User's Manual

WLANPlanningWizard

3Com®AirProtectPlannerUserGuide

 GuardInterval(ns):Specifythedesiredguardinterval.

 FrameAggregation:SelecteitherAMSDUorAMPDU,orbothcheckboxesforthedesiredframe

aggregation.

Formoredetailsontheadvanceparameters,refertoAppendixD:GlossaryofTerms.

• ChannelAllocationStrategy:Duetolimitedavailablefrequencyspectrumfor802.11WLANs,denseAPdeployment

oftenrequiresspatialreuseoffrequencies.Thestrategyyouchosedeterminesthesetofavailablechannels.Planner

assignschannelstominimizeinterference.Duringon‐siteplanning,interferencefromtheexistingAPsisconsidered.

Select

eitheroftheoptionsforchannelallocationstrategy.

¾ Onlynonoverlappingchannels:Thesearechannelsthatdonotinterferewitheachother.Forexample,inthe

US,2.4GHzbandoffersthreenon‐overlappingchannels–1,6,and11.

¾ Allavailablechannels:Allchannelsareconsidered.Forexample,intheUS2.4GHzbandoffers11channels.

Usingpartiallyoverlappingchannels(say1,4,7,11)canimproveoverallWLANcapacity.

3 TheWLANPlanningWizard:PlanningObjectivescreenhelpsyouspecifytheplanningobjectiveforthe802.11WLAN,

whilealsoguidingyouinplanning.

Figure 72. WLAN Planning – Planning Objective

PlannerallowsyoutochoosethefocusofWLANplanning.Basedonthefocus,Plannerconsidersdifferentfactorsfor

populatingthenumberofAPsrequiredandtheirplacement.

Selectoneofthefollowingoptions:

• CoveragePlanning:SelecttoplantheWLANtoenableusersatmostlocationsonthefloor

toconnectwitha

specifiedminimumdatarate.

• CapacityPlanning:SelecttoplantheWLANtoensureconnectivitywithfocusonuserandapplicationrequirements.

4 Dependingontheplanningfocusthatyouchoseinthepreviousstep,PlannerdisplaystheCoveragePlanning

or

CapacityPlanning

screenofthewizard.

5 OnceyouaredonewiththeWLANplanning,theWLANPlanningWizard:Summaryscreenappearsdependingonthe

typeoffocus.

6 Ifyouwishtochangethesettings,click<Back>.Click<Finish>toexitthewizard.Plannerwillauto‐placetheAPs

onthe

floormap,andassignchannelstothem.

CoveragePlanning

IfyouhaveselectedCoveragePlanninginthepreviousstepofthewizard,theWLANPlanningWizard:CoveragePlanning

screenappears.ThemaximumdataratesupportedbyanAPdependsonthequalityofthesignalreceivedfromthatAP.Due

toRFpathloss,thesignalqualitydegradesas

youmoveawayfromanAP,inturnleadingtoconnectivityatlowerdatarates.

Inacoverage‐focusedplan,youdefineaminimumdatarateforthefloor.YouplanaWLANsuchthatusersatmostlocations