Controller Based WLANs

Product and Software: This article applies to ArubaOS 5.0 and later.

The SSID profile has a new feature that allows you to set the beacon rate. This feature is for use only in a distributed antenna system (DAS) environment. This feature may also improve the wireless performance in a very dense AP deployment (APs about 20 feet apart) by reducing the airtime consumed by beacon frames.

When the beacons were advertised at the default rate (1 Mb/s for 11bg, 6 Mb/s for 11a), the APs consumed more airtime on the channel and the range was further. When the rate was increased, the APs spend less time to access the channel and the range was shorter. When the number of beacons on the channel was reduced, voice quality was improved.

Sample configuration help from the SSID profile:

a-beacon-rate: Set the beacon rate for 802.11a. (Use for DAS only.) The default is the minimum valid rate.

g-beacon-rate: Set the beacon rate for 802.11g. (Use for DAS only.) The default is the minimum valid rate.