CommSolutions

The Aruba WLAN solution now includes Spectrum Analysis Features with the 6.x AOS firmware. Combined with an Aruba 802.11n Access Point, and the RF Protect License, you can use your existing Aruba solution to find non-802.11 interference sources and get a view into the channel quality and capacity in use within your environment. As your Wireless LAN becomes your critical edge network, and devices proliferate, knowledge of what is consuming your precious RF capacity is becoming more important.

You don't have Aruba Wireless deployed? You're not at 6.x firmware levels today? No reason to stop reading yet. A small Aruba 600-series controller along with a couple of Aruba AP105's can be used in those environments to provide a mobile or temporary Spectrum Analysis toolkit.

Once an RF Protect license is installed, you can create a new AP group to support your Spectrum-mode Access Points. Within that group, you'll need to ensure the 802.11g and 802.11a (2.4Ghz & 5Ghz) radio's are set to spectrum mode. Below is a quick example of where these settings take place.

Once done, you'll want to place your spectrum APs into this group and allow them to reboot into the correct mode.

After they show as valid Spectrum AP's you can start the Spectrum Analysis application.

You have to then choose which radio band (on dual radio APs) and connect to the Spectrum AP

We can then get a variety of valuable data on Channel/Frequency usage (both real-time an short-term historical) and monitor the devices and quality of the RF environment.

You have to then choose which radio band (on dual radio APs) and connect to the Spectrum AP

Above you'll see the mouse over shows the devices on a specific channel.

Below you can see historical channel usage and quality, a mouseover brings up a device list of those devices in the frequency band.

Any individual graph can be clicked on for detailed view and adjustments of the graphic and metrics charted.

This entire process can be setup in just a few minutes, and can be very valuable in finding non-802.11 sources such as Cordless Phones, Game controllers, Bluetooth and other interference causes.

This quick tech tip is meant to give a very basic understanding of the technology and how it can help you. Feel free to contact your Comm Solutions representative if you need any assistance or want to know more about how Spectrum Analysis can help you.

We can assist you with your existing Aruba environment, help you develop a Spectrum Analysis toolkit of your own, or provide services for Spectrum Analysis if you do not want to perform these tasks yourself or invest in any hardware.