400m (1/4mile) line of sight WiFi solution needed

[SinisterAudio]

Hey all, this is my current situation; I recently started an agricultural farm and installed automated smart equipment that allows me remote access and monitoring across the frontline row of my crops. The start of the first row is approximately 60'
away from the office, the office has my internet modem connected. My goal is to have 6 more of these rows, directly in line with the office of that first row, each
station being 60' away from each other, making the total distance approximately 360' in one straight line.

What WiFi device would you guys recommend for this setup? There are no concrete walls, no trees, almost direct plain line of sight between the office and the last station approx 360’ at the end of the line. Also, I'm not sure if this would matter, but each station would have at least 5 smart
devices (but no more than 10,) so in total; 30 smart devices minimum, but no more than 60 that would be in use for that entire 360' distance.

Much appreciated.

[SinisterAudio]

Each *star* is a station of smart devices that I need WiFi access to. 

[mariushm]

So where's that 400m (1/4 mile coming from)?

 

Is wired out of the question? Would be more reliable.

You can easily have an ethernet cable up to 100 meters long, so basically somewhere close to the center of those rows, and then have a 8-16 port switch split the signal into 7+ separate cables, one for each row.

 

Here's an example of a PoE powered switch: https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Ethernet-Switching-Protection-TPE-S50/dp/B0152WZRBM/

You can power it either using PoE or with AC power and has 4 poe ports. You could get 2 and connect them together to have 7 usable poe ports.

If you don't need power to remote sensors you can just get a regular ethernet switch with DC in and use a power splitter (like the ones below to power it)

 

 You can get small splitter devices that can separate power from ethernet cable and produce 5v or whatever for your sensors. For example

this one is configurable 5v/9v/12v out of poe that supports 802.3at/802.3af : https://www.amazon.com/Edimax-Splitter-Supports-Adjustable-GP-101ST/dp/B0779Q9MKP/

this is configurable 5v / 9v / 12v out from poe that supports 802.3af standard (older than 802.3at) : https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Gigabit-Ethernet-Splitter-TL-PoE10R/dp/B003CFATQK/

 

You can use a power injector to introduce power into an ethernet cable to power that remote switch and then continue powering your sensors, here's some examples that support that 802.11af standard the splitters above support 

 

up to 30w (802.3at) or 15w (802.3af) : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BK4W8TQ/ or https://www.amazon.com/TL-PoE160S-Injector-Supplies-Wall-Mount-Certified/dp/B08LZZRX5N/

up to 60w : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SXSN3XT/

 

[SinisterAudio]

46 minutes ago, mariushm said:

So where's that 400m (1/4 mile coming from)?

 

Is wired out of the question? Would be more reliable.

You can easily have an ethernet cable up to 100 meters long, so basically somewhere close to the center of those rows, and then have a 8-16 port switch split the signal into 7+ separate cables, one for each row.

 

Here's an example of a PoE powered switch: https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-Ethernet-Switching-Protection-TPE-S50/dp/B0152WZRBM/

You can power it either using PoE or with AC power and has 4 poe ports. You could get 2 and connect them together to have 7 usable poe ports.

If you don't need power to remote sensors you can just get a regular ethernet switch with DC in and use a power splitter (like the ones below to power it)

 

 You can get small splitter devices that can separate power from ethernet cable and produce 5v or whatever for your sensors. For example

this one is configurable 5v/9v/12v out of poe that supports 802.3at/802.3af : https://www.amazon.com/Edimax-Splitter-Supports-Adjustable-GP-101ST/dp/B0779Q9MKP/

this is configurable 5v / 9v / 12v out from poe that supports 802.3af standard (older than 802.3at) : https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Gigabit-Ethernet-Splitter-TL-PoE10R/dp/B003CFATQK/

 

You can use a power injector to introduce power into an ethernet cable to power that remote switch and then continue powering your sensors, here's some examples that support that 802.11af standard the splitters above support 

 

up to 30w (802.3at) or 15w (802.3af) : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BK4W8TQ/ or https://www.amazon.com/TL-PoE160S-Injector-Supplies-Wall-Mount-Certified/dp/B08LZZRX5N/

up to 60w : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SXSN3XT/

 

I’m SO sorry for not including that in the description ..... thanks MUCH for your suggestion though, but all the devices are WiFi based devices;

• ph monitors, 

• zone timers 

• pump relays 

• WiFi cameras for monitoring 

 

none of the devices have any wired connection options, everything and I mean EVERYTHING is WiFi based. 
 

what I was wondering is; can I use “something” to directionally point the WiFi in that one line specifically? Or are all WiFi options gonna be omnidirectional? I can try running an Ethernet cable underground to the middle of the entire line and ‘hope’ it spans to either side of the line? 
thoughts? 
 

thanks for your input btw

[Falcon1986]

3 hours ago, SinisterAudio said:

what I was wondering is; can I use “something” to directionally point the WiFi in that one line specifically? Or are all WiFi options gonna be omnidirectional? I can try running an Ethernet cable underground to the middle of the entire line and ‘hope’ it spans to either side of the line? 
thoughts? 

There are omnidirectional wireless antennae out there for point-to-point (PtP) connections. But if you beam a signal down this line, you'll also need to re-broadcast this signal for the client devices, which will have to be omnidirectional.

 

You'll need to power these antennae out in the fields. I'm assuming you have that available if the client devices are there as well.