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CWRC Project: Implementation Phase One

The Nabweru wireless network was successfully implemented, connecting 4 sites: the telecentre hub, SCO-1, SCO-2, and NMC. Equipment installed at each site included wireless access points, antennas, switches, and UPS backup. The telecentre hub was chosen as the central connection point. Wireless connections were established between the hub and SCO-2 and NMC, while SCO-1 connected via ethernet cable to SCO-2. Basic network configurations and specifications are provided for each connection.

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101 views13 pages

CWRC Project: Implementation Phase One

The Nabweru wireless network was successfully implemented, connecting 4 sites: the telecentre hub, SCO-1, SCO-2, and NMC. Equipment installed at each site included wireless access points, antennas, switches, and UPS backup. The telecentre hub was chosen as the central connection point. Wireless connections were established between the hub and SCO-2 and NMC, while SCO-1 connected via ethernet cable to SCO-2. Basic network configurations and specifications are provided for each connection.

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CWRC PROJECT

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE ONE

NABWERU TELECENTRE

12TH JULY 2007

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 1


Acronyms

CHS Crown High School


LOS Line of Sight
NMC Nabweru Magistrate’s Court
NPS Nabweru Parents School
RF Radio Frequency
SCO-1 Old Sub-county headquarters
SCO-2 New Sub-county headquarters
UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 2


Introduction

The Nabweru network was implemented successfully. The Nabweru site


survey identified five partners namely CHS, SCO-1, SCO-2, NMC and NPS.
However, according to the implementation plan, NPS was to be considered
later due to its lack of LOS to the telecentre. In this same plan, the
telecentre was to become the hub of the network and would therefore act as
a wireless ISP to the partners. SCO-1 was to be connected to SCO-1 via
ethernet cable. Both these sites are close to the telecentre premises.

There is a small mast of approximately 10 m on the compound of the


Telecentre. It is owned and used by the radio station of the Telecentre.
During the implementation, this mast was chosen to host the radio
equipment at the hub. This is because it was not already overloaded and it
presented the highest available point at the telecentre.

The current wireless network has considered only four sites namely the hub
itself, SCO-1, SCO-2 and NMC. Because the management of CHS showed
lack of cooperation with the telecentre and the CWRC team, it was
unanimously decided not to implement this site so as to avoid any possible
future problems for CWRC.

On another note, two other interested partners have come up namely; the
town clerk’s office and Happy Hours Secondary School. According to the
telecentre manager, the town clerk is very interested and would be the major
partner once the network is fully functional. It has been decided, therefore,
to make survey of his location and consider connecting him after the Kabale
trip.

This report gives the implementation procedure, the equipment installed at


each site, network specifications, network architecture diagrams at each site

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 3


as well as a detailed explanation of all the decisions taken that affected the
layout of the network.

Equipment installed at each site:

1. Nabweru Telecentre:
• Access Point: WPP54AG-6C Outdoor Unit (no internal antenna).
• PoE Injector.
• 8-port switch.
• Omni-directional antenna, 12 dBi.
• Surge protector, RP-SMA female.
• UPS.

2. NMC
• Access Point: WP54G Indoor Client.
• Antenna: Panel, 9 dBi.
• 8-port switch.
• Surge protector, RP-SMA female.
• UPS.

2. SCO-2
• Access Point: WPP54AG-6C Outdoor Client.
• PoE Injector.
• 8-port switch.
• UPS.

3. SCO-1

• 8-port switch.
• UPS.

Network architecture at each site:

1. Nabweru Telecentre:

Nabweru currently has no internet access due to sustainability issues but


their previous ISP is Bushnet. The Bushnet equipment is still installed at the
telecentre. The telecentre will have to make a decision on whether to renew
their connection with Bushnet or get another ISP altogether.

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 4


The mast has an earth rod as its highest point. The top of the omni is slightly
above this point. Therefore, the omni has been equipped with its own surge
protection. However, the omni’s protection has also been short-circuited to
the main mast protection in case the surge protector fails. All the
components at the hub were powered through a UPS. The connection at the
hub is shown in the network diagram below:

Figure 1: Network connections at Nabweru telecentre (Hub)

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 5


Network Specifications:

• Access Point Mode: Access Point


• SSID: CWRC-NAB
• Password: *******
• IP address: 192.168.1.2.
• Network Mask: 255.255.255.0
• Management Gateway IP: 192.168.1.1
• DHCP Gateway IP Address: 192.168.1.1
• DHCP server: Enabled
• DNS: This will depend on the ISP at Nabweru Telecentre.
• Channel: 13 (Perform channel survey)
• Closed system: Disable
• Security: WEP (Wired Equivalent Protection). ASCII, Key 1: *****
• Country: Sweden-SE
• Tx Rate: Fully Auto
• Wireless Profile: 802.11b/g mixed
• Card Status: Enable

2. SCO-2:

According to the original implementation plan, SCO-1 was supposed to be


connected wirelessly to the telecentre and SCO-2 was to be connected to
SCO-1 via ethernet cable. However, this decision was reversed to exactly the
opposite such that SCO-2 was the one connected wirelessly. This is because
SCO-2 was considered more permanent and it had a better LOS connection
to the top of the mast. An outdoor radio unit was installed at this site. The
radio and switch were powered by a UPS. The connections at SCO-2 are
shown in the following network diagram:

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 6


Figure 2: Network connections at SCO-2 and SCO-1

Network Specifications:

• SSID: CWRC-NAB
• Mode: Client
• Password: *****
• IP address: 192.168.1.4
• Network Mask: 255.255.255.0
• Management Gateway IP: 192.168.1.2

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 7


• DHCP Gateway IP Address: 192.168.1.2
• DHCP server: Disabled
• DNS: This will depend on the ISP at Nabweru Telecentre
• Closed system: Disable
• Channel: 13 (Perform channel survey)
• Security: WEP. ASCII, Key 1: *****
• Country: Sweden-SE
• Tx Rate: Fully Auto
• Wireless Profile: 802.11b/g mixed
• Card Status: Enable

Antenna alignment was performed at this site to attain the best signal.

3. SCO-1:

This site was connected to SCO-2 via ethernet cable. A UPS was installed at
this site to power up the switch. Three crossover cables were laid but only
one was used to connect between the two switches at the two sites. The
other two cables are left for redundancy purposes (in case a cable fails in
future). The network connection at this site has been shown in figure 2. After
installation, the hub and SCO-2 could be pinged from SCO-1.

4. NMC:

An indoor client, together with a 9 dBi panel antenna, was mounted at this
site. These two components were connected by a 5 m RF cable and a surge
protector was connected between the RF cable and the panel antenna. All the
installed components were powered by a UPS as shown in the following
network diagram:

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 8


Figure 3: Network connections at NMC

Network Specifications:

• SSID: CWRC-NAB
• Mode: Client
• Password: *****
• IP address: 192.168.1.3. This is subject to change.
• Network Mask: 255.255.255.0.
• Management Gateway: 192.168.1.2
• DHCP Gateway IP Address: 192.168.1.2
• DHCP server: Disabled
• DNS: This will depend on the ISP at Nabweru Telecentre
• Channel: 13 (Perform channel survey)
• Security: WEP (Wired Equivalent Protection). ASCII, Key 1: *****
• Country: Sweden-SE
• Tx Rate: Fully Auto

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 9


• Wireless Profile: 802.11b/g mixed
• Card Status: Enable

Antenna alignment was performed to get the best signal at this site. The best
signal strength was found to be 44 (-51 dBm).

Some pictures taken during the implementation exercise

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 10


Ping Ping!

Because the telecentre currently has no internet access, it was impossible to


access web pages. Instead, in order to ascertain successful communication
between the hub and the clients, pinging was used. From the hub, the two
wireless clients (SCO-2 and NMC) were pinged successfully. Similarly, from
either wireless client, the hub and the remaining client could be pinged.
Below are the ‘ping’ statistics when the hub, SCO-2 and NMC were pinged
from SCO-1. Note that the connection between SCO-1 and SCO-2 is wired.

Pinging SCO-2

C:\Windows\system32>ping 192.168.1.4

Pinging 192.168.1.4 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64


Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.4: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.4:


Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 2ms, Average = 0ms

Pinging the Hub

C:\Windows\system32>ping 192.168.1.2

Pinging 192.168.1.2 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time=6ms TTL=64


Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.2: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.2:


Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 6ms, Average = 3ms

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 11


Pinging NMC

C:\Windows\system32>ping 192.168.1.3

Pinging 192.168.1.3 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.3: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=64


Reply from 192.168.1.3: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.3: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.3: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.3:


Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 4ms

Conclusion:

The Nabweru implementation plan was very successful despite a number of


issues, especially with CHS whose management seemed to have lost interest
in the project. It is hoped that once the network is fully functional, the
benefits will re-ignite CHS’s interest and attract more partners. Nabweru
telecentre acquired a new manager who did not take part in the Kampala
workshop in November 2006. This has been cited as the reason why the
telecentre has had issues with sensitivity of the partners as far as the
implementation phase is concerned.

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 12


CWRC Team after the implementation at Nabweru Telecentre

Frank Kitumba and Edwin Mugume 13

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