User's Manual

Understanding Silver Spring Networks Access Points 1 About Access Points
Understanding Silver Spring Networks Access Points Rev 3 22 January 2013 Silver Spring Networks 12
Maintenance Procedures
If an Access Point experiences an outage, all end point devices and Relays that were
associated with it will converge on their secondary Access Point as found within their
NodeQs. This alleviates outages due to Access Point failure. UtilityIQ-Network Element
Manager (NEM), GridScape, or HCM is then alerted of an Access Point outage, and forwards
this message to the operator. Spare pre-configured Access Points are kept on hand, and are
scheduled for network insertion within the utilities work order management system. Within
NEM, GridScape, or HCM, the failed Access Point is flagged for RMA, and the device is
replaced.
Surge Protection
APs comply with up to 20kV for combination wave and up to 6kV for ring waves (reflects the
current Ethernet AP and projected assembly.)
Redundant WAN Option
WAN redundancy is inherent to the routed Mesh being offered by Silver Spring Networks.
Access Points have the ability to identify WAN outages and forward traffic to secondary
Access Points through their 902-928 FHSS interface. There is no downtime realized and as
routes to the WAN become unavailable, those routes age out of the route tables of adjacent
nodes as would be expected in a full-mesh network that continuously updates node queues
and route tables. When an AP becomes unavailable, the routed Mesh dynamically
reconfigures to available APs. When the AP comes back online, the routed Mesh dynamically
reconfigures to include the AP in the Mesh network.
It is the suggestion of Silver Spring that multiple cellular carriers be spread across the
territory to reduce the impact of a wide scale cellular outage. In addition, the co-mingling of
private backhaul such as private network found within substations is also an option. The
Silver Spring Networks Access Point can use public or private backhaul technologies to
communicate to the host system (UtilityIQ, GridScape, or HCM) at the Utility head end. An
AP can have a cellular modem (such as those approved for use on CDMA or General Packet
Radio Service (GPRS) systems from Sprint, AT&T, Telus or other carrier) or any broadband
technology that is Ethernet/IP compatible (such as Wi-Fi, fiber, private microwave or
WiMAX). Current Silver Spiring customers are using cellular modems, fiber backhaul, and
private licensed and unlicensed wireless backhaul technologies. Additionally, some
customers are currently experimenting with satellite backhaul connections and will be
deploying this technology where needed.
Mounting Options
The Access Points can be mounted on a utility pole or light pole. The can be pad mounted as
well as wall mounted. (For additional information, refer to the Silver Spring Networks
Infrastructure Hardware Guide.) Silver Spring recommends that the units be mounted at a
height of 7 to 9 meters.
WAN Options
Any WAN backhaul that can interface with the Access Point’s Ethernet port and provide
IPv4 connectivity to the HES with a minimum of 40kbps can be used as backhaul.