WAP 371 radiation pattern

[smartwombat]

Really, it's a simple question - which way up should it be mounted for best coverage?

But to make a decision I'd like to know the RF radiation pattern.

[boayers · Accepted solution]

Hello,

My name is Patrick and I am an eSupport developer with the Cisco Small Business Support Community. The WAP371 contains an integrated omni-directional antenna and can be either ceiling or wall mounted with the packaged hardware. If your ceilings are quite high I would recommend against mounting it this way as the signal will not reach users at floor level as easily.

I have found a short article regarding common Wi-Fi antenna mistakes that you may find of use. You can find it here: http://7signal.com/blog/10-wi-fi-antenna-placement-mistakes/

I hope you find this information useful. Please reply back with any questions or concerns that you may have.

*Please mark the question as Answered or rate it so other users can benefit from it*

Best,

Patrick Ayers

[smartwombat]

Thanks, Patrick, I read that article.

If it's omnidirectional, is that in both planes (AZ and EL) ?

Your comment about high ceilings makes me think it's not omnidirectional in elevation.
But probably not much different from a vertical dipole? (red line)
More likely shifted slightly away form the mounting plane towards potential clients (green line).

What's important though is the lack of forward emission, perpendicular to the mouting plane.
That means it's not effective mounted at one end of the office, but better in the centre.

And the lack of beam out of the mounting plane means it's at best only 1/2 effective mounted on the wall, as the omnidirectional pattern wastes 1/2 the power above the WAP up the wall, instead of down towards the clients.

This link has excellent information: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/aironet-antennas-accessories/prod_white_paper0900aecd806a1a3e.html

But doesn't cover the WAP 371.

[boayers]

The datasheet for the WAP371 states that it is optimized for both ceiling and wall mounting. I believe the pattern is fairly even in both planes. That being said, the omnidirectional antenna will perform best if placed in a central location of the office. Avoid mounting it on a wall near ventilation ducts or thick concrete walls as this will cause undesired signal reflections and/or performance drops. 

If you would like a highly directional radiation of your wireless signal, I would recommend the use of an external wall mounted patch antenna which would require a WAP with external antenna connectors such as those found in the Cisco Aironet devices. 

[Martin Aleksandrov]

Please be aware with the authenticity of the information being provided. Misleading the people with wrong information is not correct.

There are five (5) internal fixed PIFA antennas in the WAP371. Three for 802.11ac/5GHz and two for 802.11n/2.4 GHz. The PIFA antennas have nothing to do with the omni-directional ones.

Martin Alexandrov

Cisco TAC Presales Network Engineer

[Eric Moyers]

I realize this threads 2 months old, but thought I would interject a couple of notes. You are correct the WAP371 is predominantly more powerful in the AZ plane when mounted on a ceiling or sitting on a flat surface. Most omni-directional antennas are similar to this. Flat or Ceiling mounted is the better choice over wall mounted. This does not matter wheter the antennas are internal or external.

However I would like to point out for customers that are limited to wall mounting that we do over an option for that as well. The WAP551/561 series Access Points incorporate a feature called Smart Signal Antenna. It uses an orientation sensor (Gyroscope) to determine if it is Wall or Flat/Ceiling mounted. If "wall mounted" it changes to antennas that are directional based within the unit. If Flat/Ceiling mounted the normal omni-directional antennas.

Eric Moyers
.:|:.:|:. CISCO | Cisco Presales Technical Support | Wireless Subject Matter Expert