Innovative multi-agency Wi-Fi Bus proof of concept delivers connectivity to digital deserts using Aruba SD-Branch Gateways, Wi-Fi and Central

与学校，工作场所，社区空间和公共交通在Covid-19大流行的第一波浪潮中调整公共卫生指南，加州国家运输代理（CALSTA）开始考虑如何在一个时候帮助关闭数字鸿沟可靠的互联网连接对日常生活变得更加重要。

“在加利福尼亚州，大约五分之一的学生缺乏高速互联网接入，近一半的所有低收入家庭都没有在家中拥有宽带服务，”加尔加达创新的移动解决方案的副秘书劳里··佩珀解释道。“我们希望找到一种实用且具有成本效益的方式，可以在这些日子里带来数字沙漠的高性能Wi-Fi连接，为我们的居民服务。”

Agencies Team Up to Develop Innovative Mobile Super-Hotspots

CalSTA asked the City of Sacramento and the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) to partner in the creation of outdoor mobile super-hotspots using SacRT transit buses in a 60-day proof of concept (POC).

Called the Wi-Fi Bus network, the multi-agency effort was led by representatives from the Sacramento Public Library, public health departments, and the Valley Vision civic organization, as well as CalSTA, the City and SacRT. The group’s primary goal was safely enabling distance learning, supporting telework and supplying telehealth opportunities.

With the public library committed to providing Wi-Fi Bus parking at its branches and robust online resources for students to access when connected, the steering committee reached out to various cellular service providers, such as AT&T. The providers helped assemble a consortium of project partners including Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

阿鲁巴’s SD-Branch Powers Wi-Fi Bus Proof of Concept

In addition to supplying Wi-Fi connectivity, key project goals included determining the services users required, creating policy guidelines, and establishing the specific technologies necessary for successfully delivering, monitoring, and evaluating wireless access.

在项目的设计阶段，Aruba和其他技术合作伙伴考虑了满足多种要求10个Sact Transit总线的多种要求的选项。这包括广播Wi-Fi，足以鼓励社交偏移并利用有针对性的邻域内的可用蜂窝网络进行连接。

提供户外连接和收集分析高达1,800英尺

三wi - fi的公交车,阿鲁巴岛SD-Branchlution was engineered based on Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) infrastructure. It was comprised of Aruba’s 370 Series outdoor Wi-Fi access points (APs), 9000 Series Branch Gateways, and cloud-native Central for unified gateway management, which are all solutions within Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform). In addition, LTE routers from two different partners provided the wireless uplinks to the three dominant local cellular networks.

With the design specifications calling for APs to be mounted externally, selecting the 370 Series APs ensured Aruba could deliver Wi-Fi up to 1,800 feet away from the buses. Another key AP attribute was the location awareness required for gathering the proximity analytics that were key to the initiative’s evaluation phase.

阿鲁巴中心证明了倡议成功的关键

Using Central to deploy and manage the Aruba ESP-equipped buses streamlined all aspects of implementation and operations. The lean project administration team worked safely from their home offices after an AT&T technician affixed the Aruba APs to the sides of each bus, plugged in the branch gateways and connected the LTE routers.

Once the gear was connected, the project administration team used Central’s Zero-Touch Provisioning capability to automate the configuration, application and management of settings. Central also created the appropriate tunnels and propagated routes to establish a flexible and secure Wi-Fi network overlay topology.

Central’s intelligence not only reduced configuring each bus to seconds, but also eliminated any further branch configuration or management intervention throughout the POC.

Troubleshooting was also a breeze with Central’s end-to-end visibility. Of the two network connectivity incidents that occurred during the initiative, Central quickly identified both as being related to LTE router malfunctions.

Granular reporting assists with evaluating outcomes and establishing ongoing needs

中央也是自动的每周报告，确保团队可以用几次点击收集统计数据。粒度报告包括带宽利用率，无线数据使用和与Wi-Fi总线的最长连接距离。此外，中央产生的位置感知分析，例如靠近总线的设备数量，以及连接到Wi-Fi的百分比。

Via Central, it was discovered that approximately 50 percent of the devices within proximity of an Aruba-enabled Wi-Fi Bus connected to the Wi-Fi and the longest connected distance was 300 yards.

其他主要发现包括访问的顶级应用程序以及数据流量类别，例如内容传递网络。

ClearPass Unifies Experiences, Boosts Security and Delivers Critical

As the remaining seven buses utilized Wi-Fi technology from other project partners, the multi-agency steering committee quickly determined the user experience was inconsistent. Access security was also insufficient and reporting across all buses was lacking.

通过添加Aruba的lexpass，一种与其他网络打开和互操作的网络访问控制解决方案。清除所有10个Wi-Fi公交车的统一Wi-Fi体验，允许自定义的Guest门户的快速和平稳地实现。它还改善了安全性和家具的颗粒状连接故障排除。

ClearPass also supplied essential device utilization data. Critical information included daily, weekly and aggregate device connections as well as the percentage of devices connecting for school, work and personal purposes.

Celebrating Success and Considering Next Steps

During the execution phases of the initiative, SacRT transit buses traveled to multiple locations throughout the Sacramento area.

Although the primary deployment focus was schools, libraries, parks, and neighborhoods within digital deserts, the Wi-Fi Bus program was also instrumental in providing much needed connectivity for regional events that provided support for job-seekers, health and wellness, and mobile Census registration.

“我们为自己的公共汽车以创新的方式使用我们的公共汽车来帮助萨克拉门托地区的社区获得高速互联网连接，以解决他们的教育，远程健康和远程工作挑战所需的高速互联网连接，”Henry Liacht总经理/首席执行官表示。“我们很高兴萨克特能够通过Wi-Fi公共汽车服务受大流行影响的人。”

评估给出了倡议的两个竖起大拇指

Following the POC, CalSTA conducted an evaluation to determine the long-term viability and potential use cases of turning vehicles into mobile hotspots and assembled recommendations for other agencies and communities to follow.

“COVID-19 put a spotlight on a critical need in our community,” says Louis Stewart, Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Sacramento. “We worked quickly with our partners to bring this Wi-Fi bus proof of concept to life to help students, workers and residents who needed broadband access. I am thrilled that we were able to provide this important tool to bring vital internet connection to our neighborhoods.”

The initiative also attracted the attention of other state and local governments across the U.S. “This reinforced the success of our program and the importance of utilizing existing assets in innovative ways. Our work must continue beyond this proof of concept,” Pepper says.

Creating a Mobile Hotspot Playbook

Given the positive reception by area residents and the POC’s overall cost-effectiveness, CalSTA is optimistic that similar initiatives could be deployed as needed going forward. To assist others, it has published a publicly availableMobile Hotspot Playbook与了d information and strategies.

“我们很高兴提供从我们概念证明的最佳实践和经验教训，以帮助其他司法管辖区创建自己的课程来服务他们的社区，”胡椒说。

“进入高质量，安全的宽带连接是一系列日常生活，”她继续。“在Covid-19大流行期间强调了一般公众缺乏这次访问。通过使用现有资源（如运输总线），我们能够提供移动，临时解决方案来填补这些差距，因为国家继续努力为各种倡议的宽敞的宽带解决方案。“