Digi XPress - Part 3: Setup and Initialization; Summary; Setup

©2013DigiInternational,Inc. 9
XPress™EthernetBridgeGettingStartedGuide
Part 3: Setup and Initialization
Summary
TheXPress™EthernetBridgeallowstheusertocreatealong‐range,wirelessEthernetnetworkwithupto
16active(63total)subscriberunitsperaccesspoint.
ConfiguringawirelesslinkwiththeXEBrequirestheestablishmentofsixelements:
• Eachradiomustknowwhetheritistobeanaccesspoint(AP)orsubscriberunit(SU)
• EachradiomusthaveanIPaddressthatisuniqueamongallothers onthesamenetwork
• TheAPmustknowhowmanySUsareexpectingcommunicationwithit
• TheAPandanygivenSUmustagreeonwhichradiofrequencychanneltheyareusing.
Thiscanbesetmanuallyorallowedtochangeautomatically.
• TheSUmustbeassignedauniquesubscriberIDtospecifywhichtimedivisionslotitwilluse
whencommunicationwiththeAP
• TheAPandanygivenSUmustshareac ommon128‐bitencryptionkey
Theaccesspoint(AP)automaticallyscansforthebestofthe12availableradiofrequencychannels,
encryptsEthernetdatareceivedfromthenetwork,andtransmitsitwirelesslytothecorrectsubscriber
unit(SU).TheAPisconstantlymonitoringtheradiolinkandcanautomaticallychangethechannelif
performanceisdegraded
duetointerference.IftwoAPunitsareveryclosetooneanother,theymay
interfereifoperatingonadjacentfrequencychannels.Placethematleast10feetapartormanuallyselect
non‐adjacentchannelsfortheiroperation.Also,theSUshouldbeplacedatleast10feetfromthe
APto
avoidoverloadingtheradio’ sreceiver.
Any10/100BaseTEthernetclientdevice(ECD)canbeconnectedtoanXPress™subscriberunit.EachSU
encryptsEthernettrafficreceivedfromtheattachedECDandtransmitsthedatawirelesslytoitsAP.Each
SUcanbepluggeddirectlyintoanECDwithoutaddingdriversorloadingsoftware.Essentially,oncethe

AP/SUpairisconfiguredandrunning,itbehaveslikeacontinuousEthernetcable.
Setup
1.EachXPress™radiocomesdefaultwithastaticIPaddressof192.168.17.17.Digirecommendscon‐
nectingeachradiotoastand‐alonecomputerdisconnectedfromanysharednetwork,andconsult‐
ingwithyourITdepartmentbeforeconnectingthemtoanysharednetwork.
2.Installhardware‐Ifthedeviceistobeusedoutdoors,mountitverticallywiththeantennafacing
up.Thisorientationwillmitigateanyenvironmentaleffectsandallowdrainage.Attachtheantenna
totheXPress™radio.Antennainstallationisrequiredtomaintaindevicesealing.Attachan
Ethernetcable(straightorcr oss
‐over)betweentheXPress™radioandthefemaleEthernetport
jackonthePoEinjector.InordertomaintainthesealaroundtheEthernetcable,theEthernet
glandcapshouldbefirmlytightened.
Note:FormoreinformationonthePOEInjector,pleaserefertoPage14ofthis
Manual.
3.Configureradiosusingthedigitalsetupmethodasshownbelow.