PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch based remote

PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch based remote power control system for the better performance of ISPs in Bangladesh Mohammad Shah Alamgir1 and Md. Saidul Islam2 Dept. of Applied Physics, Electronics and Communication Engineering, University of Chittagong, Chittagong-4331, Bangladesh [email protected], [email protected] Abstract— There are Forty ISPs (Internet Service Provider) operate in Bangladesh which provide services like Basic Internet Connection, IP-VPN Services, MPLS, Mail Server, Intranet etc., to both Corporate & SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) users, along with individual users by various delivery method like ADSL, DSL, FTTH, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, Radio or simple Ethernet connection. To cover, vast geographic area & to provide last mile connectivity to their users, ISPs setup numerous PoPs or Point of Presence in strategic locations, equipped with required hardware and connected by backhauling of telecommunication lines or FTTH connections or Radio. Usually the strength of an ISP is measured by its number of PoPs and the number of subscribers these PoPs can handle. Nowadays PoPs are usually resided inside the rented space of telecommunication switching room or BTS (Base Transceiver Station). These PoPs are usually equipped with network equipment like Network Switch, Gateway, Router, E1 Converters, and Media Converters etc. Most of the time, these PoPs are not manned. And because these are rented, the original owners (Telecom Operators) keep those locked in. Problem arises when the mentioned equipment (E1 converter, Media Converter) becomes unresponsive, or in tech slang, gets hanged. To resolve the issue, one has to go to the remote site just to flip the power switch to perform a simple reboot of the unresponsive device. A common phenomenon in this situation is, often there aren’t any technically trained personnel at the site who can perform maintenance and resets on equipment. Even if it is a manned station, the risk of wrong equipment getting rebooted is high. To encounter such problems, lower the travel time expense-time, eliminate the man-hour misused and specially minimize downtime, we developed a PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch based remote power control system by which a network administrator can control power of network equipments from anywhere and anytime. Power over Ethernet switch offers advance switching controls and provides power to network devices using Ethernet cables. These are the sole reasons which propelled the motivation to research in this particular issue. We believe this would help this competitive industry (ISP) to minimize cost and maximize service efficiency. Keywords— ISP, Network performance, Power over Ethernet (PoE) switch, Power over Ethernet (PoE) Splitter, E1 converter, Media converter

I. INTRODUCTION There is no question that the internet has taken on an increasingly important role in people’s lives. It doesn’t really

matter a person’s station in life, his or her education, their income, or any other personal criteria — everyone today is some way or other influenced by the internet [1]. Perhaps we have noticed that one of the largest book store chains recently went out of business [1]. One of the main reasons given was that more and more people are downloading ebooks which can be read on individual readers like the Kindle or the Nook. Perhaps we mourn the passing of the book store, but the truth is e-books are much more economical and accessible [1]. These days music is widely listened to on devices such as MP3 players. Even sound systems in automobiles generally have MP3 players [1]. These players are designed to play digital music which is frequently downloaded off of the Internet. No doubt about the fact that the Internet is now the largest seller of musical recordings. The internet has had a major affect on education. Many colleges and universities have formed networks that allow their professors to share research and collaborate on projects [1]. The same is true for medicine, engineering, law, and a host of other professional areas. These days it is sometimes difficult differentiating between the televisions and the computers in our homes. Many television shows are now watched online. Most homes have at least one Digital Video Recorder, or DVR [1]. These machines are basically computer hard drives which allow digital shows to be recorded and saved. There is no question that the Internet has altered the way in which people communicate with one another worldwide. The internet has also become the most economical way to talk to other people — and the fastest way as well. All of these advances are a direct result of the internet [1]. And to take advantage of these technological wonders, one must have some type of high-speed Internet access — which is where internet service providers come in. These are companies whose business it is to get you online. Today there are many major companies competing for your business. An ISP provides internet access to homes and companies. An ISP may operate at the national or local (regional) level. A national ISP will cater to the entire nation and a local ISP will provide internet access to a limited geographic area [1]. Different ISPs offer different deals. Individuals and companies usually do a little research of the ISPs around the locality before choosing one, especially the terms and conditions they offer. Some of the important points to be considered while choosing an ISP are call connection cost,

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whether cost is based on downloads and uploads, reliability of the service, whether there is an online usage check facility, technical support facilities, security of the network and safety of the information [2]. A large company such as Bank, Security Firms expands their business by opening new branch in nationwide. Money transfer, mobile balance recharge, WiMAX recharge, ATM facility all these services depend on IT. So nowadays, almost all the companies are completely dependent on ISPs. To get better internet services, these companies badly need reliable physical connection. ISPs businesses will also increases when they can provide connectivity all over the country. So to provide all these connections, ISPs also need to expand their PoPs for providing a reliable connection. To expand ISPs Pops for a long distance, they use Telecommunication network. In telecommunication switching room or BTS [Base Transceiver Station] ISPs setup network equipment like Network Switch, E1 Converters, and Media Converters etc. These devices often shows malfunction. To resolve the issue, one has to go to the remote site just to flip the power switch to perform a simple reboot of the unresponsive device. But it is not easy to resolve this issue because unmanned BTS of telecom service provider are situated far away from the ISP office. So to resolve this, it may usually take one day or more. As a result, clients suffer a lot and usually decide to purchase another ISPs connection who will give minimum downtime. To increase ISPs performance we developed a PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch, based on remote power control system. By which a network administrator can control power of network equipments from anywhere and anytime. Some home automation systems been implemented, some of which use internet to control home appliances [3-4], some use mobile phones [5-7], some use parallel ports [8]. But all these are costly and hard to implement and designed only for control purpose. The objective of the proposed system is to offer a low-cost solution for an ISP’s automation system that overcomes the above drawbacks. One additional advantage is to share data with the LAN. The system use PoE switch and splitter which splits data and power of the PoE switch. Data is to communicate with other networking devices and power is to control the network appliances. A PoE switch comes with variants like 8 ports, 16 ports, 24 ports, 48 ports. In a way, we can make a control system which can control the number of appliances depending on the switch port.

solution allows a managed network to efficiently expand to previously unattainable levels. The feature rich 8-port switch offers advanced network management, Link Aggregation, VLAN, trunking and QoS technology to meet the accelerating demand for secure manageable networks. LED displays show device status for easy power management and troubleshooting. PoE technology conveniently eliminates the need to install networked devices, such as TRENDnet IP cameras and access points, near a power outlet, thereby reducing equipment and installation costs. PoE switch has its Graphical user interface. After login by authentic password we can manage power and data separately of all the switch ports by the configuration option of the switch.

Figure 1: 8-Port Gigabit Web Smart PoE Switch

B. Gigabit Power over Ethernet (PoE) Splitter[10] The Gigabit Power over Ethernet Splitter (TPE-112GS) splits a networked PoE signal into separate power and Gigabit data sources. This device allows administrators to run Gigabit speed PoE cables over long distances and then split the PoE signal into separate data and power sources in order to network non-PoE devices. Save installation and equipment cost when installing access points, IP cameras and more in remote locations. No need to install network devices near a power outlet. This compact device safeguards valuable network equipment with short circuit protection. Quickly create an integrated PoE and nonPoE network at Gigabit speeds.

II. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION There are different brands of PoE switch; in this project we used TPE-80WS model PoE manageable switch and the Gigabit Power over Ethernet Splitter (TPE-112GS).

A. 8-PORT GIGABIT WEB SMART POE SWITCH[9] The 8-Port 10/100/1000Mbps Web Smart PoE Switch offers advance switching controls and provide power to network devices using Ethernet cables. This scalable and cost effective Figure 2: Gigabit Power over Ethernet (PoE) Splitter

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C. E1 to Ethernet converter [11] BD-E1-ETH is a single port E1 to Ethernet converter (also called Ethernet over E1 TDM converter) that provides highspeed LAN-to-WAN connectivity. Plugging directly into the 10/100Base-T port of a hub or LAN switch, the BD-E1-ETH provides E1 access at connection data rates of 2.048 Mbps. The E1 converter is an excellent choice for internet access as well as LAN-to-LAN services.

BTS near the client office. From this BTS ISP can connect many clients. ISP is connected to E1 converter placed in telecom switch room via a PoE switch. PoE switch is password protected. A PoE splitter is connecting with the PoE switch. PoE splitter split power and data. Devices which have to control remotely are connect by a relay. From the PoE splitter power is connect to relay driver circuit and data is connecting to E1 converter/media converter. If needed authentic person can login to the PoE switch by typing static IP of the switch in their browser address field. There are many configuration options in this switch shown in figure 6. We can ENABLE/DISABLE of PSE power from PoE port configuration option. We can observe PoE status and allocated power of a load by PoE port configuration option. We can also manage data transmission by port configuration. Splitter send +5v to logic the circuit for controlling devices and data to the laptop for data sharing purposes. The relays require +5V DC power supply for operation. If PSE power ENABLE from the switch it turns on the corresponding relays or appliances and if PSE power DISABLE it turns off the corresponding relays or appliances. The Flowchart of the device control and data transmission process is shown in figure 7 & 8.

Figure3: E1 to Ethernet converter

D. Fiber media converter [12] Fiber media converters bridge the gap between copper and fiber infrastructures. The SFP fiber media converters are designed for maximum convenience for fiber to copper Ethernet conversion applications which require flexibility in transmission rates, working distances, and fiber network types which can be realized by simply changing the hot-plug-andplay SFPs.

Figure 5: Block diagram of network devices on/off

Figure 4: Fiber media converter

III. SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION When an ISP want to connect a client office which is far away from their office or PoP then to increase their business they connect those client office through telecom network by using E1 technology shown in figure 5. One pair of same model E1 converter is used for this technology. One is setup in the telecom switching room and another is setup in the unmanned

Figure 6: login the PoE switch

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Acknowledgment This paper is based on B.Sc. graduation project Accomplished at University of Chittagong, Faculty of Engineering, Dept. of Applied Physics, Electronics and Communication Engineering 2013. The authors would like express gratitude to all the persons who gave their kind assistance during the experiment especially to Protim Lala and Abdul Hye Khan, assistant administrator, Broad Band Telecom Services Limited, Chittagong, Bangladesh.

References [1] http://www.im-translate.com/?page_id=20 Figure 7: The Flow chart of the device control

[2]http://technology.blurtit.com/345456/what-is-the-role-of-an-isp [3] T. Kim, H. Lee and Y. Chung, “Advanced Universal Remote Controller for Home Automation and Security”, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 2537-2542, Nov. 2010 [4] J. C. Nunes and J. C. M. Delgado, “An Internet application for home automation,” Electro technical Conference, 2000, MELECON 10th Mediterranean, Vol. 1, pp. 298 - 301, 2000 [5] H. Sumino, N. Ishikawa, H. Tsutsui, H. Ochi, Y. Nakamura and Y. Uchida, “Home Appliance Control from Mobile Phones”, Consumer Communications and Networking Conference, 2007. CCNC 2007.4th IEEE, pp. 793 - 797, 2007 [6] N. Dickey, D. Banks, and S. Sukittanon, “Home Automation using Cloud Network and Mobile Devices”, Proc. of IEEE International Conference at Southeast on, pp. 1-4, Mar. 2012

Figure 8: The Flow chart of the Data Transmission

IV. CONCLUSION As per current circumstances, PoE switch is common equipment for ISP. On the other hand, PoE based remote power control system is cost effective and easy to implement in ISP environment. This system can also be used in home automation providing much accepted convenience & security to user. Thus by using PoE switch we can develop a novel system to control home or office appliances besides improving its own performance. It will also cut down depreciation cost to a significant level by increasing the life span of the devices by provisioning the hassle free maintenance.

[7] S. Sharma, G. Chitranshi, B. Mahato, A. K. Srivastava, N. Gupta and B. P. Singh, ”Control of Home-Appliances through IR interface using web (GPRS) enabled Mobile Phones”, International journal of advanced engineering sciences and technologies (IJAEST), Vol. No. 6, Issue No. 2, 242 –245, 2011. [8] X. Zhang, J. Sun and L. Zhou, “Development of an Internet Home Automation System using Java and Dynamic DNS Service”, Sixth International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications and Technologies, 2005. PDCAT 2005, pp. 537 – 539, 2005. [9] http://www.trendnet.com/langen/products/proddetail.asp?prod=125_TPE80WS [10]http://www.trendnet.com/langen/products/proddetail.asp?prod=130_TPE112GS [11]http://www.e1converter.com/E1_Converter/E1_to_Ethernet_converter.ht ml [12] http://en.olycom.com.cn/products_detail/&productId=33.

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