ArrowSpan Puts GPS in Mesh

A satellite global positioning system (GPS) antenna will be the newest feature of the Triple RF MeshAP 3100G from ArrowSpan of Santa Clara, California. The company says the addition will make it easier for network managers to find the location of access points for maintenance, and will also enable location-based targeted advertising for end users.

The 3100G, coming in July, is designed for metro-scale Wi-Fi deployments. It uses 5 GHz 802.11a for backhaul and 2.4 GHz 11g for connections to client systems. The 3100, which comes sans GPS, is touted by the company as being extremely fast, getting 30-Megabit-per-second speeds even at the fifth hop on the mesh in their internal tests.

In March, ArrowSpan announced a high-power (200mW) Mesh AP, the 2180, for enhanced range, which will come in versions for 5.8 GHz, 5.3 GHz, 2.4 GHz and 4.9 GHz.

For indoor use, the company offers a MeshAP 1100, which also can be tested in a 30-day money-back trial. The MeshAP 1180 is another high-power unit, this time with 1 Watt of transmit power, compared to the 1100’s “health-friendly” 25 mW.