Controllerless Networks

 View Only
last person joined: yesterday 

Instant Mode - the controllerless Wi-Fi solution that's easy to set up, is loaded with security and smarts, and won't break your budget
Back to discussions
Expand all | Collapse all

Outdoor P2P. AP374 / AP574. 3rd party antennas.

This thread has been viewed 19 times

  • 1.  Outdoor P2P. AP374 / AP574. 3rd party antennas.

    Posted Feb 11, 2021 12:59 PM
    Hi there,

    I've installed my fair share of shorter distance (<400mtr) Aruba P2P links in the past and am fairly familiar with the AP-277, 275, 377, 375 & 387 devices.  My current challenge is achieving a P2P link distance of more like 1km with something that's Airwave compatible while maintaining reasonable data rates (>100mbps).

    I was hoping that this may be achievable using the AP-374 / AP-574 and 3rd party antennas.  Does anyone have any experience with this and what may or may not be possible ?

    Many thanks, Andy

    ------------------------------
    Andy Rouse
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Outdoor P2P. AP374 / AP574. 3rd party antennas.

    EMPLOYEE
    Posted Feb 11, 2021 06:15 PM
    using AP-377s with clear line of sight you can achieve mesh TCP throughput of around 100Mbps over 1Km distance with VHT20.
    if you use VHT40 or VHT80 you should get much better TCP throughput, around 150-200Mbps
    also note that Aruba does not support 3rd party antennas on Aruba APs.
    ------------------------------
    Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Outdoor P2P. AP374 / AP574. 3rd party antennas.

    Posted Feb 12, 2021 02:38 AM

    Hi Ariyap.

    Thank you for your advice.  We've installed AP-377s up to 350mtrs in some cases and we've found to-date that they tend to struggle at anything over 300mtrs.  We opened a case with Aruba support last year regarding one of the longer links that had intermittent issues and they suggested that the AP-377 wasn't designed to exceed 200mtrs.

    I was hoping that a higher-gain antenna on an AP-374 / AP-574 might be better suited.  The issue being that Aruba have a very small selection of supported antennas hence the idea of using 3rd-party.

     


    Andy Rouse
    Managing Director
    T: 01527 96 22 96 | M: +44 07808200773
    E: AndyRouse@flexnetuk.com | W: www.flexnetuk.com




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Outdoor P2P. AP374 / AP574. 3rd party antennas.

    EMPLOYEE
    Posted Feb 15, 2021 05:31 AM
    This also depends on the country you are in. Some countries allow more power outdoors than others, and you may have a look at the available channels in your country and their max power and pick channels that allow the highest power. Reducing the channel width to 20MHz may also help as in smaller bandwidth you have less chance of interference.

    There are Aruba high-gain antennas, like ANT-4x4-5314 5.15-5.9GHz 14dBi 30x30deg Dual Pol MIMO Hi Gain Dir N-Type Outdoor Antenna, and you can use the Outdoor Planner to visualize your point-to-point link and estimate the throughput/link-budget/etc. Also, take into consideration the Fresnel zones which may require you to put your antennas higher than you would expect for a line-of-sight. Trees/buildings/other objects that are in the Fresnel zone will attenuate your signal. And have a look at RF interference and DFS (Radar detect) that can affect your link.

    On the 'Aruba does not support 3rd party antennas', that means that when you are in a situation like this, where you see low signal levels, support can ask you to replace the antennas. If there are no issues with the RF, but with configuration errors like VLANs or roles, they will happily assist you.

    ------------------------------
    Herman Robers
    ------------------------
    If you have urgent issues, always contact your Aruba partner, distributor, or Aruba TAC Support. Check https://www.arubanetworks.com/support-services/contact-support/ for how to contact Aruba TAC. Any opinions expressed here are solely my own and not necessarily that of Hewlett Packard Enterprise or Aruba Networks.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Outdoor P2P. AP374 / AP574. 3rd party antennas.

    EMPLOYEE
    Posted Mar 04, 2021 02:41 PM
    Longest P2P shot I've done was 7mi/13km with the AP-374 and ANT-4x4-5314 but the link quality was borderline, so that is the absolute max (US Ch 149 at max power). As Herman notes, some countries have very restricted maximum EIRP limits or fewer channels, or worst case where some outdoor 5Ghz is SRD which run at really low power. Find the channel with maximum EIRP, make sure the configuration is set to maximum power. 1km is not a concern. The benefit of a 574 with ANT-4x4-5314 is it maximizes SNR of the link and provides maximum isolation from interference (where there could be a lot of interference say in highly populated areas), so the 574+5314 setup will be the highest performing setup, but the 577 would do 1km as well, just lower throughput/SNR and will pick up more interference and noise.

    ------------------------------
    Jerrod Howard
    ------------------------------

    Original Message