Oct 24, 2014

The Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka is one of the largest and busiest ports in the world. The facility, which spans more than 300,000 square meters, also boasts four container terminals, 14 container berths, 402 terminal tractors and trailers as well as an access channel and dredged pathways to allow for port traffic.

Thanks to its strategic position in the Indian Ocean, the port acts as an essential import and export terminal in Asia, and ranks 35th in the world in terms of capacity. Colombo can maintain over 1 million 20-foot equivalent units, the standard measurement for ship’s cargo. However, due to its size and surrounding weather conditions, South Asia Gateway Terminals officials had a number of obstacles to take into account when they wanted to deploy a new wireless network architecture.

Port infrastructure challenges
This deployment came with its own set of unique challenges that had to be addressed to ensure a successful installment. One such issue was the environment in which the equipment would be deployed. The port is prone to the effects of the sea’s salt water as well as significantly high levels of humidity. Therefore, the project required durable hardware that could withstand these conditions.

In addition, the port’s limited mount poles and available power resources posed a challenge to the deployment. There was also the potential for lightning damage to network equipment placed on these poles.

Decision-makers had to consider all of the port’s moving parts as well. Gantry and quay crane operators were constantly stacking and relocating containers coming in and out of the ports, creating stacks that are four to six containers high. For this reason especially, the port needed a self-healing wireless network solution that wouldn’t interfere with this process, but could quickly repair itself should a network node be temporarily obstructed.

The Firetide wireless mesh solution
In order to address these challenges and provide the reliable network connections needed, SAGT officials selected Firetide to help establish a wireless mesh infrastructure. The resulting deployment included 802.11A/B/G Wi-Fi coverage in key areas of the port, as well as the ability to integrate with land mobile radio and the existing VoIP system.

The Firetide technology was able to provide the port with fully redundant Wi-Fi with a 99.99 percent availability guarantee. This allowed those at the port to seamlessly access and update the workflow system and push-to-talk applications that ensure communications.

“Firetide’s solutions maintain a high level of performance even in an environment characterized by regular power outages and fast-changing weather conditions,” said Upul Jinadasa, SAGT’s manager of IT and operations. “And because we can easily add new nodes to the network, we are poised to manage the next phase in the port’s evolution.”