FM 4500 MOBI User manual Manual version 1.1.1 Firmware Version 8.
WARNING ONLY QUALIFIED PERSONNEL SHOULD INSTALL THIS UNIT. THE INSTALLATION SHOULD CONFORM TO ALL LOCAL CODES. IN SOME COUNTRIES, A CERTIFIED ELECTRICIAN MAY BE REQUIRED. CAUTION When open, the unit should not be dripping or splashing. No object filled with liquid shall be placed on the unit. Radios should be installed in restricted access locations only. NOTICE TO USERS Copyright © Fluidmesh Networks LLC. All rights reserved.
1 Manual Overview This manual describes how to install and operate the Fluidmesh 4500 MOBI product. More specifically, this manual contains a general overview of the Fluidmesh 4500 MOBI in Section 3.1. This user’s manual also includes a complete overview of the network architectures that can be created using Fluidmesh technology, and is discussed in Section 4. The Fluidmesh network addressing is described in Section 5.
3 Installation and System Set-Up This section describes how to install and set up Fluidmesh products. Please refer to physical installation instructions manual for proper wiring and installation procedures. 3.1 Fluidmesh 4500 MOBI The Fluidmesh 4500 MOBI (part number FM4500M-HW, for simplicity referred to as FM4500) is designed for connecting moving vehicles. The hardware is enclosed in an IP66-rated metal enclosure. Figure 3.
Figure 3.2: FM 4500 MOBI – Bottom view 3.1.2 Status and Link LEDs A panel on the front of the FM4500 MOBI, shown in Figure 3.3, provides six (6) LEDs which can be used to check the unit and the link quality status. From the left-hand side, the first 2 green LEDs indicate the unit power, the Ethernet port activity, respectively. The remaining 4 colored LEDs indicate the level of the link signal and can be used for antenna alignment purposes.
The FM radios can be reset to factory default using the proper RESET button present at the bottom of the unit. To reset the radio to factory default settings, power up the unit and wait approximately 40 seconds for the unit to boot up. Once the unit is up and running, press the reset button for 7 seconds. The radio will restore the factory default settings and automatically reboot. The LEDs will blink when the unit receives the reset to factory default signal. After the reset, the default IP address of 192.
4 Fluidmesh Architecture Overview The FM4500 series can be used to create any kind of network architecture such as point-to-point links and mesh networks. More-over, thanks to the innovative FluidMAX™ patent pending technology, point-to-multipoint links can be created. This also gives to the user the ability to create mixed networks architectures (shown in Figure 4.1) leading to higher performance and flexibility in the deployment.
The wireless bridge is defined as “transparent” because its activity is transparent to the network hosts. In other words, the wireless bridge forwards packets from one network segment to the other according to a “forwarding table” which is built by learning the network topology from the analysis of the incoming traffic. In this configuration, no explicit interaction between the wireless bridge and the network hosts takes place.
antennas. The unit operating at the center of the star topology plays the role of Master and is in charge of coordinating communications to and from the other units that thus act as Slaves. As a result, the hidden and exposed terminal problems are eliminated by the centralized FluidMAX MAC protocol that supports up to 500 Mb/s maximum throughput2.
5 Fluidmesh Network Addressing 5.1 Bridge IP Addressing The FM unit can be operated in bridge mode to create a single point-to-point connection between two network segments as described in Section 4.1. Each FM unit is provided with a default IP address for its wired Ethernet port(s), which is: 192.168.0.10 No IP address is associated to the wireless interface. When you set up a wireless bridge using two FM units for the first time, both units will have the same default IP address equal to 192.168.0.10.
• Mesh Point Mode • Mesh End Mode Mesh Point Mode: it is the default mode for the FM unit. Each unit in the field that is not connected to the wired LAN backbone must be set in Mesh Point Mode. Mesh End Mode: in the Fluidmesh network, an FM unit that is connected to the main wired LAN must be set in Mesh End Mode. The Mesh End unit is the junction point between the wireless network and any IP-based wired network.
Multiple FM units can be connected together through a network switch to form clusters of radios if needed. The Fluidmesh proprietary routing proto-col will be run automatically on the cabled segment of the network. Please note that the units must be operated in Mesh Point mode only to activate the cluster feature. 5.2.2 Connecting and Configuring an Ethernet Edge-Device The FM unit Ethernet ports can be used to connect all kinds of Ethernet edge devices (e.g.
6 Software Plug-Ins The Fluidmesh 4500 MOBI (part number FM4500M-HW) feature the innovative FluidThrottle™ technology which provides a variable software-upgradable capacity of the Ethernet port based on the user’s needs. Please refer to a Fluidmesh representative for the full upgrade list. Part Number Description FM4500 FM-‐AES AES Encryption ✔ FM-‐VLAN VLAN Plug In ✔ Table 6.1: Software Plug-In Upgrades Figure 6.
6.1 Plug-In Activation/Deactivation Procedure The Plug-in management procedure has been standardized for maximum flexibility as follows. When a customer purchases a Fluidmesh Plug-in, a generic 16-digit License Code is provided. Because the License Code is generic and not associated with any device, it needs to be activated before it can be used on a Fluidmesh device. In order to activate a License Code, the user can access the Fluidmesh website4 (www.fluidmesh.
(b) Plug-in Deactivation Figure 6.2: Activation/Deactivation Code Generation Web interface available at www.fluidmesh.com. 7 FMQuadro™ Web Based Interface and Configuration Every FM unit can be configured and managed using a Web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI). By default, each FM unit is configured in Bridge Mode with the Bridge IP address 192.168.0.10 and netmask 255.255.255.0. To change the settings on the units, you need to log-in to the Web- based interface. 7.
7.2 Logging Into The Web-Based Interface Power up the device a n d wait for about one minute for the initialization to be completed. Connect an Ethernet cable with RJ45 connectors between a computer and the Fluidmesh device that you want to configure. Configure the wired Ethernet port of your computer according to the de-fault class “C” IP address of the device, e.g., IP: 192.168.0.30, Netmask: 2 55.255.255.0.
illegal wireless configuration. Once the license is accepted, the unit can be configured. Two configuration methods are available as shown in Figure 7.3(a): MeshWizard™ and Classic. The former consists of a simple four step wizard to configure the basic settings of the unit (see Section 7.4), whereas the latter is the classic Fluidmesh FMQuadro for advanced configuration (see Section 7.5). Figure 7.2: End-User License Agreement 7.
(a) Step 1 (b) Step 2 (c) Step 3 (d) Step 4 Figure 7.
7.5 Web-Based Interface Menus Once logged in successfully, the general mode page will appear as shown in Figure 7.4. Through this page you can change the mode of operation of the FM unit. The item list menu on the left can be used to set/ modify the configuration of the unit. Figure 7.4: FM Unit General Configuration Window 7.6 General Mode Firmware version 6.5 supports both Prodigy 1.0 and Prodigy 2.0. Prodigy 2.0 is NOT compatible with Prodigy 1.0.
2. Upgrading the previously deployed units with a Firmware 6.5 or above and set them to operate in Prodigy 2.0. We recommend option 1.if there is no specific issue in the network. Every FM unit has three possible modes of operations: • Bridge Mode • Mesh Point Mode • Mesh End Mode The FM unit factory default mode is Bridge. The Mesh Point mode must be used for any unit deployed in the field.
Figure 7.5: Wireless Parameters Configuration-Basic Mode Please make sure the country has been properly specified before changing the frequency of the system. Frequency Selectors: All Fluidmesh units are equipped with multi-band radios capable of operating on the 4.9-6 GHz bands5. You can change the frequency of each radio in order to minimize interference with other wireless networks operating in the same area. The frequencies listed on the Frequency Selector are the carrier frequencies.
To avoid network co-location interference it is advised to have the frequencies as far apart as possible. Before deploying your network, you need to plan frequency allocation on each link. A good rule of thumb is to use the narrowest possible channel that can support the amount of throughput needed and separate the channels as much as possible. Although two radios are not on the same channel, they can still interfere with one another because of the side lobes.
In Advanced mode, the following selectors are also available: Figure 7.6: Wireless Parameters Configuration. Advanced Mode Width 5 MHz 10 MHz 20 MHz 40 MHz 40 MHz ** 80 MHz Modulation Speed 37 Mb/s 75 Mb/s 150 Mb/s 300 Mb/s 300 Mb/s Throughput 8 Mb/s* 16 Mb/s* 90 Mb/s* 90 Mb/s* 150 Mb/s Table 7.
Channel Width: The width of the operating radio channel can be set through this selector. The available options are described in Table 7.1 where the theoretic data rate and the achievable throughput are also indicated for each channel width. Whenever possible, setting the radio to operate on a narrower channel can be useful to reduce the interference in the network and to increase the number of available channels. Please remember to set the same channel width on both sides of the wireless link.
appropriate MAC protocol to be used according to the detected network topology, convenient selectors are included in the FMQuadro to force the FluidMAX operations and control the FluidMAX role of the unit. Please refer to Table 7.2 for the available options and their specification. When the units are set to be Master or Slave, an additional setting must be specified: “Mesh Cluster ID”. The Mesh Cluster ID is used to associate the specific slave with a Master.
Figure 7.7: Advanced Wireless Parameters Configuration. Data Packet Encryption (Software Plug-in Required): Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 128 bit encryption can be enabled at the link- level for wireless data transmission. This feature is available in addition to the default Fluidmesh proprietary encoding algorithm for maximum industry-grade network security. A software Plug-in is required to activate this option. Please contact your Fluidmesh Networks’ representative for details. 7.
(a) Link selection To perform an accurate antenna alignment for a specific link, click on the “Align” button to open the antenna alignment tool as depicted in Figure 7.8(b).
(b) Alignment Figure 7.8: Antenna Alignment Tool The user is warned that the proprietary Fluidmesh TPC algorithm (see Section 7.8) will be disabled during the alignment process so as to avoid unwanted interactions with the tools. The antenna alignment tool consists of a real-time graph and a bar which report the average signal strength and the current signal strength detected at the local unit receiver, respectively.
As shown in Figure 7.9, each bar in the chart consists of two sections. The black section represents the amount of interference detected in the channel, whereas the colored one gives a qualitative idea of the status of the channel according to the following table: Figure 7.9: Frequency Scan Tool Results. Color GREEN YELLOW RED Channel Quality GOOD FAIR BAD Table 7.
Figure 7.10: FMQuadro™ (Mesh End Only) This feature is available only in FM units configured in Mesh End mode. The innovative FMQuadro engine provides an interactive graph representation of the Fluidmesh network where vertices and edges represent FM units and wireless links, respectively, as shown in Figure 7.10. The links which are currently in use by every packet generated/ relayed by a Fluidmesh device to reach a possible destination in the network (i.e.
Ethernet ports utilization and detect whether the Ethernet port is over utilized with respect to the installed FluidThrottle Plug-in. Similarly, the status of a wireless link connecting any two units can be monitored by clicking on the related line, as reported in Figure 7.12. Several real-time parameters are displayed including the current signal strength, the packet error rate, and the link utilization of both link directions (i.e. the link from a unit to the other and vice-versa).
The statistics recording time can be increased up to 24 days at the cost of increasing the metrics’ sample interval proportionally. Figure 7.12: FMQuadro, Link Information A table, placed at the bottom of the window, reports the network units address summary and can be viewed by clicking on the proper button as reported in Figure 7.14. It is possible to assign a name to each of the Fluidmesh units. This may be especially convenient with a large mesh network.
Figure 7.13: FMQuadro, Last 48 Hours Link information Figure 7.
7.11 Fluidmesh Wi-Fi Access Point Firmware 6.5 and above feature an embedded Wi-Fi access point (AP) that works together with the standard Fluidmesh mesh interface. The purpose of the embedded Wi-Fi AP is mainly site maintenance and service. By enabling the Wi-Fi AP, it will be possible to connect to the Fluidmesh radios with a standard PC or laptop equipped with a Wi-Fi NIC card. To avoid impacting the performance of the mesh interface, the Wi-Fi access point bandwidth is limited to 5 Mb/s.
7.12 Static Routes The static routes page can be used to set static routing rules in the radio unit. This option is especially useful with the Wi-Fi AP enabled to allow the connected clients, i) to access other Fluidmesh radios / client devices in the network and, ii) to reach gateways (i.e. Internet gateways). 7.13 SNMP The SNMP page can be used to configure the SNMPv2c service to run on the unit. Both walkthrough and traps operations are supported.
7.14 Firmware Upgrade Through the firmware upgrade page (Figure 7.17), it is possible to upgrade the Firmware of the devices to the latest version available. To do so, download the latest Firmware upgrade file to your PC from the Fluidmesh Networks Website at www.fluidmesh.com7. Select the correct file on your hard disk, and upload it. This operation might take several minutes. The unit will automatically reboot at the end of the upgrade process.
Figure 7.17: Firmware Upgrade Web Page 7.15 Plug-In Management The manage plug-ins page (Figure 7.17) shows the installed Plug-ins and allows the user to add Plug-in Activation Codes. Additionally, a Plug-in can be deactivated to, for example, transfer it from one unit to another. Once the Plug-in has been deactivated, you will be provided with a Deactivation Code displayed at the bottom of the page.
page. The Plug-in demo mode includes the 4.9 GHz8, the AES and the Unlimited Plug-in trials all at once. The unit will reboot on the 8 hours plug-in trial expiration. Figure 7.18: Plug-Ins Management Web Page 7.16 Advanced Tools Through the advanced tools page, it is possible to run tests to verify network connectivity and the achievable throughput on a network path. As shown in Figure 7.18, network connectivity can be tested by issuing a “Ping Test” towards a specific destination.
In order to run a Ping or a Bandwidth Test, write the destination IP in the proper window and click run. Bandwidth Test is performed using 4 Mb/s UDP traffic. Both tests can be run on top of a loaded network to test operational performances, or on top of an unloaded network to test installed capacity. Figure 7.19: Advanced Tools Web Page 7.17 Multicast By default, FM units operating in Mesh Point mode forward all the multicast traffic generated by the cameras to their closest Mesh End unit.
wireless networks. To redirect a traffic flow to a Mesh Point, you must specify all the multicast flows redirection information within the Mesh End multicast page as shown in Fig 7.19. Figure 7.20: Add/Remove Multicast Routes Towards Mesh Points 7.18 Change Password Use this page to change the password to access the unit Web GUI. 7.19 Status This page reports a summary of the status of the unit. The MAC address of the radio is published on the status page as well.
Figure 7.21: Status Report Log Message ethX phy:X is up/down chatter: VBR: duplicate IP X? MACX -‐-‐> MAXY at timestamp Description The Ethernet port X goes up/down. Possible duplicate IP X has migrated from MAC address X to Y. Table 7.6: Status Description 7.20 Ping Softdog This page can be used to set up constant pings toward multiple destinations.
constant ping is thus twofold. On one hand, it can be used to reboot the unit in case of malfunctions. On the other hand, it can be used as a keep-alive message to multiple devices like IP phones. 7.21 Save and Restore Settings This is a handy tool for saving and restoring Fluidmesh radio configuration. The typical scenario of use is the substitution of a damaged unit in the field. The new unit can be configured restoring the previously saved configuration of the damaged unit.
7.23 On-Line Help The electronic version of this manual is available by accessing the Help web page. Additionally, specific manual sections can be consulted by clicking on the question mark present at the upper right corner of every page of the Web GUI.
8 Troubleshooting The troubleshooting section will allow you to solve the most common problems encountered when configuring and installing Fluidmesh products. 8.1 I Am Unable To Get The Log-In Screen If you are unable to get the log-in form on your computer screen, you should check the following: Is your computer set to a valid IP address? You should manually set the correct network settings as follows: 1. In Windows Explorer, right-click “My Network Places” and select Properties; 2.
1. Antenna Alignment: the two antennas must be aligned toward each other. 2. Line of Sight: you must have clear line of sight between the two antennas. 3. Power: check if the FM unit is properly powered-on with the provided PoE injector. 4. Channel: both FM unit units must be operating on the same channel.
APPENDIX A Federal Communication Commission Interference Statement This equipment has been assembled with components that comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a commercial environment.
Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device. Avis d’industrie Canada Le present appareil est conforme aux CNR d'Industrie Canada applicables aux appareils radio exempts de licence.
Belgique Dans le cas d’une utilisation privee, a’ l’exterieur d’un batiment, au-dessus d’un espace public, aucun enregistrement n’est necessaire pour une distance de moins de 300m. Pour une distance superieure `a 300m un enregistrement aupres de l’IBPT est requise. Pour une utilisation publique `a l’exterieur de batiments, une licence de l’IBPT est requise. Pour les enregistrements et licences, veuillez contacter l’IBPT.
APPENDIX B Contact Information Worldwide Headquarters Fluidmesh Networks, LLC 1327 Barclay Boulevard Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 U.S.A. Tel. +1 (617) 209 -6080 Fax. +1 (866) 458-1522 info@fluidmesh.com www.fluidmesh.com EMEA Headquarters (Italy) Tel. +39 02 0061 6189 UK Branch Tel. +44 2078 553 132 FRANCE Tel.
