Example of fiber Ethernet Networks - in the outback

A user wrote in with an example of using Ethernet to Fiber converters to span great distances on a property.  Now that Ethernet to fiber converters are less than $200, it is not unreasonable for a home network to incorporate fiber.

Simon Mackay wirtes:

In Australia, we have a lot of properties in the outer suburbs which have small bungalows that have been set up simply as extra living space. Typically, these places would be connected to the main property's electricity and water supply and may have a telephone service, either as part of the main building's service or with its own direct connection to the exchange.

You made some reference to fiber-optic runs and Ethernet-Fiber converters in your article about Ethernet networks. Here you cited an application where the places may be between 100 meters - 40 kilometers apart; or you are linking two homes, each with different ground potentials. This is also because Ethernet - Fiber converters had come down in price, making them available for residential and similar-class users.

The same technology could be useful where there are multiple outbuildings on a property; such as most country properties. Here, the buildings could be interlinked using fiber, thus permitting electrical isolation and ensuring improved data quality between the buildings.

An example setup could be a farm which comprises of the farmhouse or homestead; a barn located 50 metres away from the farmhouse; a two-bedroom cottage which is used as a guesthouse located 10 meters from the farmhouse and a machinery shed located 100 meters from the barn, 150 meters from the farmhouse as the crow flies. The property has its Internet access provided by a Starband-style two-way satellite broadband Internet which is connected to a "beige-box" desktop running Windows XP ICS and installed in the farmhouse. There is another "beige-box" being used by the children for games and the farm accounts are done using another cheaper computer in the barn. The farmer has shown interest in the Axis Ethernet CCTV cameras and wants to deploy them in the machinery shed and the barn for security purposes -- keep an eye on the barn and the machines from any computer on the property. There are also plans to provide Internet access for those who are using the cottage

Each building would be equipped with an Ethernet switch and a fiber link using newer cost-effective fiber adaptors and fiber cable would occur in this fashion.

Cottage (5-port switch) - Farmhouse (8-port switch) - Barn (5-port switch) - Machinery shed (5-port switch).

Logically, this network would appear as one subnet, with the Internet gateway at the farmhouse. All nodes except the Axis cameras and the Internet gateway would become DHCP clients, while the cameras would be assigned static IP addresses close to the top of the network range. This is because the Windows DHCP server, like most DHCP servers, is known to "dish out" IP addresses by working upwards.

With regards,

Simon Mackay

 

Example of fiber Ethernet Networks - in the outback