WORP®

Proxim Wireless Outdoor Router Protocol (WORP®)

Engineered from the ground up to optimize the performance of multi-stream voice, video, and data over wireless networks. WORP® is the foundation for the efficiency and security inherent in every Proxim Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint system.

Efficiency

Proxim WORP® is exceptionally efficient, much more so than WiFi or LTE. WiFi and LTE have limited efficiency, for every 100Mbps of over-the-air data available typically only about 50Mbps is available for Ethernet traffic. In the same scenario, Proxim WORP® delivers 75Mbps. Simply put, WORP® based solutions increase available bandwidth by up to 50%.

Scalability

Proxim WORP® is designed to overcome the limitations present in many point-to-multipoint solutions based on the WiFi 802.11 MAC protocol. In 802.11 based systems, dense multi-node deployments suffer from packet collisions and subsequent retransmission, dragging down network performance. Even in systems with as few as two or three remote nodes, network performance can be affected by an excess of packet collisions.

As a truly scalable system, Proxim WORP® adapts to higher traffic loads and number of subscribers, while ensuring the total aggregate data available remains a constant. In a WORP® enabled network, the deterministic management of network access, ensures bandwidth is not wasted on overhead, and that each Subscriber Unit (SU) can take advantage of the total network bandwidth for reception and transmission.

By example: A 100Mbps 802.11 based network with only five SUs, has an expected aggregate data rate near 50Mbps. The same network with 50 SUs would degrade to around 25Mbps due to the CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) access protocol.

Given the same 100 Mbps network, Proxim WORP® would have a total available bandwidth of 75 Mbps available for each SU with well over 100 subscribers.

Security

Proxim WORP® offers multiple layers of security to protect valuable and private data during transmission.

The proprietary nature of WORP® ensures that any device used to capture data must first be able to crack WORP® or use a WORP® enabled device as the decoding system.

WORP® requires a Subscriber unit (SU) to register with the Base Station unit (BSU), using an MD-5 secret string in the authentication process. Without the appropriate MD-5 key, rogue Subscriber Units cannot join the network.

WORP® implements up to 256 bit AES encryption on all data sent over the wireless link.

Finally, all remote management methods use secure password-protected or certificate-based SSH, SSL/TLS and SNMP v3 connections for remote management and access.

Quality-of-Service (QoS)

Proxim WORP® enables sophisticated QoS management to enable effective optimization of the available network bandwidth. QoS in this instance means minimum and maximum data rates with programmable jitter and latency limits, and operating within the defined parameters for packet loss and data error rates.

Proxim WORP® based QoS includes three primary components:

• Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and the application of Packet Identification Rules (PIRs) providing the precise classification of the traffic
• Service Flow Classes (SFC) to assign priority, bandwidth, latency, and jitter classification rules for different traffic types
• Quality-of-Service Classes (QoSCs) to define which SFC or PIR is employed for each traffic class. There is also a per subscriber allocation table that determines which QoSC to assign to any given SU for individual link optimization.

WiFi Hidden Node Problem

WiFi was explicitly intended for short-range indoor applications — the assumption that all clients can “hear” each other is evident in the WiFi MAC protocol. WiFi operates on a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) technique which means that each client device listens to the network and if it does not hear another device communicating, assumes the channel is clear and begins transmission.

For outdoor networks, the assumption that all Subscriber units can hear each other is not always valid. It is often the case a Subscriber unit with a directional antenna and obscured by obstacles such as buildings and trees, will not “hear” the other subscriber units. As a result, multiple Subscriber units can attempt to access the wireless medium at the same time, causing interference with each other, resulting in a large number of re-transmissions and having a significant impact on network performance.

The Proxim WORP® protocol avoids the re-transmission problem by using the Base Station as a single point of control over all communications A Subscriber unit cannot transmit data unless the BSU gives it permission resulting in no collisions and no re-transmissions.