Hi, I have used this design with wireless mesh successfully for hotels.
2-node mesh: for about 20 floors and below (Sheraton Manila @ 14 floors)
3-node mesh: for 21 floors and taller (Shangri-la Makati @ 28 floors) - with a different vendor then
Using this design guest can successfully roam from guest room to corridor to elevator to lobby pretty much seamlessly as long as you have the same SSID and use the same vlan across the property.
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Tee Chong Lee
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Original Message:
Sent: Aug 21, 2014 05:45 AM
From: Jan Vidar Rognsv�g
Subject: Coverage in elevator shaft
Elevator coverage is always a subject that comes up during design, but rarely is implemented due to extensive costs. Wiring/bridge to the elevators and APs in every elevator would require a good salesperson to seem economically sound for that 30-second ride. However, if the application is important enough, the price is never too high. Although this should not be the location you place your most expensive APs.
As Michael is saying, I would not worry about ARM; with the AP limited to the lowest power, the attenuation through the elevator casing and the elevator shaft should well prevent any interference with the other APs on the passing floors. Naturally, the elevator lobby would be affected when the doors open, so keep that in mind when you design your network.
I would however not use static channels for the elevator-APs, as they should be able to move to a different channel if they themselves are affected by noise or interference. Potentially this could cause problems when multiple elevators run inside a single shaft. I would recommend you monitor the channel use and if the APs frequently are changing channels, you could try the static approach. Make sure you analyze the spectrum while the elevators are running/standing at the same floor.
The typical problem is however how to wire the AP in the elevator. With the maximum allowed length of a Cat 6 cable at 100 meters, you might be short in your "high rise building". The most discussed option is to deploy a directional antenna (high gain dish/sector etc.) at the floor or ceiling of the elevator shaft or even a similar wireless bridge to the elevator. There is also a few interesting posts on running DSL to the elevators in high buildings on the Whirlpool Forums; http://bit.ly/1kXipuU.
Either way, let us know how you proceed. Good luck! :)
Jan Vidar