• Radio 1 (5 GHz) — Support 5G Radio with a 3x3 MIMO mode.

• Radio 2 (2.4 GHz) — Support 2.4G Radio with a 3x3 MIMO mode.

• Radio — Check Enable to enable the radio interface.

  Note

  If you enable the 5 GHz radio with 80 MHz bandwidth and if the radio carries a high amount of traffic, then the WAP device will need more power than what the IEEE 802.3af PoE standard provides (12.95 W). It is highly recommended that when 80-MHz channel is in use, the WAP device should be powered by an 802.3at Power Source Equipment (PSE). If the required power by the WAP device exceeds the maximum power delivered by the PSE, then the WAP device may reboot.

• Wireless Network Mode — The IEEE 802.11 standard and frequency the radio uses. The default value of Mode is 802.11b/g/n for Radio 2 and 802.11a/n/ac for Radio 1. For each radio, select one of the available modes.

  Radio 2 (2.4 GHz) supports the following radio modes:

  • 802.11b/g — 802.11b and 802.11g clients can connect to the WAP device.

  • 802.11b/g/n (default) — 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n clients operating in the 2.4-GHz frequency can connect to the WAP device.

  • 2.4 GHz 802.11n — 802.11n clients operating in the 2.4-GHz frequency can connect to the WAP device.

  Radio 1 (5 GHz) supports the following radio modes:

  • 802.11a — 802.11a clients can connect to the WAP device.

  • 802.11a/n/ac (default)— 802.11a clients, 802.11n, and 802.11ac clients operating in the 5-GHz frequency can connect to the WAP device.

  • 802.11n/ac — 802.11n clients and 802.11ac clients operating in the 5-GHz frequency can connect to the WAP device

• Wireless Band Selection (802.11n and 802.11ac modes only) — The 802.11n specification allows a coexisting 20/40 MHz band in addition to the legacy 20 MHz band available with other modes. The 20/40 MHz band enables higher data rates but leaves fewer bands available for use by other 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz devices.

  The 802.11ac specification allows an 80 MHz-wide band in addition to the 20 MHz and 40 MHz band.

  Set the field to 20 MHz to restrict the use of the wireless band selection to a 20 MHz band. For the 802.11ac mode, set the field to 40 MHz to prevent the radio from using the 80 MHz wireless band selection.

• Primary Channel (802.11n modes with 20/40 MHz bandwidth only) — A 40 MHz channel can be considered to consist of two 20-MHz channels that are contiguous in the frequency domain. These two 20-MHz channels are often referred to as the primary and secondary channels. The primary channel is used for 802.11n clients that support only a 20-MHz channel bandwidth and for legacy clients.

  Choose one of these options:

  • Upper — Sets the primary channel as the upper 20-MHz channel in the 40-MHz band.

  • Lower — Sets the primary channel as the lower 20-MHz channel in the 40-MHz band. Lower is the default selection.

• Channel — The portion of the radio spectrum that the radio uses for transmitting and receiving. The default value is Auto.

  The range of available channels is determined by the mode of the radio interface and the country code setting. If you select Auto for the channel setting, the WAP device scans available channels and selects a channel where the least amount of traffic is detected.

  Each mode offers a number of channels, depending on how the spectrum is licensed by national and transnational authorities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

• Scheduler — For the radio interface, select the profile from the list. The default value is None.

  Note	To create a profile, navigate to Wireless > Scheduler.

• DFS Support—This field is available only if the selected radio mode operates in the 5GHz frequency. The default value is set to On.

  For radios in the 5 GHz band, when DFS support is on and the regulatory domain requires radar detection on the channel, the Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) and Transmit Power Control (TPC) features of 802.11h are activated.

  DFS is a mechanism that requires wireless devices to share spectrum and avoid co-channel operation with radar systems in the 5 GHz band. DFS requirements vary based on the regulatory domain, which is determined by the country code setting of the AP.

  When using the 802.11h Wireless Mode, there are a number of key points about the IEEE 802.11h standard:

  • 802.11h only works for the 5 GHz band. It is not required for the 2.4 GHz band.

  • If you are operating in an 802.11h enabled domain, the AP attempts to use the channel you assign. If the channel has been blocked by a previous radar detection, or if the AP detects a radar on the channel, then the AP automatically selects a different channel.

  • When 802.11h is enabled, the AP will not be operational in the 5 GHz band for at least 60 seconds due to radar scanning.

  • Setting up WDS links may be difficult when 802.11h is operational. This is because the operating channels of the two APs on the WDS link may keep changing depending on channel usage and radar interference. WDS will only work if both the APs operate on the same channel. For more information on WDS, see WDS Bridge.

• Short Guard Interval Supported — This field is available only if the selected radio mode includes 802.11n. The guard interval is the dead time, in nanoseconds, between OFDM symbols. The guard interval prevents Inter-Symbol and Inter-Carrier Interference (ISI, ICI). The 802.11n mode allows for a reduction in this guard interval from the a and g definition of 800 nanoseconds to 400 nanoseconds. Reducing the guard interval can yield a 10 percent improvement in data throughput. The client with which the WAP device is communicating must also support the short guard interval.

  Choose one of these options:

  • Yes — The WAP device transmits data using a 400-nanosecond guard interval when communicating with clients that also support the short guard interval. This is the default selection.

  • No — The WAP device transmits data using an 800-nanosecond guard interval.

• Protection — The protection feature contains rules to guarantee that 802.11 transmissions do not cause interference with legacy stations or applications. By default, protection is enabled (Auto). With protection enabled, protection is invoked if the legacy devices are within the range of the WAP device.

  You can disable the protection (Off); however, the legacy clients or the WAP devices within the range can be affected by 802.11n transmissions. Protection is also available when the mode is 802.11b/g. When protection is enabled in this mode, it protects 802.11b clients and the WAP devices from 802.11g transmissions.

  Note	This setting does not affect the ability of the client to associate with the WAP device.

• Beacon Interval — The interval between the transmission of beacon frames. The WAP device transmits these frames at regular intervals to announce the existence of the wireless network. The default behavior is to send a beacon frame once every 100 milliseconds (or 10 per second). Enter an integer from 20 to 2000 milliseconds. The default is 100 milliseconds.

• DTIM Period — The Delivery Traffic Information Map (DTIM) period. Enter an integer from 1 to 255 beacons. The default is 2 beacons.

  The DTIM message is an element included in some beacon frames. It indicates which client stations, currently sleeping in low-power mode, have data buffered on the WAP device awaiting pickup.

  The DTIM period indicates how often the clients served by this WAP device should check for buffered data awaiting pickup.

  The measurement is in beacons. For example, if you set it to 1, the clients check for buffered data on the WAP device at every beacon. If you set it to 10, the clients check on every 10th beacon.

• Fragmentation Threshold — The frame size threshold in bytes. The valid integer must be even and in the range of 256 to 2346. The default is 2346.

  The fragmentation threshold is a way of limiting the size of packets (frames) transmitted over the network. If a packet exceeds the fragmentation threshold set, the fragmentation is activated and the packet is sent as multiple 802.11 frames.

  If the packet being transmitted is equal to or less than the threshold, the fragmentation is not used. Setting the threshold to the largest value (2,346 bytes, which is the default) effectively disables the fragmentation.

  By default, the fragmentation is off. We recommend not using fragmentation unless you suspect the radio interference. The additional headers applied to each fragment increase the overhead on the network and can greatly reduce the throughput.

• RTS Threshold — The Request to Send (RTS) Threshold value. The valid integer range must be from 0 to 65535. The default is 65535 octets.

  The RTS threshold indicates the number of octets in an MPDU, below which an RTS/CTS handshake is not performed.

  Changing the RTS threshold can help control the traffic flow through the WAP device. If you specify a low threshold value, the RTS packets are sent more frequently, which consumes more bandwidth and reduces the throughput of the packet. However, sending more RTS packets can help the network recover from interference or collisions that might occur on a busy network, or on a network experiencing electromagnetic interference.

• Max Associated Clients — The maximum number of stations allowed to access the WAP device at any one time. You can enter an integer between 0 and 200. The default is 200 stations.

• Transmit Power — A percentage value for the transmit power level for the WAP device.

  The default value of Full - 100 % can be more cost-efficient than a lower percentage because it gives the WAP device a maximum broadcast range and reduces the number of access points needed.

  To increase the capacity of the network, place the WAP devices closer together and reduce the value of the transmit power. This setting helps reduce overlap and interference among the access points. A lower transmit power setting can also keep your network more secure because the weaker wireless signals are less likely to propagate outside of the physical location of your network.

  Some channel ranges and country code combinations have relatively low maximum transmit power. When attempting to set the transmit power to the lower ranges (for example, Medium - 25 percent or Low -12 percent), the expected drop in power may not occur, because certain power amplifiers have minimum transmit power requirements.

• Frame-burst Support — Generally enabling Frame-burst support improves the radio performance in the downstream direction. The default value is set to Off.

• Airtime Fairness Mode — The airtime fairness (ATF) feature was implemented to address the issue of slower-data transfers throttling the higher-speed ones. The default value is set to Off.

• Maximum Utilization Threshold—Enter the percentage of network bandwidth utilization allowed on the radio before the WAP device stops accepting new client associations. The valid integer range is from 0 to 100 percent. The default is 0 percent. When set to 0, all new associations are allowed regardless of the utilization rate.

• Fixed Multicast Rate — The transmission rate in Mbps for broadcast and multicast packets. This setting can be useful in an environment where the wireless multicast video streaming occurs, provided the wireless clients are capable of handling the configured rate.

  When Auto is selected, the WAP device chooses the best rate for the associated clients. The range of valid values is determined by the configured radio mode. The default value is Auto.

• Legacy Rate Sets — Rates are expressed in megabits per second.

  The Supported Rate Sets indicate the rates that the WAP device supports. You can check multiple rates. The WAP device automatically chooses the most efficient rate based on the factors such as error rates and the distance of client stations from the WAP device. By default all the applicable supported rates for each radio are enabled. Radio 1 can be in the range of 6 to 54 Mbps and Radio 2 can be in the range of 1 to 54 Mbps.

  The Basic Rate Sets indicate the rates that the WAP device advertises to the network for the purposes of setting up communication with other access points and client stations on the network. It is generally more efficient to have a WAP device broadcast a subset of its supported rate sets. By default 6, 12 and 24 are selected for Radio 1 & 1, 2, 5.5 and 11 are selected for Radio 2 interfaces.

• Broadcast/Multicast Rate Limiting — Multicast and broadcast rate limiting can improve overall network performance by limiting the number of packets transmitted across the network.

  By default, this feature is disabled. Until you enable this feature, these fields are disabled:

  • Rate Limit — The rate limit for multicast and broadcast traffic. The limit should be greater than 1, but less than 50 packets per second. Any traffic that falls below this rate limit will always conform and be transmitted to the appropriate destination. The default and maximum rate limit setting is 50 packets per second.

  • Rate Limit Burst — An amount of traffic, measured in bytes, which is allowed to pass as a temporary burst even if it is above the defined maximum rate. The default and maximum rate limit burst setting is 75 packets per second.

• Spectrum Analysis Mode— The Spectrum Analysis Mode status can be one of the following:

  • Dedicated Spectrum Analyzer—In dedicated mode, the radio is used for spectrum analysis for more than 10% of the time and the client connections may work but are not guaranteed.

  • Hybrid Spectrum Analyzer—In hybrid mode, client connections are guaranteed but degradation is expected throughout.

  • Disabled—The default is Disabled

• VHT Features — The purpose of this feature is to enabled/disable Broadcom specific extensions in VHT for Broadcom-to-Broadcom links. VHT feature enables support for 256QAM VHT rates not specified by the 802.11 ac Draft. The rates are all VHT LDPC mode, MCS 9 Nss 1 20Mhz, MCS 9 Nss 2 20Mhz, MCS 6 Nss 3 80Mhz. The VHT feature is supported for 802.11 ac PHY.

• TSPEC Violation Interval — In the TSPEC Violation Interval field, enter the time interval in seconds for the WAP device to report associated clients that do not adhere to mandatory admission control procedures. The reporting occurs through the system log and SNMP traps. Enter a time from 0 to 900 seconds. The default is 300 seconds.

• TSPEC Mode — Regulates the overall TSPEC mode on the WAP device. By default, the TSPEC mode is off. The options are:

  • On — The WAP device handles TSPEC requests according to the TSPEC settings that you configure on the Radio page.

  • Off — The WAP device ignores TSPEC requests from client stations.

• TSPEC Voice ACM Mode — Regulates mandatory admission control (ACM) for the voice access category. By default, TSPEC Voice ACM mode is off. The options are:

  • On — A station is required to send a TSPEC request for bandwidth to the WAP device before sending or receiving a voice traffic stream. The WAP device responds with the result of the request, which includes the allotted medium time if the TSPEC was admitted.

  • Off — A station can send and receive the voice priority traffic without requiring an admitted TSPEC. The WAP device ignores voice TSPEC requests from client stations.

• TSPEC Voice ACM Limit — The upper limit on the amount of traffic that the WAP device attempts to transmit on the wireless medium using a voice AC to gain access. The default limit is 20 percent of total traffic.

• TSPEC Video ACM Mode — Regulates mandatory admission control for the video access category. By default, TSPEC Video ACM mode is off. The options are:

  • On — A station is required to send a TSPEC request for bandwidth to the WAP device before sending or receiving a video traffic stream. The WAP device responds with the result of the request, which includes the allotted medium time if the TSPEC was admitted.

  • Off — A station can send and receive video priority traffic without requiring an admitted TSPEC; the WAP device ignores video TSPEC requests from client stations.

• TSPEC Video ACM Limit — The upper limit on the amount of traffic that the WAP device attempts to transmit on the wireless medium using a video AC to gain access. The default limit is 15 percent of total traffic.

• TSPEC AP Inactivity Timeout — The amount of time for a WAP device to detect a downlink traffic specification as idle before deleting it. The valid integer range is from 0 to 120 seconds and the default is 30 seconds.

• TSPEC Station Inactivity Timeout — The amount of time for a WAP device to detect an uplink traffic specification as idle before deleting it. The valid integer range is from 0 to 120 seconds and the default is 30 seconds.

• TSPEC Legacy WMM Queue Map Mode — Check Enable to enable the intermixing of legacy traffic on queues operating as ACM. By default, this mode is off.

• WFA Defaults — Populates the WAP device and the Station EDCA parameters with Wi-Fi Alliance default values, which are best for general, mixed traffic.

• Optimized For Voice — Populates the WAP device and the Station EDCA parameters with values that are best for voice traffic.

• Custom — Enables you to choose custom EDCA parameters.

These four queues are defined for different types of data transmitted from WAP- to-station. If you choose a Custom template, the parameters that define the queues are configurable; otherwise, they are set to predefined values appropriate to your selection. The four queues are:

• Data 0 (Voice) — High priority queue, with minimum delay. Time-sensitive data such as VoIP and streaming media are automatically sent to this queue.

• Data 1 (Video) — High priority queue, with minimum delay. Time-sensitive video data is automatically sent to this queue.

• Data 2 (Best Effort) — Medium priority queue, with medium throughput and delay. Most traditional IP data is sent to this queue.

• Data 3 (Background) — Lowest priority queue, with high throughput. Bulk data that requires maximum throughput and is not time-sensitive is sent to this queue (FTP data, for example).

Wi-Fi MultiMedia (WMM)— This field is enabled by default. With WMM enabled, QoS prioritization and coordination of wireless medium access is on. With WMM enabled, QoS settings on the WAP device control downstream traffic flowing from the WAP device to client station (AP EDCA parameters) and the upstream traffic flowing from the station to the AP (station EDCA parameters).

Disabling WMM deactivates QoS control of station EDCA parameters on upstream traffic flowing from the station to the WAP device. With WMM disabled, you can still set some parameters on the downstream traffic flowing from the WAP device to the client station (AP EDCA parameters).

• Arbitration Inter-Frame Space — Wait time for the data frames. The wait time is measured in slots. Valid values for AIFS are 1 through 255.

• Minimum Contention Window — An input to the algorithm that determines the initial random backoff wait time (window) for a retry of a transmission failure.

  This value is the upper limit (in milliseconds) of a range from which the initial random backoff wait time is determined. The first random number generated is a number between 0 and the number specified here. If the first random backoff wait time expires before the data frame is sent, a retry counter is incremented and the random backoff value (window) is doubled. Doubling continues until the size of the random backoff value reaches the number defined in the Maximum Contention Window.

  Valid values are 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127, 255, 511, or 1023. This value must be lower than the value for the Maximum Contention Window.

• Maximum Contention Window — The upper limit in milliseconds for the doubling of the random backoff value. This doubling continues until either the data frame is sent or the Maximum Contention Window size is reached.

  After the Maximum Contention Window size is reached, retries continue until a maximum number of retries allowed is reached.

  Valid values are 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127, 255, 511, or 1023. This value must be higher than the value for the Minimum Contention Window.

• Maximum Burst — A WAP EDCA parameter that applies only to traffic flowing from the WAP to the client station.

  This value specifies (in milliseconds) the maximum burst length allowed for packet bursts on the wireless network. A packet burst is a collection of multiple frames transmitted without header information. The decreased overhead results in higher throughput and better performance. Valid values are 0.0 through 999.

• TXOP Limit (Station only) — The TXOP Limit is a station EDCA parameter that only applies to traffic flowing from the client station to the WAP device. The Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) is an interval of time, in milliseconds, when a WME client station has the right to initiate transmissions onto the wireless medium (WM) towards the WAP device. The TXOP Limit maximum value is 65535.

• No Acknowledgement — Check Enable to specify that the WAP device should not acknowledge frames with QosNoAck as the service class value.

• Unscheduled Automatic Power Save Delivery — Check Enable to enable APSD. The APSD is recommended if VoIP phones access the network through the WAP device.