XOR Radio Support

Dual-band radios in Cisco AP models

A dual-band radio is a device category that

  • offers connectivity on more than one frequency band (such as 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz)

  • provides flexibility in network configuration, and

  • is used in multiple Cisco AP models like the 2800, 3800, 4800, and 9120 series.

Feature history table

Table 1. Feature history table for dual-band radios in Cisco AP models

Feature name

Release information

Feature description

Dual-band (XOR) radio support

Cisco IOS XE 16.10.1

The Dual-band (XOR) radio support offers the ability to serve 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bands or passively monitor both the bands on the same AP.

These APs can be configured to serve clients in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, or serially scan both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands on the flexible radio while the main 5 GHz radio serves clients.

Key features of dual-band radios in Cisco APs

The XOR radio support can be steered manually or automatically.

  • Manual steering of a band on a radio: The band on the XOR radio can only be changed manually.

  • Automatic client and band steering on radios: This is managed by the Flexible Radio Assignment (FRA) feature that monitors and changes the band configurations as per site requirements.

Client steering

When a radio moves between bands (from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz and vice versa), clients need to be steered to get an optimal distribution across radios. When an AP has two radios in the 5 GHz band, client steering algorithms contained in the FRA algorithms are used to steer a client between the same band co-resident radios

Cisco APs and dual-band radios

Cisco 2800, 3800, 4800, and 9120 series AP models are equipped with dual-band (XOR) radios. These models have

  • radios that operate on either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bands, or

  • the ability to passively monitor both the bands on the same AP.

These APs can be configured to serve clients in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, or serially scan both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands on the flexible radio while the main 5 GHz radio serves clients.

Cisco AP models up to the Cisco 9120 APs are designed to support dual 5 GHz band operations with the i model supporting a dedicated Macro or Micro architecture and the e and p models supporting Macro or Macro. The Cisco 9130AXI APs support dual 5 GHz operations as Macro or Micro cell.

Limitations

These are the limitations for XOR radio support:

  • RF measurement is disabled when a static channel is configured on slot 1. As a result, the dual-band radio slot 0 operates only with 5 GHz radios and not in the monitor mode. When slot 1 radio is disabled, RF measurement will not run, and the dual band radio slot 0 will be only on 2.4 GHz radio.

  • Only one of the 5 GHz radios can operate in the UNII band (100 to 144), due to an AP limitation to maintain the power budget within the regulatory limit.

Configure default XOR radio support (CLI)

Complete this task to configure the basic settings for XOR radio support.

Before you begin


Note

The default radio points to the XOR radio hosted on slot 0.

Procedure

Step 1

Enable the priviledged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device> enable

Step 2

Configure the 802.11 dual-band external antenna gain on the AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band antenna ext-ant-gain antenna_gain_value

Enter external antenna gain value in multiple of .5 dBi units (that is, an integer value 4 means 4 x 0.5 = 2 dBi of gain).

Step 3

Shut down the default dual-band radio.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band shutdown

Use the no form of the command to enable the radio.

Step 4

Switch to the client-serving mode of the AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band role manual client-serving

Step 5

Switch to the 2.4 GHz radio band.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band band 24ghz

The basic configuration of the XOR radio is completed.

Example

Device> enable
Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band antenna ext-ant-gain 2
Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band shutdown
Device# Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band role manual client-serving
Device# Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band band 24ghz

What to do next

Continue with the configuration steps listed in the "Configure advanced settings" to complete the configuration.

Configure advanced settings (CLI)

Complete this task to configure the advanced settings for XOR radio support, such as, transmit power, channel, channel width, CleanAir settings and so on.

Procedure

Step 1

Configure the transmit power for the radio on the AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band txpower {transmit_power_level | auto}

Note

 

When an FRA-capable radio (slot 0 on 9120 AP[for instance]) is set to Auto, you cannot configure static channel and Txpower on this radio.

If you want to configure static channel and Txpower on this radio, you will need to change the radio role to Manual Client-Serving mode.

Step 2

Configure the channel number for the dual band.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band channel 40

The range of the channel-number is from 1 to 173.

Step 3

(Optional) Enable the auto channel assignment for the dual-band.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band channel auto

Step 4

Configure the channel width for the dual band.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band channel width {20 MHz | 40 MHz | 80 MHz | 160 MHz}

Step 5

Enable the Cisco CleanAir management on the dual-band radio.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band cleanair

Step 6

Configure a band for the Cisco CleanAir feature.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name [no] dot11 dual-band cleanair band 5 GHz

Selects a band for the Cisco CleanAir feature.

Use the no form of this command to disable the Cisco CleanAir feature.

Step 7

Configure the 802.11n dual-band antenna and antenna ports selection for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band dot11n antenna {A | B | C | D}
Here, A, B, C, and D are the antenna ports.

The configuration of the additional features for dual-band (XOR) radios are completed.

Example

Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band txpower auto
Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band channel 40
Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band channel width 40 MHz
Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band cleanair
Device# ap name ap-name [no] dot11 dual-band cleanair band 5 GHz
Device# ap name ap-name  dot11 dual-band dot11n antenna A

Configure XOR radio support for the specified slot number (GUI)

Complete this task to configure XOR radio for the specified slot number.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configuration > Wireless > Access Points.

Step 2

In the Dual-Band Radios section, select the AP for which you want to configure dual-band radios.

The AP name, MAC address, CleanAir capability and slot information for the AP are displayed. If the Hyperlocation method is HALO, it displays the antenna PID and antenna design specifics.

Step 3

Click Configure.

Step 4

In the General tab, set the Admin Status as required.

Step 5

Set the CleanAir Admin Status field to Enable or Disable.

Step 6

Click Update & Apply to Device.

The XOR radio support for the specified slot number has been configured.

Configure XOR radio support for the specified slot number (CLI)

Complete this task to configure XOR radio for a specified slot number.

Procedure

Step 1

Enable the priviledged EXEC mode.

Example:

Device> enable

Step 2

Configure dual-band antenna for the XOR radio hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name dot11 dual-band slot 0 antenna ext-ant-gain external_antenna_gain_value

Here, external_antenna_gain_value is the external antenna gain value in multiples of .5 dBi unit. The range is from 0 to 40.

Note

 

  • For APs supporting self-identifying antennas (SIA), the gain depends on the antenna, and not on the AP model. The gain is learned by the AP and there is no need for controller configuration.

  • For APs that do not support SIA, the APs send the antenna gain in the configuration payload, where the default antenna gain depends on the AP model.

Step 3

Configure the current band for XOR radio hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name dot11 dual-band slot 0 band {24ghz | 5ghz}

Step 4

Configures dual-band channel for the XOR radio hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name dot11 dual-band slot 0 channel {channel-number | auto | width [160 | 20 | 40 | 80]}

The range of the channel_number is from 1 to 165.

Step 5

Enable the Cisco CleanAir feature for dual-band radios hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name dot11 dual-band slot 0 cleanair band {24Ghz | 5ghz}

Step 6

Configure 802.11n dual-band parameters hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name dot11 dual-band slot 0 dot11n antenna {A | B | C | D}

Here are the antenna configurations.

A : Enables antenna port A.

B : Enables antenna port B.

C : Enables antenna port C.

D : Enables antenna port D.

Step 7

Configure dual-band role for the XOR radio hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name dot11 dual-band slot 0 role {auto | manual [client-serving | monitor]}

Here are the dual-band roles.

  • auto : refers to the automatic radio role selection.

  • manual : refers to the manual radio role selection.

Step 8

Disable dual-band radio hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name [no] dot11 dual-band slot 0 shutdown

Use the no form of this command to enable the dual-band radio.

Step 9

Configure dual-band transmit power for XOR radio hosted on slot 0 for a specific AP.

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name dot11 dual-band slot 0 txpower {tx-power-level | auto}
Here,

  • tx_power_level : is the transmit power level in dBm. The range is from 1 to 8.

  • auto : enables auto-RF.

The XOR radio for the specified slot number is configured.

Example

Device> enable
Device# ap name AP-SIDD-A06 dot11 dual-band slot 0 antenna ext-ant-gain 2
Device# ap name AP-SIDD-A06 dot11 dual-band slot 0 band 24ghz
Device# ap name AP-SIDD-A06 dot11 dual-band slot 0 channel 3
Device# ap name AP-SIDD-A06 dot11 dual-band slot 0 cleanair band 24Ghz
Device# ap name AP-SIDD-A06 dot11 dual-band slot 0 dot11n antenna A
Device# ap name AP-SIDD-A06 [no] dot11 dual-band slot 0 shutdown
Device# ap name AP-SIDD-A06 dot11 dual-band slot 0 txpower 2

Verify XOR radio support

To verify the XOR radio support parameters, use these show commands:

Verify auto-RF information

To display the auto-RF information for a Cisco AP, use the show ap name ap-name auto-rf dot11 dual-band command. 

Device# show ap name cisco-ap-name auto-rf dot11 dual-band

Verify the list of BSSIDs

To display the list of BSSIDs for a Cisco AP, use the show ap name ap-name wlan dot11 dual-band command.