new Ubiquiti LTU products

The beginning of each year results in a lot of news. Every manufacturer in every segment wants to shine with new products while promoting their brand. This is also the case with Ubiquiti Networks, which at the beginning of 2020 presented a whole range of new products supporting LTU (Long Term Ubiquiti) protocol. Although the protocol itself is not a great innovation, as devices supporting LTU have already appeared last year. For example AF-5XHD, which we have already had the opportunity to test in the field.

For now, the family Ubiquiti LTU looks like this:

• LTU-Rocket
• LTU-Pro
• LTU-Lite
• LTU-LR
• AF-5XHD

As you can easily guess, all LTU family products work in PTMP mode and so far there is no information about Ubiquiti LTU PTP.

LTU or Long Term Ubiquiti is a breakthrough in 5GHz long range broadband radio technology. In order to be aware of the technological development, it is worthwhile to learn what the evolution of 5GHz technology looked like in Ubiquiti Networks:

Efficiency is the most important thing here! The LTU protocol is designed for very efficient operation in harsh RF conditions. The idea is to connect a very large number of clients while maintaining good network performance. 21.2bps per Hz (spectral performance), more than 2 million packets per second and 4096QAM modulation allows very efficient wireless network operation.

The answer is very simple. LTU technology is used for:

• Fast Internet connections in noisy signal locations
• TV transmission over the Internet, i.e. IPTV (multicast, unicast)
• VoIP Internet telephony
• Video monitoring
• Machine to machine communications based on TCP/IP protocol.

• Maximum throughput: 675,84Mbps (1+Gbps after firmware update)
• Range: approx. 100km (antenna dependent)
• Packages per second: over 2 million
• Fault correction in digital data blocks: LDPC
• Uplink/Downlink Ratio: 25/75, 33/67, 50/50
• Wireless Mode: AP
• EU operating frequency: 5150-5875MHz
• Worldwide operating frequency: 4900-6200MHz
• Channel width: 10/20/30/40/50 MHz

So let's move on to individual Ubiquiti LTU products...

LTU-Lite is a 5GHz client unit with a built-in antenna and designed for PTMP type connections. Of course, it uses LTU technology, which breaks through the limitations of Wi-Fi 802.11. It supports 1024QAM modulation (4096QAM in future updates) and provides very high performance. Additionally, in Ubiquiti LTU-Lite we have the flexibility to choose the width 10/20/30/40/50MHz and independent frequency configuration on TX and RX chains. This is extremely useful in very noisy locations. Ubiquiti Networks announces that in next software updates it will be possible to set the channel width to 100MHz. Another interesting feature of the LTU family products are map views and Fresnel zones in the main Dashboard. This perfectly visualizes our wireless network structure, showing our PTMP connections superimposed on a geographical map. Whereas Fresnel view shows a set of links for a selected CPE and visual visibility.

You should also know that LTU-Lite is powered by passive poe 24V 0.5A (power supply included) and has built-in GPS to synchronize our network. The antenna in LTU-lite is the same as in Ubiquiti LocoM5 and NS-5ACL and has a 13dBi gain.

The next device from the Ubiquiti LTU family is LTU-Pro. This is another client device working in 5GHz band. LTU-Pro is also designed to work in PTMP network topology. In terms of functionality it is exactly the same as in LTU-Lite. The only difference is due to the size of the antenna, because in the case of LTU-Pro the antenna gain is 24dBi. Of course we also have Bridge and Router operating modes available and we power the device via Passive PoE 24V 0.5A (power supply included).

LTU-Pro is also equipped with a GPS module and can also synchronize in our network with other devices. Like the whole product family, LTU-Pro has a advanced RF filter and works great in noisy air.

All of the above products from the new LTU product range are: Ubiquiti LTU-Lite and Ubiquiti LTU-Pro these are CPE client units that we have to connect to AccessPoint in Point-to-Multipoint mode. And that's what Ubiquiti LTU-Rocket is used for this purpose - the successor of such popular products as RocketM5 and Rocket 5AC Lite.

LTU-Rocket is for the moment the only Access Point that supports LTU technology and allows you to connect LTU-Lite, LTU-Pro and LTU-LR in 5GHz PTMP mode. Thanks to LTU technology, the new Rocket can switch up to 2 million with traffic of about 600 mbits/s. Additionally, as with the whole LTU product family, we have the possibility to flexibly change the channel width (10/20/30/40/50 MHz), GPS module to synchronize the whole wireless network once active RF filter to work in noisy air. Please also note that LTU-Rocket is just the electronics and a suitable antenna must be added. Fortunately, we have a range of compatible antennas on the market both omnidirectional and sectoral.

As you can see we can connect all airMAX antennas to LTU-Rocket, which have been on the market for a longer time now. And this is a huge plus for Ubiquiti Networks, because it's enough to change the electronics on the access points and the network performance increases significantly. Good job Ubiquiti!

To summarize. Ubiquiti Networks continues to surprise the world of wireless networks very positively. The innovation in the form of the LTU protocol is a breakthrough in early 2020. The fact that the entire LTU product family can be connected to the UNMS controller and we manage the entire structure from one place is also a great advantage. What more? All that remains is to wait impatiently for the next products equipped with LTU chipset, because Ubiquiti will probably not stop at these few devices. Of course, we will not leave the topic without testing the devices... That is why performance tests of Ubiquiti LTU devices will appear soon. I also invite you to our Forum, where you can get acquainted with the curiosities from the world of IT and exchange your observations with the whole community at our Batna24 forum.

Author:
Leszek Błaszczyk
[email protected]