I have a question concerning the maximum distance setting in a GPS synchronized environment for the ePMP series. In a frequency re-use setup, either a 3 or 4 sector deployment using an ABAB reuse setup, does the maximum distance setting have to all be set the same for all the sectors?
Or, can each sector have a different maximum distance setting?
Or, just the back-to-back APs have to be set the same?
Scenario..Think of trying to setup an ePMP cluster in a rectangle area. Where the tower is almost centred. Therefore the longest sides will always require the furthest distance. However, the shortest sides, if set the same will just be wasting signal.
Ideally you would configure all sectors at all tower sites to have matching settings. If you fail to do this your frames will not align. You could likely get away with only matching up the "back to back" sectors, but you would see the best results with all APs transmitting at one time and all receiving at one time.
All the radio should have same distance value to be set in a sector. Particularly, it should be the distance of the SM which located at maximum distance.
For example: In a sector, an AP1 has a SM located at maximum distance of 2KM, AP2 has a SM located at maximum distance of 4KM and AP3 has a SM located at maximum distance of 4.5KM. Here, we need to set the distance vlaue as 4.5KM or 5KM in all the radios.
Is this a setting that should be global for all towers and/or on a per tower basis? That is, if I have three (3) towers that are basically 3-4 miles apart and can see each other (from an AP/Backhaul perspective), should I have the maximum distance set on all APs for every tower configured to the furthest SM/CPE that any one of the towers can see or has to service?
So, for exampe, if we have Tower A, Tower B and Tower C, all having an ePMP AP cluster of 4 APs. 'Tower A' furthest SM/CPE to be serviced is around 3 miles. 'Tower B' furthest SM/CPE is 5 miles and 'Tower C' furthest SM/CPE is around 8 miles. Therefore, should I now set the maximum distance on all of the APs for all the towers to 8 miles?
Or, should each tower be set to their respective furthest SM/CPE that they will see and service? So, in my example, 'Tower A' APs maximum distance would be set to 3 miles, 'Tower B' APs = 5 miles and 'Tower C' APs = 8 miles.
If your towers are in range, and could have overlapping subscriber modules you would want to match these settings. Keep in mind, if the max distance setting is different at one tower it would not match the same frame timing and thus you would not have the benefit of GPS Sync for the area it's transmitter can be heard.