waste and recycling units. It notifies sanitation official when waste needs to be collected, how much waste is being dumped and other information. Leila Dillon, vice-president of global marketing at BigBelly, said in a phone interview that about two years ago the waste-bin maker started noticing bigger cities wanted more from the services they were utilizing. BigBelly, as a result, decided to redesign its products so they could deploy WiFi. “Our customers are New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Philly, Boston, London, Amsterdam," Dillon said. "What we keep hearing from all of these large, smart cities is that they are looking to have less and more services — more benefits from the things they need to have. “The idea was to come up with a very sleek, simple concept that really works on the street, that doesn’t detract from the streets, sidewalks and parks, that fits in esthetically.” Dillon noted that customization of the product has been different in every city they’ve worked with so far. Some have panels with advertisements; others have kept it simple and standard. She also noted that when working with customers on deploying units, they look at “what kind of WiFi coverage they’re trying to achieve. … can put repeaters up underneath the hub of each of the units and it basically can extend the network coverage,” which is what the company is planning for in New York. Didea Media LLC, a cross-media branding company based in Dubai, created a similar concept to deploy public WiFi through artificial palm trees as part of a city project. Its Smart Palm product uses fibre optics along with Cisco Systems Inc.’s equipment to deploy more than 100 metres of WiFi network coverage around each unit. Vangel Ivanov, business development manager at Didea, said in an email that the idea behind using palm trees as the design was taken from the “date palm, an already familiar sight and symbol of the and the surrounding region, historically providing shelter, food and wood as building material.” The Smart Palm also acts as a mobile charging station, includes LCD screens with city information and has security cameras for public safety, Vangel said. He said these systems are ideal for areas like parks and beaches where there aren't many buildings that the WiFi infrastructure might otherwise blend in with. Vangel called it an "esthetically pleasant tall structure" that promotes a "green and sustainable environment.” He said the system for the Smart Palm has a Cisco router and the “connection is emitted through state-of-the-art antennae around each Smart Palm station, providing fast, secure and reliable WiFi connections.” Vangel said some of the challenges with the Smart Palm include ensuring there is nothing surrounding them that could interfere with their signals and making sure they are installed in areas where fibre networks are available. Other cities are trying alternative ways to camouflage their public WiFi routers. The City of Montreal announced in June that it has started to deploy free WiFi in certain areas, starting with Old Montreal. The system includes small routers that are camouflaged to blend in with the surrounding environment, said Harout Chitilian, deputy chairman of the Montreal's executive committee. Chitilian said in a phone interview that when collaborators of the project came together to discuss placement, they were aware that the routers had to be placed in more open spaces for better reception and network coverage. He said this meant a lot of the discussion revolved around esthetics and getting approval for how the routers would blend in and look good for the public, as well as maintaining the historical rules and regulations of the Cultural Ministry of Quebec. “Every location was scrutinized and every choice of camouflage was detailed. … For example, one of the antennas is on a brick wall, so the box and the antenna is the colour and design of the brick. So when you pass by, you have a hard time to see that there’s an antenna there,” Chitilian said. “The main reasoning was that we had to have the Cultural Ministry of Quebec sign off on the project because they have full control of the heritage buildings in that part of the city.” He added that municipalities are looking at examples of WiFi deployed in other areas and collaborating with other cities to come up with the best systems. In terms of technology for the home, Google Inc. announced in August the release of a WiFi router called OnHub, which it said provides faster and more efficient Internet connections through a more attractive piece of equipment. Google spokeswoman Alex Hunnings said in an email that the router, which looks like a black cup, was designed to be out in the open where routers work best. She said the technology of the router has a unique circular antenna design to work constantly to reduce interference and optimize the network connection. She said Google conducted research with families who were asked about their concerns and issues with routers in their homes. “One that stood out was how people were hiding their routers in places that fundamentally limited how well they could work," Hunnings said. "The reasons they shared for hiding their routers inspired us to focus our energy on a design that helped reduce wire clutter, limit unintuitive blinking lights and encouraged people to place OnHub where antennas can perform their best." — With reporting by Shruti Shekar at sshekar@thewirereport.ca and editing by Derek Abma at dabma@thewirereport.ca

Visually attractive equipment prioritized in WiFi deployment

News | September 4, 2015

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