Wireless Access

We recently decided to conduct some tests on an Aruba AP175, in order to have a better understanding of it's capabilities and what it has to offer.

Since we have a location that can serve us as a testing place, we mounted the AP, along with 2x2-2005 and 2x2-5005 antennas, about 4-5 meters above the ground (the equivalent of 1st floor height), set the transmission power to 21 dBm and started testing with the inSSIDer tool. No extra configurations were made, only a SSID was created for calculating the signal strength.

In almost clear line, the only obstacles being some trees, we got the following results :



  - 35/40 meters : -60 signal strength for 2.4Ghz
  - 65-70 meters : -67 signal strength for 2.4Ghz
  - 80 meters    : -78 signal strength for 2.4Ghz


And these measurements were for a laptop. For a Galaxy S3 mini, the signal went bellow -80 after about 40 meters.

These results seem a little weird to us. We were expecting a bit more. So my question is the one in the title, what is the average coverage area for an AP175? I know it depends on a lot of variables and obstacles, but I'm really keen to know, based on your experience, how far does the signal goes in a general environment?

Also, are there some specific configurations that we can make in order to increase the coverage area?

Thank you and I wish you all a nice day ahead.

Set the dBm to max and ensure you've got the lowest basic and transmit rates enabled.

I wouldn't do this though. Might be worth taking into account the client devices that will be used and create a network where the lowest power client devices can connect, roam and do what they need to do on the network, where you want the network to be available.

Here's a good read from Jerrod against setting the AP power very high. http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Unified-Wired-Wireless-Access/Client-Match-not-working-very-well-on-some-users/m-p/170638#M36044

Cheers

James 

Antonim,

You should not plan wifi with trees between your clients and your access points.  Trees are a serious attenuator of wifi.  Wifi does not always travel in a straight line outdoors, either.

Please take a look at the Outdoor Mimo Wireless Networks VRD here:  http://www.arubanetworks.com/resources/reference-design-guides/ for information on how to deploy your use case.  There are plenty of variables, and a few principles that you should adhere to for the best results.

First, thanks for the replies guys.

As I said, this was just for testing and getting some data, and unfortunately our location that is available for testing is a house in a neighborhood, so there are trees everywhere, not tall, but about the same height as the AP.

I know trees are a serious atteanuator, that's why I posted here, I was curios, based on experience with the 175AP, how far can the signal go? I can't seem to find an answer to this question.

Thanks again for the answer, will look into your link cjoseph.

Our testing with *clear line of sight and no obstacles* has laptops supported out to 400m and tablets and phones out to the same distance using the 175 and 2005/5005 antennas. 

The note about trees, they are not just an attenuator of RF, but are an EXTREME attenuator of RF. What types of trees? Because there are scientific papers on the attenuation effects of different types of trees. Some of the worst are pine and conifer-types of trees who's needle length approximates the same wavelength of RF, causing extreme attenuation and diffraction. 

Outdoors, for any reliable range, clear line of sight is required. Any trees within the path or near the path, will cause serious RF issues. If you want to take some pictures from the client locations you noted to the AP, it will better help us understand the expected severity of the loss.