Users Guide

Dell PowerConnect ArubaOS 5.0 | User Guide] Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) | 139
Chapter 5
Adaptive Radio Management
(ARM)
This chapter outlines how to configure the ARM function to automatically select the best channel and
transmission power settings for each AP on your WLAN. This chapter describes the following topics:
z “ARM Overview” on page 139
z “ARM Profiles” on page 140
z “Multi-Band ARM and 802.11a/802.11g Traffic” on page 147
z “Band Steering” on page 147
z “Traffic Shaping” on page 148
z “Spectrum Load Balancing” on page 149
z “RX Sensitivity Tuning Based Channel Reuse” on page 149
z “Non-802.11 Noise Interference Immunity” on page 150
z “ARM Metrics” on page 150
z “ARM Troubleshooting” on page 151
ARM Overview
Dell's Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) technology maximizes WLAN performance even in the highest traffic
networks by dynamically and intelligently choosing the best 802.11 channel and transmit power for each DellAPin
its current RF environment.
Dell’s ARM technology solves wireless networking challenges such as large deployments, dense deployments, and
installations that must support VoIP or mobile users. Deployments with dozens of users per access point can
cause network contention and interference, but ARM dynamically monitors and adjusts the network to ensure
that all users are allowed ready access. ARM provides the best voice call quality with voice-aware spectrum
scanning and call admission control.
With earlier technologies, network administrators would have to perform a site survey at each location to discover
areas of RF coverage and interference, and then manually configure each AP according to the results of this
survey. Static site surveys can help you choose channel and power assignments for APs, but these surveys are often
time-consuming and expensive, and only reflect the state of the network at a single point in time. ARM is more
efficient than static calibration, and, unlike older technologies, it continually monitors and adjusts radio resources
to provide optimal network performance. Automatic power control can adjust AP power settings if adjacent APs
are added, removed, or moved to a new location within the network, minimizing interference with other WLAN
networks. ARM adjusts only the affected APs, so the entire network does not require systemic changes.
ARM Support for 802.11n
ArubaOS supports APs with the 802.11n standard, ensuring seamless integration of 802.11n devices into your RF
domain. A high-throughput (802.11n) AP can use a 40 MHz channel pair comprised of two adjacent 20 MHz
channels available in the regulatory domain profile for your country. When ARM is configured for a dual-band
AP, it will dynamically select the primary and secondary channels for these devices. It can, however, continue to
scan all changes in the a+b/g bands to calculate interference and detect rogue APs.