Designing WiFi for a Marina

[TransAm]

I am trying to enable WiFi on a Marina to support boaters getting alerts from and accessing their security cameras on their boats. There is power on the docks but no cabling for Internet. I have buildings with line of sight to the Marina but no one building can see the entire Marina due to foliage in the summer months. I am thinking of using 2 primary APs to get signal to the Marina and repeaters to cover each side from there (I like 2 for redundancy as well). The Marina is about 1,000 feet long in a half circle shape, all of the Marina within 500 feet of one building. I need to control use to prevent constant streaming from consuming bandwidth, thinking of constraining session time, bandwidth usage, and/or speed couple with restricted access by login, Mac address, or some other method, Video storage will need to be local on the cameras. Have used Meraki in the past for Networking, hoping they have a smart solution that would meet my need. Any suggestions?

[alemabrahao]

I think it's a project with a certain level of complexity, and perhaps it would be better to involve a Meraki network engineer to help you define the best design.

[TransAm]

Agree, which is why I posted here. Not a DIY and not by me.

[alemabrahao]

It would be a good idea to contact a Meraki sales representative.

[cmr]

@TransAm I'd seriously think about running cabling if you can, a few runs of shielded outdoor CAT6(a) wouldn't cost much and you have all the jetty's to fix them to.  Then you can easily just connect the APs.  You could use a couple of MS130Rs to provide PoE and be usable in a harsh environment.

[TransAm]

I agree cabling would be best, just like a wireline circuit is better than Cellular. The marina submerses during exceptional high tides, about 5 times a year so any cabling would have to be elevated. I would think cabling would require conduit for protection as well, right? Getting all this done would not be inexpensive. But we still need to get from the building, where the wireline would terminate, to the Marina. Running cabling there would not only be even more complicated and expensive, it might require permitting, and it would stress the distance limits of Ethernet perhaps leading to future issues. The leg from land would be the most important in determining circuit quality.

[BlakeRichardson]

This looks like an interesting project and a nice one to add to you resume once you get it done. 

[TransAm]

I am retired and doing this gratis, will just be glad it is keeping the mind working 🤣

[PhilipDAth]

What about using a power-line network, like this (for the backhaul)?

https://www.dlink.co.nz/home-solutions/connectivity/powerline

I would consider using something like the MR78 for the marinas.  I think this would be a good choice, because most of the unit is "sealed", slowing down corrosion from the salt.  I would then mount it inside an electrical ABS enclosure to further slow down the corrosion.

Because the MR76 does not have external antennas, you will need to use more of them.  I would put one every 30m on the Marina.  Maybe 15 of them.  You are going to need a lot of strong coverage to make sure the MESH works well (assuming you can't do a wired backhaul, such as via power-line).  If the MESH goes down, big chunks of the network will go down.

https://meraki.cisco.com/product/wi-fi/outdoor-access-points/mr78/

I assume the buildings are where the Internet comes in.  I would consider using three MR86s with external antennas on the buildings, each trying to cover 1/3 of the Marina.  The MR76s will connect to these.
I would try to put everything inside of electrical ABS enclosures (to slow corrosion). Still, you'll have to accept that they will need more regular replacement as corrosion attacks them (hopefully, you'll get 3 to 5 years out of them).

https://meraki.cisco.com/product/wi-fi/outdoor-access-points/mr86/

I would take a look at the MA-ANT-25 or MA-ANT-27 antennas to use on the MR86.

https://meraki.cisco.com/product-collateral/ma-ant-25-datasheet/?file

https://meraki.cisco.com/product-collateral/dual-band-sector-antenna-datasheet/?file

And before committing to the final design, I would run a pilot.  Get one MR86 and one MR76, and see how it goes.  Remember that during rain and storms, the coverage will decrease, so make sure to test the pilot on a bad day.

With Meraki you can configure a "per-user" bandwidth limit.  So you could give everyone 1Mb/s (for example) to prevent any one person from ruining it for everyone else.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Firewall_and_Traffic_Shaping/Traffic_and_Bandwidth_Shaping#Traff...

[PhilipDAth]

As a bonus, the MR78 can also be powered by 12VDC.  That might be easier.

[cmr]

Have you had much luck with powerline kits @PhilipDAth?

I use one at home from the house to a cabin and it's pretty ropey.  The cabling is 2m of new 2.5mm twin and earth to the internal unit and a straight 45m run of 6mm armoured to the external unit.  I get about 10Mbps of real bandwidth on average with peaks of 20Mbps when it's very dry and it drops out if it's stormy.

[PhilipDAth]

I have had issues with them.  Sometimes they work great.  Sometimes not at all, or like you have experienced, poor throughput.

It is definately something that would need to be piloted.

[TransAm]

Thanks PhilipDAth, will research your suggestion.

The Internet is to be added and I assume the Cable provider wants to terminate in a building. Would be great if they accepted my house/business was on the Marina and delivered there! But unlikely.

We can easily add Nema boxes to protect the equipment.

Love the 'bandwidth per user' solution.

[JustinH]

Having been in a similar boat (pardon the pun) connecting a relatively remote guard shack to our buildings at a school, Philip's suggestion for external antennas will be important.  

Have you considered either a cellular gateway or Starlink as a possibility towards getting internet into the center of the marina area and then going out from there?

[TBHPTL]

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

Run fiber and NEMA enclosures. Panduit makes an excellent product that will work well in this situation for delivery of DC power to ruggedized poe switches from Cisco Meraki.

https://www.panduit.com/en/products/featured-products/panduit-fault-managed-power-system.html

[PhilipDAth]

It's tricky because these are floating platforms.  They move.  The cable length required varies between platforms as they move relative to each other.

[TransAm]

Great point! I 'think' the main walkway is all connected, I am also thinking most/all of the fingers are connected to the main walkway too. We would keep this system running along the main walkway, I will double check this weekend. But Land to Marina Ramps can definitely 'move' up and down, changing the length somewhat. There is A/C power running from shore so they have dealt with it somehow. More research. I will engage with the longtime electrician as well this weekend.

You all are great, keep the point/counterpoint coming and I will update with my findings.

[PhilipDAth]

What country is this in (as this affects regulations that apply)?

[TransAm]

Maryland, USA

[TBHPTL]

The Panduit power delivery is fault tolerant and built to be safe, The beauty is from land is where you would supply this and provide your battery back up

[TBHPTL]

Not as tricky as you think. you don't pull the copper or fiber  banjo string tight and you must have adequate slack to account for the movement and would use flexible watertight conduit with adequate loops to account for movement. 

[TransAm]

I owe you an update.

I went onsite last weekend and investigated Cabling and have concluded it is very possible! There are Power Panels (15-20 Meters on a Board) on Land at the top of each Ramp. From there conduit takes the power lines to each Boat Slip (we do not need to run power). In some cases there is a conduit sticking up out of the ground connected to nothing with nothing in it...like a vent, but maybe unused conduit (hoping)? I need to figure out how to trace it, guess we could snake it. I was thinking Smoke (Ruled yodeling). Better ideas? 

The conduit runs under the Ramps. It would be easy to attach Cable outside the existing Conduit. Don't want to run it inside with Power. A little harder, I could run another small conduit just for Internet. The Ramps are about 100ft to main walkway, suspended above the water line, so I don't think they submerge and they are anchored on land so they do not move. Product suggestions? 

We are checking with the service provider (Comcast) to see if they will drop a circuit at the Power Board (pretty please). If not, we need to run another 100ft to a closet in the building, still not too difficult and only 200 feet total. This would put their Router/Modem indoors, which they would surely prefer.

Getting close, appreciate you all for providing your input.

Extra Kudos to CMR for suggesting cabling!