wireless eD!!!

[chrisatpsu]

ok, my setup...
regular desktop plugged into 24port SMC switch
the switch plugged into a Linksys WRT54G2 (not to be confused with a WRT54G - or even a WRT54Gv2 it's the black sleek design that about a year old. it has no blue on it)

connected via 64bit WEP protected wireless connection to ...
Linksys WET54G (Etherenet wireless Bridge)
hardwired to a Lynx EtherDongle (programmed for pixelnet)
connected to a Lynx Smart String Active Hub
wired to one SSC connected to 20 Plastic Rectangles.

I was able to program the SSC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rod R]

Very cool, glad your fully operational !!.  Now if I can get my hands on an ED the next time the coop rolls around  .

I know RJ mentioned something about going wireless on the ED on the video demo he did in Texas and mentioned that it was off the shelf and petty cheap I think around $60.00.  But he never mentioned the products name at least not in the video although he might of mentioned when the camera was off.

[chrisatpsu]

the wireless ethernet bridge i picked up off of ebay.  i knew this particular model supported MCast, and was hoping it was no different for the eD.

i know once i say this i'm going to get a million replies from other hardware companies fanboys, but I really like Linksys equipment, I worked for a company that had a really close relationship with them and i've been really familiar with this part.

[Dennis Cherry]

If you have a wireless setup using other equipment, is there a way to know if it is operating with enough speed to make the etherdongle work to top performance?

[rm357]

Two pieces to that puzzle.

Part 1
The full 4 universes needs something close to 5 Mbps (1 Mbps data per universe + network overhead rounded up) streamed continuously.

Wireless g is over 50 Mbps if you have good signal, but from your router to out in the middle of your yard you will probably get something significantly less. The only way to know for sure would be to run some speed tests with a laptop using the wireless bridge that you will be using for The display at the location where you plan to put the bridge...

Part 2
You need a constant non-interrupted stream of data. If you start transferring files or playing online games on that network, some of your data packets may be delayed... Some delay would not be noticeable to the observers, but if you get a lot of non-show traffic flowing, the delays could become significant. If you can not avoid using the network/Internet while the show is running, it might be best to set up a dedicated wireless network.

RM

[chrisatpsu]

assuming, you're maxing out channels...

[chrisatpsu]

remember, at least vixen only sends updates to the Dongle/ etherdongle.  the eD then sends the full stream to the devices. you'd have to have every channel on off each time segment. to max out bandwidth demand.

[RJ]

There is more to it than the speed of the link. The latecy is what will cause issues and you can get the amount of data across even a 802.11b setup. It is a matter of how long before it gets there. If it is very much then the show will not sync and will be visible.

This is possible to do at current channel counts but as we start running many ETD's trying to send the data will be come an issues so this is the reason for the sync setup with conductors. It eliminates this issue completely no matter how many channels you have.

RJ

[cpnbnanamn]

  I'm wondering if building a separate VLAN and SSID domain would help alleviate delays on a router capable of 802.11G... 

[rm357]

VLAN won't help - its still sharing the bandwidth.

An Independent wifi setup would ensure that there are no traffic issues.

The problem is really only an issue if you are doing high bandwidth stuff - transferring files, streaming video, surfing with a really fast ISP connection, etc. All of these are sharing the bandwidth. Ethernet uses a listen before talk approach to avoid data collisions. If something else is being transferred, your packets could be delayed... A little would not be noticeable, but depending on how many computers are waiting to transmit, the delay could be enough to matter.

RM

[Zeph]

There's delay and there's jitter.

A relatively consistent delay would be a problem mainly wrt audio sync.

If the delay varies (jitter), then the timing of the show might be less smooth; if it's bad enough that some packets are a second later than others, that could look pretty bad.

Remember that on 802.11g, channels need to be offset by about 5 to avoid overlap and interference; eg: channels 1, 6 and 11 are fairly independent.  (Of course it not an all or nothing thing, and less overlap is less interference: channel 2 has more interference with channel 1, than channel 5 does.)  If you can move to separate bands (eg: 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz) this should usually be no issue; and the 5 GHz band (A and some forms of N) has more non-overlapped channels than the 2.4 GHz band.

You can also use directional antennas to help.

[cpnbnanamn]

  Yes I know about Ethernet and CSMA/CD (I'm a CCNA). And unless you're using half-duplex, it's generally not an issue.  Further, most newer routers and NIC's are capable of 1Gb, and unless your traffic is going out to the WAN, the only bottleneck is at the WAN link.  802.11g is capable of 54Mbps, and I guess what I was thinking is that with a separate VLAN, separate SSID, and maybe utilizing a COS policy, it would be a way to help eliminate some of the latency you might see. 
  I'm also pretty familiar with the band spread of WLAN. 

Like I said, I was trying to think of ways of creating a wireless solution with what most people have on the shelf, without having to get too crazy. 

[cpnbnanamn]

Wow that ended up being MUCH bigger than I expected....

[RJ]

You will only need to send a single small packet once per second with my setup. the latecy / delay / jitter has been factored out in the way it works so unless you are just dead set on doing this way the problems where resolved for you. Any wireless system no matter how poor should handle this with ease and it does not need a seperate network / vlan / broadcast domain / anything is totally unnecesary. you can have a 3 second delay on your net suddenly in the middle of your show and you will not even know it as it is designed. Did you see the video of LSH last year where I unplugged the netwrok cable for the audience for about 3 seconds and the show never missed a beat on either ETD's ?

But if you want to make it harder on yourselfs you can go the route you are working on and with low channel counts (under 25K - 40K) or a very good network it will work fine. But if you plan to increase channel count in the future then you will start having issues at that point. This is why I did it the way I did.

RJ

[cpnbnanamn]

That's great!!  Makes this argument kinda pointless...  but I'd like to know if there is an easy way to make it wireless, w/o having to have a wireless bridge, etc.  I can't wait to get my ETD from the coop, and wireless would be AWESOME! 

Thanks for chiming in, RJ!