Spectrum Intelligence

Spectrum Intelligence

A spectrum intelligence feature is a radio analysis tool that

  • scans 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands for non-Wi-Fi radio interference

  • detects and classifies interference types such as microwave, continuous wave (like video bridge and baby monitor), Wi-Fi, and frequency hopping (Bluetooth and frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) cordless phone), and

  • provides detailed radio utilization, noise, air quality, and interference reports for compatible Cisco APs.

For information about APs that support this feature, see the relevant documentation. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/access_point/feature-matrix/ap-feature-matrix.html.


Note

You must enable the Spectrum Intelligence feature on Cisco Aironet 1832 and 1852 series APs to view radio details such as noise, air quality, interference, and radio utilization in Cisco Catalyst Center Assurance AP health.

Restrictions

  • SI APs report only a single interference type in Local mode.

  • SI does not support high availability for air quality or interference reports. High availability is not supported because the interference report or device report will not be copied to standby after switchover. The AP is expected to send the report again if the interfering device is still present.

  • Spectrum Intelligence detects only three types of devices:

    • Microwave

    • continuous wave (such as video recorder, baby monitor)

    • SI-FHSS (Bluetooth and frequency hopping Digital European Cordless Telecommunications [DECT] phones).

Configure spectrum intelligence (CLI)

Enable network administrators to monitor and analyze the radio frequency (RF) environment by configuring the Spectrum Intelligence (SI) feature on Cisco APs.

Follow the procedure given below to configure spectrum intelligence:

Procedure

Step 1

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Step 2

Configure the 2.4-GHz or 5-GHz spectrum intelligence feature on the 802.11a or 802.11b network.

Example:

Device(config)# ap dot11 {24ghz | 5ghz} SI

Add no form of the command to disable SI on the 802.11a or 802.11b network.

Verify spectrum intelligence information

Use these commands to verify spectrum intelligence information:

To display the SI information for a 2.4-GHz or 5-GHz band, use this command:

Device# show ap dot11 24ghz SI config
                
SI Solution...................................... : Enabled
Interference Device Settings:
SI_FHSS.................................. : Enabled
Interference Device Types Triggering Alarms:
SI_FHSS.................................. : Disabled

To display SI interferers of type continuous transmitter for a 2.4-GHz band, use this command:

Device# show ap dot11 24ghz SI device type cont_tx
                
DC    = Duty Cycle (%)
ISI = Interference Severity Index (1-Low Interference, 100-High Interference)
RSSI  = Received Signal Strength Index (dBm)
DevID = Device ID
AP type = CA, clean air, SI spectrum intelligence
No  ClusterID       DevID  Type     AP Type AP Name                 ISI  RSSI  DC   Channel
--- --------------- ------ -------- ------- ----------------- ---- ----- ----  ---  ------
xx:xx:xx:xx  0014  BT     CA    myAP1              --   -69 00  133
xx:xx:xx:xx  0014  BT     SI    myAP1              --   -69 00  133

To display 802.11a interference devices information for the given AP for 5-GHz, use this command:

Device# show ap dot11 5ghz SI device type ap
                
DC    = Duty Cycle (%)
ISI   = Interference Severity Index (1-Low Interference, 100-High Interference)
RSSI  = Received Signal Strength Index (dBm)
DevID = Device ID
AP type = CA, clean air, SI spectrum intelligence
No  ClusterID/BSSID    DevID  Type    AP Type AP Name                 ISI  RSSI  DC   Channel
--- ------------------ ------ ------- ------  ------------------------ ---- ----- ---- ----------

To display all Cisco CleanAir interferers for a 2.4-GHz band, use this command:

Device# show ap dot11 24ghz cleanair device type all