Users Guide
Dell PowerConnect W-Series Instant Access Point 6.2.0.0-3.2.0.0 | User Guide 169 | Adaptive Radio Management
Chapter 17
Adaptive Radio Management
Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) is a radio frequency management technology that optimizes
WLAN performance even in the networks with highest traffic by dynamically and intelligently
choosing the best 802.11 channel and transmitting power for each W-IAP in its current RF
environment. ARM works with all standard clients, across all operating systems, while remaining in
compliance with the IEEE 802.11 standards. It does not require any proprietary client software to
achieve its performance goals. ARM ensures low-latency roaming, consistently high performance,
and maximum client compatibility in a multi-channel environment. By ensuring the fair
distribution of available Wi-Fi bandwidth to mobile devices, ARM ensures that data, voice, and
video applications have sufficient network resources at all times. ARM allows mixed 802.11a, b, g,
and n client types to inter operate at the highest performance levels.
ARM Features
This section describes ARM features that are available in DellW-Instant.
Channel or Power Assignment
This feature automatically assigns channel and power settings for all the W-IAPs in the network
according to changes in the RF environment. This feature automates many setup tasks during
network installation and during ongoing operations when RF conditions change.
Voice Aware Scanning
This feature stops aW-IAP supporting an active voice call from scanning for other channels in the
RF spectrum. The W-IAP resumes scanning when no more active voice calls are present on that
W-IAP. This significantly improves the voice quality when a call is in progress while
simultaneously delivering automated RF management functions.
Load Aware Scanning
This feature dynamically adjusts scanning behavior to maintain uninterrupted data transfer on
resource intensive systems when the network traffic exceeds a predefined threshold. The W-IAPs
resume complete monitoring scans when the traffic drops to the normal levels.
Band Steering Mode
This feature moves dual-band capable clients to stay on the 5 GHz band on dual-band W-IAPs.
This feature reduces co-channel interference and increases available bandwidth for dual-band
clients because there are more channels on the 5 GHz band than on the 2.4 GHz band.
Band steering supports the following three different band steering modes:
l Prefer 5 GHz— If you configure the W-IAP to use prefer-5 GHz band steering mode, the W-
IAP steers the client to 5 GHz band (if the client is 5 GHz capable) but lets the client connect
on the 2.4 GHz band if the client persists in 2.4 GHz association attempts.