Laser & Radio Point to Point Connection
Roll-out
During installation problems were encountered with the laser devices. The alignment process went well but no data link could be established between the units. After extensive testing of all other network hardware (to eliminate devices such as media converters and switches etc) it was determined that the fault must reside within the laser units.
In parallel with the laser installation the radio links were installed and configured. The alignment of these devices is far simpler and was completed without issue, as expected.
We now had a working radio link and a faulty laser link. Reliability testing commenced on the radio link and fault finding on the laser. Initially internal electronics components were replaced within the laser units, to determine where the fault lay, and eventually a complete head unit was replaced to obtain the communication link.
These actions took longer than two weeks, due to limited site access (weekend working only) and limited availability of spares, which has now been addressed with our supplier. During this time the site became active and due to the design specification containing multiple path failure redundancy work could continue unaffected.
With the dead-on-arrival hardware faults corrected, the site now has three fully functional wireless links, one 100 Mbit laser and two 54 Mbit radio. These links work well and provide uninterrupted communications as required.
