Wireless Last Mile Study in Rural Areas

Abstract

Internet access has become a primary human need. During the COVID 19 pandemics, almost all activities such as studying and working online. However, several rural areas still did not have internet access due to weak cellular signals. Internet access in rural areas can have various alternatives, such as VSAT (satellite). It needs an inexpensive and precise way to complete the internet access coverage because many customers were concentrated in areas far from the VSAT terminal. WLAN 802.11n was an alternative way to expand the range of internet coverage with low cost and easy implementation. Our case study uses the 5GHz frequency with a sectoral antenna as the multi-hop point-to-point backhaul network's frequency to avoid the risk of channel interference on the backhaul. On the other hand, 2.4GHz frequency with an omnidirectional antenna serves smartphone customers. On the test results, the network latency between multihop access point, has a maximum value of 19,894 ms. This result means that the latency obtained can be categorized as preferred VoIP services based on ITUT G.1010 in the local network. Then for the customer on the fourth hop, 3968 meters from the VSAT terminal, the UDP data rate of 1.04Mbps was stable, and the TCP data rate decreased to 1.26Mbps. This paper emphasizes the use of multihop 5Ghz WLAN 802.11n as a backhaul to expand internet access coverage from VSAT in rural areas, where the concentration of customers was far apart and there were many buffalo horn barriers in traditional homes and buildings.