New Siklu Unlicensed 70 GHz Models

Quite a long time ago, we presented you with Siklu equipment - affordable, productive solutions in the 70-80 GHz range (in particular, Etherhaul - millimeter-wave radio bridges). In addition to high performance, Siklu solutions are notable for their low price, reliability and, which is important for the Russian Federation, work in the range of 74-84 GHz, which is not subject to licensing. Hundreds of buyers appreciated Siklu, acquiring about 10,000 devices of various models since the first publication (by reference - previous article with the experience of installing a combat link).
However, the requirements of modern users for bandwidth continue to increase, so today we talk about a new, twice as productive model of the Siklu radio bridge, as well as conduct comparative testing of devices using a traffic generator.

Last year, Israeli company Siklu announced a new line of its backbone solutions . Newer models have more power, sensitivity and twice as much bandwidth. Today we will look at new models, talk about new software features and compare new devices with already known models.
The main thing that distinguishes the new generation of devices from the previous one is the method of access to the environment: if earlier solutions used time division and worked on reception and transmission alternately, then in new models of the device they use full-duplex mode with reception and transmission at different frequencies. Such technology allowed to double the bandwidth of the link, while increasing the power and sensitivity of the system.
Here is a comparison of the equipment ranges:

Model	Multiplexing	Capacity	Power	Maximum sensitivity	Ports
1200	TDD	Gigabit simplex	5 dBm	-79 dBm	2 ports, each working as copper or SFP
1200F	Fdd	Gigabit duplex	8 dBm	-89 dBm	4 ports, three of them are SFP

A graph of the energy capabilities of the system, that is, the sensitivity combined with antenna gain and transmitter power, can more clearly show the advantages.

Models with a one-foot antenna:

Models with a two-foot antenna:


We see that the new equipment models provide a longer communication range (do not forget that the performance of the TDD series is indicated in total in both directions, and the new line in both at the same time).
Now we will take into account that for the TDD line the total speeds for transmitting and receiving are indicated - that is, for traffic uniform in both directions, the situation is much more contrasting.

Models with a one-foot antenna, duplex:

Models with a two-foot antenna, duplex:


The calculator, located on the manufacturer’s website, allows you to compare the communication range of various devices. Let's compare the most interesting distances:




We see that for the same speed the gain is one step of accessibility.
If we take into account the uniform of the traffic direction, that is, corresponding to 1 Gbit / s to 500 Mbit simplex / duplex c, we can say that at the same range for the speed of 500 Mbit / s bi-directional traffic system availability increased from 99.9 to 99.99 percent
Imagine graph for the same duplex traffic speed and the same availability of 99.99 for options with 1 foot antenna:


Range gain is 50 percent.
In addition to the important energy component, the models of the new line also have a number of other advantages - such as:

1. 4 independent cable ports (the TDD line has two ports, each working on a copper transmitter or SFP);
2. More productive processor;
3. Functionality of automatic installation of the system, downloading the configuration file from the server specified in the DHCP server response.

However, the TDD lineup received several new features:

1. First of all, support for the LLDP protocol, which allows you to automatically build a network topology;
2. I also emphasize the emerging mode of long radio channels, which allows you to work at distances of more than 4.5 kilometers, which was previously not possible due to the logical limitations of the software;
3. It became possible to collect statistics on the traffic of each vlan-interface.

Today we can compare system performance using a hardware generator, evaluate latency, jitter, and device performance with complex traffic.

Frame byte	Load	TDD Performance	FDD Performance
64	1.000 Gbps	195.0 Mbps	600.8 Mbps
128	1.000 Gbps	343.9 Mbps	959.8 Mbps
256	1.000 Gbps	485.5 Mbps	982.7 Mbps
512	1.000 Gbps	479.0 Mbps	981.8 Mbps
1024	1.000 Gbps	475.7 Mbps	974.7 Mbps
1280	1.000 Gbps	474.9 Mbps	973.4 Mbps
1518	1.000 Gbps	474.6 Mbps	972.5 Mbps
2518	1.000 Gbps	464.7 Mbps	952.3 Mbps
9018	1.000 Gbps	465.0 Mbps	954.0 Mbps

Performance for frames of various sizes, duplex:


According to the results of the study, it becomes clear the advantage of the new Siklu line of equipment - both in terms of functionality, as well as in communication range and performance. However, for budget solutions of medium capacity, the TDD family is still available to order.
In the near future, we will publish a series of articles on this unlicensed equipment, describing in them the construction of secure topologies, a network management system, and data prioritization functionality.
For all users of Siklu products, we recommend updating the software to the current versions 3.3 and 5.0.4 for TDD and new lines, respectively.
As a bonus to readers of our article, we offer a photo from the Siklu stand at the recent Mobile World conference:


We also present the measurement results in graphical form: performance, delay, jitter for frames of various sizes (the first - TDD, the second - FDD):



UPD: If the article about Siklu is coming soon, it’s not superfluous to place an alert here: for all users of Siklu products, we recommend updating the software to the current versions 3.3 and 5.0.4 for TDD and FDD lines, respectively.