Synchronous Switching – Expands Coverage
To extend the coverage served by each celltower, SyncMesh uses 
acombination of high-gain directional antennas and
multi-hop relaying at every base station in the network. High-gain directional antennas are, of course, one of the best methods to increase range since it increases the link budget for both transmit and receive.
Long-Range Point-to-Point Backhaul Links
At synchronized time slots, each and every SyncMesh node dynamically switches to the optimal high-gain antenna for transmission coordination. Since each backhaul link has a directional 18 dBi antenna at each end, the SyncMesh nodes leverage 36 dBi of gain to provide a line-of-sight (LOS) link of up to 10 miles/16 km. These links can also support long-range non-line-of-sight (NLOS) by leveraging OFDM modulation (NLOS range varies, of course, depending on the type and amount of obstructions).
Multi-Hop Relay Range Extension
Through the multi-hop relaying capability, each base station can act as a relay node as well. This allows the range covered from a cell tower to extend over multiple hops, with each “hop” extending range by up to 10 miles/16 km as indicated earlier. With multi-hop relay capabilities, the reach from the tower is no longer limited to a single base station; instead, the reach from the tower can be greatly extended through a series of interconnected base stations.
Long-Range Point-to-Multipoint Links
The same dynamically switched 18 dBi antennas are also used for point-to-multipoint links. With point-to-multipoint, the base station connects with SkyConnector customer premise equipment (CPE), which also has a high-gain directional antenna. With these high-gain antennas, high-power radios, and OFDM links, the base station can provide LOS links to CPE as far away as 7.5 miles/12 km.
Coverage Fill-in by Routing Around Obstructions
Extending coverage is not just about pushing out the boundary of a coverage cell – coverage extension also applies to filling in coverage holes. Since SyncMesh provide multi-hop relay capabilities, remote base stations can be routed around obstructions to easily reach and fill-in any holes in coverage.
