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

随着学校，工作场所，社区空间和公共交通，在Covid-19大流行期间适应公共卫生指南，加利福尼亚州运输局（CALSTA）开始考虑如何在此时帮助关闭数字鸿沟。可靠的互联网连接对日常生活变得更加重要。

“In California, approximately one in five students lack high-speed internet access and nearly half of all low-income households do not have broadband service at home,” explains Lori Pepper, the Deputy Secretary of Innovative Mobility Solutions for CalSTA. “We wanted to find a practical and cost-effective way to bring high-performance Wi-Fi connectivity to digital deserts to serve our residents during these days of tele-everything.”

代理商合作开发创新的移动超级热点

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.

由于公共图书馆致力于在其分支机构提供Wi-Fi巴士停车位，并在连接时供学生访问强大的在线资源，因此指导委员会与AT＆T等各种蜂窝服务提供商联系。提供商帮助组建了一个项目合作伙伴的财团，包括惠普（Hewlett Packard）企业公司Aruba。

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

除了提供Wi-Fi连接性外，关键项目目标还包括确定用户所需的服务，创建策略准则以及建立成功交付，监视和评估无线访问所必需的特定技术。

During the project’s design phase, Aruba and the other technology partners considered options for addressing multiple requirements for outfitting a total of 10 SacRT transit buses. This included broadcasting Wi-Fi widely enough to encourage social distancing and leveraging the available cellular network within a targeted neighborhood for connectivity.

Delivering outdoor connectivity and collecting analytics up to 1,800 feet

On three of the Wi-Fi Buses, an Aruba SD-Branch solution 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.

随着设计规格要求将AP安装在外部安装，选择370系AP，确保Aruba可以将Wi-Fi运送到距离公共汽车最多1,800英尺的地方。另一个关键的AP属性是收集邻近分析所需的位置意识，这是该计划评估阶段的关键。

Aruba Central证明了主动成功的关键

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.

故障诊断也是一个微风与中央的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

Central also automated weekly reporting, ensuring the team could collect statistical data with a few clicks. The granular reports included bandwidth utilization, wireless data usage, and longest connected distance from a Wi-Fi Bus. In addition, Central produced location-aware analytics, such as the number of devices in proximity to a bus and, of those, the percentage that connected to Wi-Fi.

通过中心，发现在连接到Wi-Fi的Aruba启用Wi-Fi总线距离内约有50％的设备，最长的连接距离为300码。

Other key findings included the top applications accessed and the categories of data traffic, such as content delivery networks.

ClearPass统一体验，提高安全性并提供关键

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.

Addressed by adding Aruba’s ClearPass, a network access control solution that is open and interoperable with other networks. ClearPass unified Wi-Fi experiences across all 10 Wi-Fi Buses, permitting the rapid and smooth implementation of a customized guest portal. It also improved security and furnished granular connection troubleshooting.

ClearPass还提供了必需的设备利用数据。关键信息包括每日，每周和总设备连接以及连接学校，工作和个人用途的设备百分比。

庆祝成功并考虑下一步

在该倡议的执行阶段期间，Cartt Transit巴士前往整个萨克拉曼多地区的多个地点。

尽管主要部署的重点是学校，图书馆，公园和数字沙漠中的社区，但Wi-Fi巴士计划也有助于为地区活动提供急需的连接，以提供为寻求工作的人，健康和健康和移动人口普查提供支持的区域活动登记。

“We’re proud of using our buses in an innovative way to help communities across the Sacramento region get the high-speed internet connection needed to address their education, telehealth and telework challenges,” said Henry Li SacRT General Manager/CEO. “We’re pleased that SacRT was able to serve those most impacted by the pandemic via the Wi-Fi Buses.”

Evaluation gives initiative two thumbs up

在POC之后，Calsta进行了评估，以确定将车辆转变为移动热点的长期生存能力和潜在用例，并为其他机构和社区提出建议。

萨克拉曼多市首席创新官路易斯·斯图尔特（Louis Stewart）说：“ Covid-19使我们的社区享有关键需求。”“我们与合作伙伴迅速合作，将此Wi-Fi巴士的概念验证栩栩如生，以帮助需要宽带访问的学生，工人和居民。我很高兴能够提供这种重要的工具，以将重要的互联网连接到我们的社区。”

该倡议还引起了美国其他州和地方政府的关注：“这加强了我们计划的成功以及以创新方式利用现有资产的重要性。我们的工作必须超出这一概念证明，” Pepper说。

创建移动热点剧本

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 available移动热点剧本具有详细的信息和策略。

“We’re excited to provide a document of best practices and lessons learned from our proof of concept to help other jurisdictions create their own programs to serve their communities,” Pepper says.

她继续说：“获得高质量，安全的宽带连接是日常生活的关键部分。”“在Covid-19大流行期间，人们强调了公众缺乏这种通道。通过使用现有资源（例如公交车），我们可以提供移动的临时解决方案来填补这些空白，因为该州继续致力于州长加文·纽瑟姆（Gavin Newsom）在所有主动权方面的宽带中为更永久的解决方案努力。”