User's Manual

TRAFFIC CLASSES

The IEEE 802.11e standard defines eight traffic classes. Most mission-critical access points

support this standard. Traffic classes are becoming more and more important, especially on

account of wireless VoIP.

7signal Sapphire Enterprise supports the 802.11e standard. Active tests can be configured to

have a traffic class. All Sapphire versions support assignment of traffic classes, but if the

Sapphire license does not include traffic classes, Sapphire will treat the traffic as ordinary

traffic (Non-QoS, best-effort). Traffic classes are taken into account in only those networks

whose access points support this feature. A request for a traffic class does not guarantee

that it is granted. When viewing measurement reports, you might see that several traffic

classes have been used. The class granted will never exceed that requested.

The following table describes the traffic classes for the parameters of active tests:

The standard defines eight traffic classes, which are grouped into four named classes

(background, best-effort, video, and voice). In practice, most telecommunications devices

support four named classes. This is seen in Sapphire as well, where Eye supports four

classes, and the user interface shows eight. Only supported classes are selectable in the user

interface.

Note: The ping test is an active test, but, on account of its nature, assigning a traffic class to

it is not sensible.

Note: Best-effort (0) refers to unclassified traffic that does not conform to the IEEE 802.11e

standard.