Ruckus MetroFlex NG
High Performance 802.11g Access Gateway and Wi-Fi Router
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Datasheet
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is two products in one. It acts as a wireless access
gateway, providing reliable connectivity to outdoor Wi-Fi networks, as well as
an extended range indoor 802.11b/g access point.
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is the world’s first customer premise equipment
specifically designed and optimized for broadband operators building large-scale
metro Wi-Fi networks.
Patent-pending hardware and software let subscribers connect faster and more
reliably to outdoor metro Wi-Fi networks – automatically optimizing around
changing environmental conditions. Intelligent connection algorithms determine
the fastest Wi-Fi mesh node with which to associate based on the highest data
rates and best signal strength.
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The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is the only system that provides unprecedented
diversity through the use of a unique, dualpolarized antenna array. This
provides the largest coverage area possible, the strongest resilience to
interference and the highest receive sensitivity.
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is equipped with integrated smart-MIMO antenna
technology developed to reliably communicate with the metro Wi-Fi nodes.
Compatible with standard 802.11b/g metro Wi-Fi nodes, the Ruckus MetroFlex NG
802.11b/g wireless access gateway extends the metro Wi- Fi coverage to
hard-to-reach indoor locations.
For increased deployment flexibility, the Ruckus MetroFlex also comes
equipped with an external RF connection. This provides the ability to deploy a
high-gain antenna away from the CPE.
Introducing the Ruckus MetroFlex
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is the first smart-MIMO Wi-Fi gateway that reliably
extends metro Wi-Fi signals indoors. The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is equipped with
industry’s first dual-polarized antenna array to optimize communication with
metro Wi-Fi nodes. Additionally, an external RF antenna option works in concert
with the smart antenna array and Ruckus’ patented expert control software to
ensure the best antenna patterns and RF paths are selected for sending and
receiving traffic.
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG automatically avoids Wi-Fi interference and mitigates
multipath fading by selecting the best signal path to the wireless AP.
Traditional Wi-Fi systems are equipped with a single vertically-oriented,
omni-directional antenna that becomes less effective when the multipath signal
arrives out of phase and cross polarized.
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG integrates patent-pending Ruckus BeamFlex technology
that constantly learns the RF environment and automatically adjusts the antenna
pattern to steer signals to the optimum path. Just as the other Ruckus products
(MediaFlex router and adapter), MetroFlex substantially increases both Wi-Fi
performance and range.
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG seamlessly communicates with metro Wi-Fi nodes by
automatically associating with the best outdoor node. This built-in intelligence
delivers optimum connectivity upon initial association. In the event of changes
to the Wi-Fi environment or adjustments to the outdoor metro mesh network (eg.
changes to channel assignments), the Ruckus MetroFlex continually rescans the RF
domain so the selection of the best outdoor AP is maintained.
Dramatic Increases in Range and Performance
BeamFlex is the first-of-its kind smart antenna technology that works with
off-theshelf 802.11 silicon to deliver the most cost effective MIMO benefits to
802.11a/b/g devices today. Each Ruckus MetroFlex NG integrates Ruckus BeamFlex™
technology - a compact, internal antenna array with multiple dual-polarized
directional antenna elements capable of combining to form unique antenna
patterns for diversity.
BeamFlex expert system control software continuously ranks the antenna
patterns for each destination device using the feedback mechanism built into the
802.11 MAC layer protocol. Cognizant of the real time RF conditions, the
direction and performance of the communicating devices, network capacity and
application types, BeamFlex steers each packet to the optimum signal path,
enabling a Wi-Fi device to sustain high transmission speeds and minimize
retransmissions. Unlike conventional wireless devices, the Ruckus MetroFlex NG
dynamically mitigates interference caused by multipath fading, neighbour
networks and other wireless devices.
Simple Installation, Reduced Support Costs
Self-installable, the Ruckus MetroFlex NG utilizes dynamic host configuration
protocol (DHCP) for automatic configuration with the metro Wi-Fi network. The
Ruckus MetroFlex NG has a simple and intuitive user interface and pr vides a
setup wizard to guide the home users to configure the device.
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is equipped to be remotely manageable by the metro
Wi-Fi service provider’s network management center via HTTP, HTTPS, Telnet and
SSH. The Ruckus MetroFlex NG provides extensive statistics to the service
provider’s network management center for ease of troubleshooting and monitoring.
Multiple clients are supported behind the Ruckus MetroFlex NG in the metro Wi-Fi
network. Integrated NUTTCP support allows providers to conduct performance
testing directly from the metro node to the MetroFlex NG.
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG is equipped with DHCP server functionality. The
MetroFlex supports multiple home PCs by automatically assigning dynamic IP
addresses. Network address translation (NAT) is used to give home PCs Internet
access. In the event of a broadband connection failure, the MetroFlex NG
automatically alerts the user by redirecting them to an status page while
continuing to provide local network connectivity.
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| Receive Sensitivity |
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802.11b |
| 1 Mbps |
-99 to -108 dBm |
| 2 Mbps |
-96 to -104 dBm |
| 5 Mbps |
-91 to -98 dBm |
| 11 Mbps |
-90 to -94 dBm |
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802.11g |
| 6 Mbps |
-93 to -96 dBm |
| 9 Mbps |
-90 to -96 dBm |
| 12 Mbps |
-90 to -94 dBm |
| 18 Mbps |
-88 to -91 dBm |
| 24 Mbps |
-85 to -88 dBm |
| 36 Mbps |
-82 to -86 dBm |
| 48 Mbps |
-78 to -81 dBm |
| 54 Mbps |
-76 to -81 dBm |
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Metro Hotspot Deployment
The Ruckus MetroFlex NG allows metro ISPs to easily extend wireless coverage
while maintaining user identity. This is essential for providers that must
authenticate users based on a unique MAC address. Through the use of L2TP
tunnelling, traffic from a Ruckus AP is transparently bridged to a centralized
data center or NOC, allowing the authentication and billing of individual users
(see L2TP Application Note for more details)
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