Development and evaluation of a long-range 300-m leaky coaxial cable in the 2.4-GHz band for IEEE 802.11 b/g wireless network access

In installing wireless access systems for indoor use using IEEE 802.11b/g-complied 2.4-GHz band wireless local area network (LAN) units, problems that arise include blind zones and interferences caused by radio waves transmitted by neighboring access point units. To solve these problems, the use of leaky coaxial cables (LCXs) is a promising method. However, commercially available flexible LCXs with small diameters for 2.4-GHz wireless LAN were not long enough for use in tunnels, underground facilities, and so on, and the communication characteristics of LCXs long enough for these places using wireless LAN units have not been reported. We have developed a flexible 300-m long LCX for the 2.4-GHz band and IEEE 802.11b/g-complied wireless LAN units with high sensitivity. We evaluated its performance with four cable configurations and confirmed that this LCX provides wireless connections over 300 m along the cable and over 20 m lateral to the cable in an open-air environment. We also found the coverage could be extended by a method of cable-to-cable links. IEEJ Trans 2010 DOI: 10.1002/tee.20604