| said by Dan:Because the signal radiates off the line, why not run it like a WAP? Stay in a wireless range and offer wireless anywhere in the world near a power line. A company called Corridor Systems is developing a microwave based BPL that does just what you are talking about. They use 802.11 frequencies and thus can run much more power than HF based BPL. Plus, the equipment to receive such signals is readily available and cheap. HF BPL can't run enough power to make this feasible, plus the nature of power lines at the frequencies HF BPL uses makes it problematic.
Last I heard Corridor was moving away from the last mile Internet access market and developing mobile solutions. The technology has a lot of potential. At microwave frequencies using surface propagation like they do, you could easily run hundreds of megbits.
Amperion's BPL uses 802.11, but they hang wireless access points on the poles and use BPL on the wire as a backbone. |
