Controller-less WLANs

The delivery traffic indication message (DTIM) is an element that is included in beacon frames. DTIM is required for multicast traffic (push-to-talk). DTIM is used to ensure that all stations that are using power management are awake when the AP sends multicast or broadcast traffic.

A shorter DTIM causes the client to wake up more often to download waiting data. A longer DTIM keeps the client in power-save mode longer. However, more data will be waiting, so the card will have to stay on longer to collect the waiting information.

Environment : This articles applies to Aruba Instant Access Points running InstantOS version 6.1.2.3 and later.

You specify the DTIM period in number of beacons. For example, if this value is set to 1, clients check for buffered data on the AP on every beacon. If this value is set to 10, clients check the AP every tenth beacon.

DTIM is configured per SSID and the default value is 1.