Point to Point Technology: An Overview

MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated Point-to-Point (PTP) Cannot Be Intercepted:

Fixed Wireless Security
A major concern for anyone considering the use of fixed wireless devices to transmit data is security. Fixed wireless devices transmit data through the air, and because of this, the perception has been that anyone can intercept your data. MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP wireless Ethernet bridges provide the highest throughput and at the same time eliminate any kind of security breach. From its inception, security has always been a central focus for the MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP design team, and as such, features a variety of countermeasures which support and comply with any company's rigorous security strategy and needs.

Protection of the Transmission Utilizing MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP
The MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP transmission can only be received and decoded by another MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP antenna. A proprietary framing structure is used to assemble the data within the transmission as it is sent from one wireless antenna to another.

Prior to any data transmission, all data within the PTP antenna is scrambled in a nearly random pattern and then processed by Forward Error Correction before being sent. The encoder adds bits of data to the information being transmitted, which is then subsequently processed by the receiving antenna, to ensure the data's integrity. These encoded bits appear to be random but are actually used to correct errors in transmissions and maintain 1x10 - 12 BER.

The MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP transmission also requires "line of sight." A relatively narrow radio frequency (RF) beam is used to communicate between the transmitting and receiving MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP antennae. Compared to omni-directional antennae used in public places and mobile environments (where anyone in the vicinity could receive the signal), the MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP RF is much more secure. Only an identical antenna firmly focused in the RF target area can receive our encoded information. Because of this, MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP wireless technology eliminates any chance of intrusion by its very design.

The MHO DirectWave™ PTP radio employs Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum modulation; signals exploiting this method can actually operate in the regions with a negative SNR. The transmissions are therefore underneath ambient noise levels and therefore conventional radio scanners cannot intercept them.

MHO Networks utilizes a 14 chip Barker code, unique to the MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP radio, which both creates more than the 10 dB processing gain required by law and also ensures that the only instrument that can receive an MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP signal is another MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP radio.

Finally, 8 bits of scrambling can be layered onto the data stream between the MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP antenna, and this allows for over 32,000 unique scrambling codes to the transmission.

The Difference Between MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP and 802.11
Recently featured in the news, the IEEE standard for wireless LAN communications, 802.11, which uses a Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol, was discovered to have flaws. These flaws left the 802.11 technology vulnerable to attacks that could decrypt traffic. The 802.11 technology is used predominately in point-to-multipoint applications such as wireless LAN connectivity for PCs and local LAN devices.

MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP Wireless Ethernet Bridges are different than the devices impacted by 802.11 because the MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP's design focus has been and continues to be on PTP communications rather than point-to-multipoint communications. MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP adheres to 802.3 standards and uses a different security scheme than used by 802.11 devices. The proprietary nature of MHO DirectWave™ Dedicated PTP technology precludes challenges such as that encountered by 802.11 and WEP technology.