Power to the Poles: A Wireless Walk in the Park

On a pleasant June morning in Austin, Texas, threatening rain clouds looked down on a group of engineers from around Austin who gathered in Republic Park downtown. To the casual passerby, it was an odd sight to see these half dozen folks from The University of Texas at Austin's ECE Wireless Networking & Communications Group (WNCG), UTnet, UT System Office of Telecommunication Services, Austin Independent School District (AISD) and Austin Energy happily excited as they leaned over to look at the base of a lamppost. Their attention was held by the electrical outlet tucked away behind a metal plate at the base of the lamppost, located on the south side of the park. To wireless network engineers, this is the stuff that dreams are made of.

Jerry Hernandez with Austin Energy told the group about the recent installation of an 802.11a/b/g wireless radio system, which transmits a line-of-sight signal from the top of One Texas Center, located approximately one mile away, to the directional antenna on the lamppost in the park. The outdoor rated access point and omni-directional antenna, also mounted on the streetlamp, are part of the City of Austin's wireless network project. The project is soon to be extended to several area parks in Austin, including Auditorium Shores and Plaza Saltillo. Jerry explained that 110-volt power was extended to the pole from a nearby corner junction box, since the city streetlights are on timers that shut off their power during daylight hours. The ongoing wireless network installation is a cooperative effort between the City of Austin, Austin Wireless City Project, the downtown Austin Alliance, and Schlotzsky's Deli, Inc.

AISD and The University of Texas at Austin's ECE Department and WNCG began a collaborative wireless project last semester with the ultimate goal of providing high-speed wireless network access to K-12 area students in east Austin. ECE and WNCG students Andrew Chasteen, Matt Munson, and Chen Na (a Ph.D. candidate) are excited about continuing their work on the project, and AISD's John Kohlmorgan and Michael Lohrstorfer hope to follow up with the City of Austin about possible future collaboration.

As the clouds thickened and light rain began to fall, umbrellas popped open and hovered over the knot of engineers. They strolled through the park, laptops open, measuring signal to noise ratio - one step closer to their goal of expanding Austin's wireless capacity.