POWDER Dense Deployment resources now available

[Kirk Webb]

Dear POWDER Users,

The POWDER Team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of 5
street-side pole sites, which make up the majority of our planned
Dense Deployment. This deployment covers an area on the northeast
side of the University of Utah campus, and provides opportunities for
monitoring, V2X work (e.g., alongside mobile endpoints), and extended
scenarios involving fixed locations (dense-to-dense,
dense-to-fixed-endpoint, etc.).

The POWDER map shows the locations of the Dense Deployment sites (green icons):
* https://powderwireless.net/map

This initial Dense Deployment offering includes the following resources
at each pole site:

* 25' Commscope smart poles with VVSSP-360S-F pole-top antennas
- Antennas are the same as those used on POWDER rooftops
* Ruggedized NUC-like small form factor compute node
- Intel Core i3-8100T processor (4 core, 3.1 GHz)
- 32 GB RAM
- 512 GB SSD disk
- 1Gb Ethernet port connected to wired experiment fabric
* Ruggedized NI B210
- Connected via USB3 to compute node
- Channel A TX/RX connected to CBRS port on VVSSP antenna

Additionally, we have put together two profiles to bootstrap people
with the use of the Dense Deployment:

* Shout measurement (sounding) framework profile
- https://www.powderwireless.net/p/PowderProfiles/shout-dense
* GNU Radio and UHD environment profile
- https://www.powderwireless.net/p/PowderProfiles/gnuradio_dense

Current vs. future considerations for the Dense Deployment:

* The radio configuration changes in the medium to long term

The arrangement involving the ruggedized compute and B210 devices is
temporary. Ultimately we will deploy ruggedized N310 radios at all
Dense sites, and the compute+B210 devices will transition to RF
compliance monitoring and other site-local management duties. The
N310 devices will allow for broader bandwidth and flexible pairing
with near-edge and other cluster compute nodes. We will also
introduce medium power (4W peak) RF front-ends for the N310 radios
to increase their range.

* Dense resource require reservations for now

As mentioned, the B210 radios available now will eventually be used
for monitoring, but similar to the POWDER indoor OTA lab, there is
currently no monitoring available for these radios. To help mitigate
risk of improper spectrum use, we require for now that admin-approved
reservations be in place for all use of Dense Deployment resources.

* LoRa profile coming soon

We are working on a LoRa profile for use with the Dense Deployment
sites that should be available soon. Initially it will target fixed,
site-to-site communication, but will be expanded to work between
Dense sites and mobile (shuttle) endpoints.

* Sixth (and final) Dense Site coming soon

We will be deploying the electronics payload to the sixth and final
Dense Deployment site in the coming weeks, to be located street-side
on the edge of the Eccles Broadcast Center, just south down the street
from the USTAR site.

We are happy to take your feedback on this new set of resources, and
hope that you find it useful!

Best Regards,
Kirk Webb on behalf of the POWDER Team