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Rajant Tactical Wireless FAQ

Some common Questions and Answers concerning the Rajant BreadCrumb product Range

Question 1: What is a BreadCrumb® and a BreadCrumb® network?
Answer 1: A BreadCrumb® is an IEEE 802.11abg (WiFi) and Ethernet compatible networking equipment which has the capacity to connect to other BreadCrumbs or networking devices to form a BreadCrumb network.

Question 2: are the different types of BreadCrumbs?
Answer 2: There are three different BreadCrumb® types. The Rajant BreadCrumb® ME series includes the ME2 and ME3 rugged wireless transmitter-receivers offer single or multi-radio configurations in a man-portable, battery-powered form factor. The ME3 and ME2 can both be used as nodes in a portable wireless mesh network using Rajants InstaMesh technology. The Rajant BreadCrumb® LX series includes the LX4, LX3 and LX rugged multi-radio wireless transmitter-receivers are the ideal fixed-mount solution for relaying transmissions across multiple frequencies. The LX4, LX3 and LX can all be used as nodes in a portable wireless mesh network using Rajants InstaMesh technology. The Rajant BreadCrumb® JR is Rajants smallest, most portable wireless receiver/transmitter at 7.125 x 1.48 x 1.30. It features a high power 2.4 GHz radio making it an ideal choice for client nodes in the mesh network .

Question 3: What type of devices can participate with the BreadCrumb® network?
Answer 3: Any Ethernet or 802.11abg client equipment.

Question 4: How are BreadCrumbs powered?
Answer 4: The BreadCrumb® ME2 is powered by an internal battery or external 7 - 20 VDC (minimum 9 VDC required to charge battery). The BreadCrumb® ME3 is powered by an internal battery or external 6 - 16 VDC (minimum 9 VDC required to charge internal battery). The BreadCrumb® LX and LX3 are powered by 24 - 48 VDC (passive power over Ethernet). The BreadCrumb® LX4 is powered by 24 - 48 VDC. The BreadCrumb® JR is powered by 12 - 15 VDC.

Question 5: How much power do BreadCrumbs® use?
Answer 5: The BreadCrumb® ME2 has a 7.4 V / 2100 mAh internal battery. It draws 4.8 W @ 12 VDC nominal (9.7 W @ 12 VDC peak). The BreadCrumb® ME3 has a 7.4 V / 3600 mAh internal battery. It draws 8 W @ 12 VDC nominal (10 W @ 12 VDC peak). The BreadCrumb® LX draws 15 W @ 24 VDC (peak) and the The BreadCrumb® LX3 draws 20 W @ 24 VDC (peak). The BreadCrumb® LX4 draws X W @ 24 VDC (peak). The BreadCrumb® JR draws 4 W @ 15 VDC nominal (8 W @ 15 VDC peak).

Question 6: What is the typical communications range on BreadCrumbs?
Answer 6: 2.4 Ghz radios have an approximate range of 1 mile LOS, 5 GHz radios have an approximate range of 0.5 miles LOS, 900 MHz radios 1 mile LOS. These distances are representative of optimal deployment settings: - optimal antenna selection - clear unobstructed RF Line-of-Sight between devices - Absence of other RF interference - Full battery power - Clear weather

Question 7: How do the BreadCrumbs communicate?
Answer 7: They communicate using InstaMesh® over either IEEE 802.11abg (WiFi) or IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet).

Question 8: Can you secure BreadCrumb® communications?
Answer 8: Yes. There are several ways to secure communications between BreadCrumbs®. BreadCrumbs support IEEE 802.11i: AES-CCMP and TKIP encryption, WPA-Personal/Enterprise, WPA2-Personal/Enterprise, 802.1x; 64/128-bit WEP; AES-256 encryption and HMAC-SHA1 authentication between BreadCrumbs; Access Control Lists; Compatible with Layer-2 and Layer-3 client/server and peer-to-peer security solutions; Compatible with Harris SecNet54® encryption.

Question 9: I have a specific COMSEC defined transceiver module, can you integrate it to work over the BreadCrumb® network?
Answer 9: Yes, please contact us with your specific requirements.

Question 10: What type of NSA approved crypto devices do you currently support?
Answer 10: Harris SecNet54® encryption.

Question 11: Do clients attach in an ad-hoc mode or in infrastructure mode?
Answer 11: Infrastructure mode.

Question 12: How many times can you hop through a repeating BreadCrumb® before you notice significant network latency?
Answer 12: Each BreadCrumb® adds under 1 ms per hop; performance is dependent upon type and magnitude of traffic, and the quality of the wireless link.

Question 13: What uplink devices do you support?
Answer 13: We can bridge or gateway to any type of uplink with an Ethernet interface. We have interfaces into Inmarsat terminals, Iridium phones, and various Data link connections through an Ethernet media converter. (T1/T3,OC3,etc.)

Question 14: Can the BreadCrumb® network act as a bridge between two wired networks?
Answer 14: Yes.

Question 15: Can the BreadCrumb® multi-home between two uplink points?
Answer 15: Automatic Protocol Tunneling (APT) allows multiple BreadCrumbs® to be connected as uplink points. The BreadCrumbs will use this wired link as a fast path that bypasses multi-hop wireless paths through mesh.

Question 16: How do you connect BreadCrumbs to an existing network?
Answer 16: ReachBack is achieved by several different ways. You can connect the Ethernet port to the uplink, and have the BreadCrumb® DHCP and address from the uplink in automatic mode. You can also select bridge mode if you wish to extend the existing wired network over the wireless BreadCrumb® network, or you can select gateway mode to segment the BreadCrumb network from your uplink network.

Question 17: Will BreadCrumbs allow DHCP pass through?
Answer 17: Yes, in bridge mode.

Question 18: How do I disable the DHCP server on the BreadCrumbs?
Answer 18: You select a BreadCrumb®, right-click, select properties, and disable it in the properties control panel.

Question 19: What IP space does a BreadCrumb® network use?
Answer 19: The BreadCrumbs use 10.x.x.x/8 for inter-BreadCrumb® communication and administration by default but can be configured with a static IP address or configured to use DHCP to obtain an IP address.

Question 20: Can the BreadCrumbs provide DHCP pools for the devices on the BreadCrumb® network?
Answer 20: Yes. The standard pools are setup as: 10.x.x.1 9 are reserved for internal BreadCrumb® use 10.x.x.10 200 are dynamically assigned by internal BreadCrumb® DHCP server 10.x.x.201 254 are available for static assignment

Question 21: Can you operate separate BreadCrumb® networks concurrently in the same geographic area?
Answer 21: Yes. The safest way to do this is to have unique channels, SSID's, Network Authentication Keys (NAK), Network Encryption Keys (NEK), and WPA2 keys between the separate networks. This ensures clients from disparate networks will not associate to each other's network and that BreadCrumbs® from different networks will not connect or interfere with each other.

Question 22: What is BC|Commander and why do I need it?
Answer 22: You need it to setup and configure the network. You can also use it to monitor the network but it is not required once the network is operational. BC|Commander is NOT required for a network to operate.

Question 23: What are the minimum specs to run BC|Commander?
Answer 23: Required Specifications: CPU: PIII 500 MHz (1 GHz or higher recommended); RAM: 256 MB Operating System: Windows 2000 or higher, Linux; Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.6 or higher.

For further information, please contact a Khipu Networks Sales Representative on 0845 2720900 or email us here