Manual

Chapter 6: Channel Management

Understanding Channel Management

When channel management is enabled, the AT-WA7400 Management

Software automatically assigns radio channels used by clustered access

points to reduce mutual interference (or interference with other access

points outside of its cluster). This maximizes WiFi bandwidth and helps

maintain the efficiency of communication over your wireless network.

Note

You must start channel management to get automatic channel

assignments; it is disabled by default on a new access point. See

“Stopping or Starting Automatic Channel Assignment” on page 73.

How it Works in

a Nutshell

At a specified interval (the default is one hour) or on demand (click

Update), the Channel Manager maps access points to channel use and

measures interference levels in the cluster. If significant channel

interference is detected, the Channel Manager automatically reassigns

some or all of the access points to new channels per an efficiency

algorithm (or automated channel plan).

Overlapping

Channels

The radio frequency (RF) broadcast channel defines the portion of the

radio spectrum that the radio on the access point uses for transmitting and

receiving. The range of available channels for an access point is

determined by the IEEE 802.11 mode (also referred to as band) of the

access point.

IEEE 802.11b/802.11g modes (802.11 b/g) support use of channels 1

through 11 inclusive, while IEEE 802.11a mode supports a larger set of

non-consecutive channels (36,40,44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 149, 153, 157,

161, 165).

Interference can occur when multiple access points within range of each

other are broadcasting on the same or overlapping channels. The impact

of this interference on network performance can intensify during busy

times when a large amount of data and media traffic competing for

bandwidth.

The Channel Manager detects which bands (b/g or a) clustered access

points are on, and uses a predetermined collection of channels that will

not mutually interfere. For the “b/g” radio band, the classical set of non-

interfering channels is 1, 6, 11. Channels 1, 4, 8, 11 produce minimal

overlap. A similar set of non-interfering channels is used for the “a” radio

band, which includes all channels for that mode since they are not

overlapping.