TERMINAL
MANAGEMENT
PT18- 24/1
Wireless communication and
tomorrow’s technologies
Edmund Rucels, Psion Teklogix, Mississauga, Canada
ABSTRACT
P ort and intermodal operators are continually looking for
ways to achieve improvements in productivity. To realise
these improvements, processes are changing and technology
is critical in supporting these changes in the business
process. Further improvements in productivity, efficiency and
security will result as more data streams from stand-alone
systems are integrated. Some of this data includes Internet
and EDI cargo booking, bills of lading, electronic image
processing and GPS (Global Positioning Satellite)
coordinates.
Ports and intermodal – technology trends
Ports are under increased pressure to provide improved logistics
services, especially as the growth of the global container fleet
outpaces the growth in port capacity, while waterborne trade is
projected to double by 2020. An additional challenge for some
port operators will be the job of handling the Ultra Large
Container Ships (ULCS). This new class of container ship,
scheduled for service by 2010, will increase shipload capacities
from 4,000 TEU to over 8,000 TEU and will further complicate
and stress already busy port facilities putting more pressure on
ports that have exhausted land suitable for terminal use.
Technology’s role will become more important in the drive to
maximise the use of existing terminal facilities, with it being used
to increase the velocity and visibility of cargo at check-in gates,
improve communication with truckers and reduce terminal
congestion and air pollution by dynamically adjusting truck
schedules in real time. Improved and integrated high-speed
imaging is validating drivers, cargo and terminal workers. These
solutions can be extended to all areas of the port and intermodal
operations by using wireless technology and mobile computing
devices.
Which wireless technology?
Wireless communication bridges systems and computer
applications in ‘real-time’ for sprawling and highly mobile port
and intermodal facilities. Although wireless has been a mature
technology for decades, the standardisation of the 802.11b
specification in 2000 has brought it to the forefront.
The two most widely used wireless technologies in port and
intermodal facilities are 802.11b and Narrowband. Each of these
technologies has strengths and weaknesses. Some points to
consider when selecting a radio frequency (RF) technology are:
cost, data throughput capacity, security implications, and range
and reliability of signal.
Some other wireless technologies used as WLANs (Wireless
Local Area Networks) are Bluetooth 802.15 and 802.11a. While
Bluetooth 802.15 serves niche applications, it is clearly not
appropriate for general port and yard applications requiring a
Figure 1. Narrowband installation requires very few access points.
signal range of more than 10 meters. It is therefore primarily used
for PAN (Personnel Area Network) application.
A relatively new technology, 802.11a has a data rate of 54
Mbps compared to 11 Mbps for 802.11b. Commercial products
have been shipping since early 2002 and Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)
certification of 802.11a vendor products occurred later on the
same year. The 802.11a specification does not support the use of
out board antennas, limiting the use of 802.11a in ports and
intermodal unless the access points can be practically mounted on
top of broadcast towers such as light masts. Currently access
points are installed in the base of the light masts in NEMA
enclosures, and antennas are installed as high as 150 feet atop the
light mast.
Narrowband is a more mature technology and still popular in
many port and intermodal operations where wireless bandwidth
needs are lower. An installation is a licensed technology that has
exceptional coverage range using normal antennas of more than
4 miles (6.5 km). A Narrowband installation requires very few
access points since a single access point can cover a number of
square miles or kilometers (Figure 1). Narrowband is inherently
more secure since each installed site is licensed with a unique
frequency. Narrowband is limited to 19.2 kbps data rate it may
not be sufficient for some of today’s data intensive applications.
802.11b Wi-Fi is an IEEE open wireless LAN technology
standard, and has become a popular solution when implementing
wireless LANs, perhaps because of its coverage range of 500 feet
(150 meters) and data rate of 11 Mbps. An 802.11b installation
requires enough access points to ensure complete coverage of a
port or intermodal facility, significantly more than a Narrowband
installation (Figure 2.).
802.11b has some design implications that need to be
understood. The 802.11b signal is negatively affected by distance
while throughput reduces as distance increases. Multipath is a side
effect of 802.11b technology, but to reduce the impact of
multipath, antenna diversity can be deployed. RF switching can
reduce the cost of implementing antenna diversity. In multi-
tenant ports the RF signal can be partitioned to improve RF
communications performance.
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TERMINAL
MANAGEMENT
Figure 2. 802.11b installation requires significantly more access points than a
Narrowband installation.
Death by distance
Dr. Chen and Atheros coined the term ‘death by distance’ for the
impact of distance on wireless data throughput. When they tested
802.11b deployments they used a cell radius of about 65 feet
(based on access points with power in the 15dBm range), which
ensured reliable coverage at the maximum data link rate of
11Mbps. Beyond 100 feet or so, an 802.11b link steps down to
5.5 Mbps, and at roughly 175 feet, to 2 Mbps. The impact of
distance on data throughput has to be accounted for especially in
data intensive application.
Multipath
Network reliability is essential for mission critical applications.
802.11b is a direct sequence spread spectrum modulation scheme
(DSSS) which is prone to multipath propagation problems. Signal
reliability and availability can be adversely affected by multipath
which occurs when a signal is received and a delayed reflection of
the same signal is received out of phase at the receiving device
resulting in cancellation or loss of the data signal. Steel reflects
the 802.11b signal and occasionally causes signal cancellation
known as multipath. Multipath occurs in environments such as
container ports and freezer warehouses and is generally caused by
the presence of steel containers and steel walls.
Deploying antenna diversity can reduce multipath. An antenna
diversity receiver receives the emitted signal on several antennas
having distinct characteristics (e.g. location, radiation pattern
and/or polarity). In such situations, when one antenna is
experiencing bad reception conditions (deep or flat fading) the
other should probably not. By choosing the right antenna at the
right moment, the diversity receiver reacts as if receiving a
continuously perfect signal. Antenna diversity can be used at the
access point and the wireless terminal device.
When using diversity antennas, access point radios either
support one to one cabling to the antennas or RF switching,
which requires one cable to a dual antenna diversity
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Edmund has 20 years of IT experience, 14 years with Nortel Networks. Currently
responsible for global ports and cold chain solutions for Psion Teklogix. Psion
Teklogix is a member of the AAPA, AFFI, IARW, WFLO, CSDF and ECSLA. Edmund
has written ‘RFDC for Refrigerated Warehouses’ and ‘Radio Frequency in the
Warehouse’ for Successful Refrigerated Warehousing and is currently on the
faculty of the WFLO at Norman, OK and has lectured at Leuven, Belgium for the
WFLO (World Food Logistics Organization).
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PT18- 24/1
configuration. RF switching saves cost of material and installation
time. RF switching is supported by certain radio types i.e.
Lucent.
In multi-tenant ports, network performance can be negatively
affected by crossover data noise from neighboring terminals.
Response time for data intensive applications may be slowed if
neighboring RF signals are not partitioned. Different antenna
designs have different broadcast characteristics. By selecting the
right antenna in each area of a port can significantly reduce
crossover data noise between adjacent terminal operations and
improve response time for all RF applications within the port.
Our solution defines the antenna type to maximise partitioning.
Security
There are various reasons 802.11b (Wi-Fi) technology is usually the
right choice in today’s ports. 802.11b provides high bandwidth,
does not require licensing, and has momentum in terms of industry
adoption and support. However, 802.11b is not the best technical
solution for all situations, as no technology ever can be. As
previously discussed, coverage can be a problem due to multipath
and range of signal. Another technical challenge is security. Because
802.11b is an open, available to everyone, unlicensed standard,
security has to be more robust than licensed solutions such as
Narrowband. Ideally, 802.11b users should use VPN (Virtual
Private Network) connections to secure data. Not all facilities are
equipped to implement VPN. Other tools that can secure 802.11b
data are authentication and encryption. The IEEE 802.11 standard
defined WEP (Wireless Equivalency Privacy) as the encryption
solution. WEP was subsequently breached and other security
measures are required to make 802.11b a secure solution.
Recently released 802.1x is a new secure authentication standard
for 802.11b users. 802.1x provides a means of authenticating and
authorising wireless devices attached to a LAN port via an
Authentication Server such as RADIUS. The operation of the
authentication process makes use of EAP (Extensible
Authentication Protocol) as the means of communicating
authentication information between the wireless device and the
Authentication Server. WEP is also being revised and Dynamic
WEP will soon be available allowing a constantly changing
encryption key that will further secure 802.11b data
communications.
Conclusion
Ports and intermodal operators’ drive toward improved efficiency
and security will spawn a new generation of technology
solutions. These mostly mobile solutions will be integrated using
wireless networking amd a number of wireless technologies exist
with new wireless technologies around the corner. Regardless of
new technologies, selection must be made based on current and
future requirements and the best fit for the application.
ENQUIRIES
Edmund Rucels
Global Vertical Marketing, Psion Teklogix
2100 Meadowvale Boulevard
Mississauga, Ontario L5N 7J9
Canada
Tel: +1-905-812-6218
Fax: +1-905-812-6275
E-mail: edmund.rucels@teklogix.com
www.p o r t t e c h n o l o g y. o r g