This article explains the details related to enabling the spectrum analyzer and using the analyzer data to choose the best frequency.
Why run the Spectrum Analyser?
The ePMP devices are unlicensed and are usually used in co-existence with other vendors/ devices using the same frequency.
Spectrum analyzer is a handy tool that is inbuilt in an ePMP AC and AX devices that can be used, without disrupting the live traffic (In rare cases, it may cause slowness or link drop).
The step-by-step process to enable the spectrum analyzer and how to use the report to select the best channel is mentioned below.
How to run it
To enable the spectrum analyzer: Configure >> Tools >> Spectrum Analyzer >> enable and save
Note: You can choose different scanning modes: Light and Detailed:
Light Mode - only Management Frames will be captured for Interferer detection. Some Interferers may not be discovered. Scanning results may slightly vary from actual environmental conditions.
Detailed Mode - Management, Control, and Data Frames will be captured for Interferer detection. All Interferers will be discovered. Could cause performance degradation or even session drops.
How to use the data to select the best frequency
Select extreme low or High frequency.
Run the spectrum analyzer for some time.
You will get a list of all the available interferers.
The interference levels in the above sample are -82 and -46. Depending on the RSSI level, these (-46 dBm, -50dBm, etc) are sufficient to cause issues on the respective frequencies.
Try to find the clean frequency or least affected one, say we can choose 5055, 5150, etc as per the above scan result. This will ensure that the link is working at its optimum and give the best performance.
@brubble1, I always enjoy to read your feedback! Yes, this time we made an error: being in hurry we grab SA screenshot too quickly not giving it enough time to collect and a process detailed information.It needs 10 - 15 min to give more or less full picture.
But you know SA in ePMP is not a real measuring equipment! It is one more radio, the same is used for data transmission. It can not be too precise and accurate. It is just for common situation understanding. Real SA is a different equipment with different price.
And from FW to FW we work on it to make it better! Also 4.7.0 will have improvements. Also related to issues reported by you.
Gosh Andrii… I for one appreciate that you’re asking, and wanting to know… but… gosh… it’s shocking that Cambium doesn’t already know. We’ve been telling you all this since the beginning of ePMP time.
I honestly don’t even know what to type here anymore. It doesn’t show interferers which we know are there. It doesn’t allow us to pick a PTP frequency which will work both on the Master and on the Slave side. It regularly just erases all it’s data, and blanks the screen out… so even leaving it running for 6 hours may (or may not) result in anything at all, because it might decide to simply erase the info and start over with a blank screen. And it’s not getting any better, and now it seems that apparently part of that is that Cambium isn’t even aware that there is a problem?
