Questions & Answers From Thursday, September 16 Webinar Alternatives Case Examples Frequency and Spectrum Planning Security WiMAX Capabilities

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Trevor Watson
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1 Questions & Answers From Thursday, September 16 Webinar Alternatives Case Examples Frequency and Spectrum Planning Security WiMAX Capabilities

2 Alternatives Q: How about PLC? Is it a viable alternative to wireless? [Eedo] PLC has issues going beyond the transformer, and therefore it is a viable solution only when you have a high ratio between the numbers of customers connected to a transformer. In Europe, where the low voltage is 220v, you can get 50 people connected to one transformer, and therefore it is widely used in Europe. In North America, where the low voltage is 110v, you typically get 5-10 customers connected to each one, which does not make optimal business sense. "Q: Why would a utility choose Wimax if that network with not be built throughout the entire USA? [Eedo] The utilities are looking for a 4G wireless network and WiMAX is the only commercial available 4G solution that has been successfully deployed for years across the world. There is no need to have WiMAX deployed as a public network since utilities are looking to build their own private networks. As a side comment, Alvarion is in the process of deploying WiMAX across 17 states as part of the largest WiMAX project that will provide Broadband across Rural America. "Q: If a utility has already installed meters that are not WiMax enabled, how would they install and benefit from a WiMax network? [Eedo] WiMAX typically covers the middle mile which connects Distribution Automation devices, Video Surveillance cameras to protect Grid assets and line truck crews. The Smart Meters are typically connected with a wireless mesh last mile network up to the collector, which can be backhauled by the middle tier WiMAX network. A utility can also decide to use WiMAX all the way to the meter. In this case, they will need to install a WiMAX meter. Case examples Q: Are there examples of utilities who have adopted or have plans to adopt wimax? [Eedo] Utilities that either deploy or have announced to deploy a WiMAX network are SDG&E, CenterPoint, Consumers Energy, National Grid, and Oklahoma Gas & Electric. Q: do you have a success story with Smart Grid using Alvarion equipment? [Eedo] Yes, Alvarion has successfully deployed Smart Grid projects using its WiMAX equipment. Two of the three largest utilities in Europe are using Alvarion equipment. We have been awarded another two Smart Grid projects in North America, with a Tier-1 utility and a COOP in Texas, which are in deployment phase and will be announced before the end of the year. Q: What has delayed application of WiMax in AMI to date? Even in case of GE's WiMax meter. [Eedo] WiMAX to the meter provides broadband that is not always justified by the utilities who prefer a narrowband wireless mesh solution. As broadband and low latency will become a priority to Smart Metering and other Home Area Applications, the requirement for WiMAX to the meter will increase.

3 Frequency and spectrum Q: should we use only licensed band equipment or unlicensed as well? [Eedo] Licensed spectrum is always a priority. If licensed spectrum is not an option, we recommend using a quasi-licensed 3.65 GHz solution, rather than the licensed-exempt option. Q: You mentioned spectrum limitations. Will utilities need additional dedicated spectrum to effectively implement smart grid, or (as the telecom industry claims) can utilities rely on carrierprovided solutions & spectrum coupled with unlicensed & utilities' existing spectrum? Put a little differently, in your opinion should the FCC allocate additional spectrum for this purpose? [Eedo] Yes, we recommend that the FCC will allocate spectrum for utilities as IC did for utilities in Canada. Alvarion will support this spectrum once available. Meanwhile, we recommend using a licensed 2.3 GHz or 2.5 GHz spectrum, or a 3.65 GHz quasi-licensed spectrum which Alvarion supports today. Our equipment allows to mix and match different radios on the same infrastructure, ensuring investment savings when and if new spectrum is allocated. Planning Q: If AMI is not the choice for present and only Grid side is being optimized for reliability and optimization, what is a good mix which later can accommodate AMI too? [Eedo] We recommend minimizing the coverage of the current last mile AMI solutions and maximize the coverage of the 4G WiMAX middle mile solution which is more scalable and can support the bandwidth and QoS of current and yet to come Smart Grid applications. Q: why does a utility need more than T1 speed for what is basically telemetry? [Eedo] More than a T1 is not required for basic telemetry. The key consideration is we re not talking about basic, or basically, telemetry. The bandwidth requirements to each critical site are increasing. 4G WiMAX is needed for both broadband and QoS requirements. Mission critical Distribution Automation devices that control the grid often need QoS. Video surveillance applications that monitor the Grid assets require more than T1 and WiMAX can create and/or extend the private communications network for all needs. "Q: What tools are available to evaluate the topology and terrain reach of WiMax? [Eedo] Alvarion offers a service that can accurately plan WiMAX coverage for any given coordinates. "Q: If utilities were to go with 4G, what will happen when the public wireless carriers go to 5G, 6G, etc, rendering 4G obsolete?" [Eedo] Alvarion offers a WiMAX solution that can upgrade while maximizing the return on infrastructure investments and uptime. Over the years, we have upgraded WiMAX d deployments to new e deployments while securing investments. We should be able to do it for future 5G or 6G technologies. Having said that, we do not anticipate that Utilities will need to make upgrades as frequently as Telco s do.

4 Security Q: how do we mitigate issues similar to the recent mal-ware attack by "stuxnet" worm that targeted scada systems "Q: Where does the video surveillance fit in? Ensuring substation or other facility security? [Eedo] Video surveillance should be used to monitor Substations but also areas prone to damage due to bad weather conditions, in order to proactively identify issues before they occur and avoid outages. "Q: Will you have various levels of security for different applications i.e. low for meter reading but high for transmission level control? [Eedo] Security is measured by the weakest link in the chain, so it must be secured in all parts. WiMAX has strong and proven security mechanisms that meet utility requirements. " WiMAX capabilities Q: Why would WiMax not be applicable for dense urban networks? [Eedo] WiMAX is applicable for dense urban areas and Alvarion has been deploying broadband to the home for years. Smart Metering is a narrow band application and does not justify the cost of deploying WiMAX all the way to the meter in dense urban areas, and many dense urban environments are not favorable for the WiMAX point-to-multipoint architecture. However, some utilities, like SP Ausnet and Energy Australia have decided to use WiMAX all the way to the home using WiMAX. Q: Could this type of infrastructure provide the backbone necessary for providing data, voice, and video to customers? [Eedo] Yes. [Todd] As with any network design, the applications themselves combined with the mix of applications (i.e. voice, video and data simultaneously) will require a level of traffic engineering to ensure a high level of success for the infrastructure deployment. Q: Can you do voice over WiMax? Can you roam into carrier networks when out of your WiMax coverage zone? [Eedo] yes, WiMAX supports voice services. Many WiMAX deployments today provide data and voice services to the customer. Roaming onto carrier networks would require coordination with the carrier and a user device supporting both networks. Q: What is the total Bandwidth per base station? The maximum capacity that can be supported by a single Base Station is based on the frequency, number of sectors supported, available frequency, cell radius, modulation of CPE and performance of the WiMAX equipment. In a recent lab test Alvarion conducted, it was able to achieve a single sector capacity of over 45Mbps in 2.5 GHz and 10 MHz channel for CPEs at a distance of 2km. Alvarion Base Stations can scale up to 6 sectors."

5 Q: What is the Latency on WiMAX? [Eedo] This parameter varies according to different parameters and can be less than 100ms Q: How does it handle vehicles roaming between towers while sending data? WiMAX 16e supports mobility "Q: WiMAX NLOS capability, is it applicable to a flat terrain?? [Eedo] Yes, The same technical aspects creating a NLOS capability will also benefit deployments in flat terrain when multipath can negatively impact some technologies. Q: Can WiMAX be used for teleprotection? [Todd] Teleprotection is a critical application. It is impossible to answer in a blanket statement without understanding the specific performance requirements in your situation. The characteristic of WiMAX to consider is the TDD (Time Division Duplex) nature of the RF interface and how this will perform during peak throughput.

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