D-Link DWS-3024L User Manual - Page 91

5 Configuring Access Point Settings Table 9. Radio Settings Field Beacon Period Automatic Channel Limit Channels Automatic Power Description Beacon frames are transmitted by an access point at regular intervals to announce the existence of the wireless network. The default behavior is to send a beacon frame once every 100 milliseconds (or 10 per second). The Beacon Interval value is set in milliseconds. Enter a value from 20 to 2000. The channel defines the portion of the radio spectrum that the radio uses for transmitting and receiving. The range of channels and the default channel are determined by the Mode of the radio interface. When the AP boots, the AP scans the RF area for occupied channels and selects a channel from the available non-interfering, or clear channels. However, channel conditions can change during operation. Enabling the Automatic Channel makes APs assigned to this profile eligible for auto-channel selection. You can automatically or manually run the autochannel selection algorithm to allow the Unified Switch to adjust the channel on APs as WLAN conditions change. By default, the global auto-channel mode is set to manual. To enable the automatic channel selection mode, go to the AP Management > RF Management page and select Fixed or Interval for the Channel Plan mode. You can also run the automatic channel selection algorithm manually from the Manual Channel Plan page. NOTE: If you assign a static channel to an AP in the Valid AP database or on the Advanced AP Management page, the AP will not participate in the autochannel selection. If the radio is operating in 802.11a mode, you can select the Limit Channels check box to allow the AP to select from the available channels. NOTE: The available channels depends on the country in which the APs operate. If the Limit Channels option is not selected, the AP can also broadcast on channels 149, 153, 157, 161, and 165. Some legacy 802.11a adapters might not support these higher channel numbers. The power level affects how far an AP broadcasts its RF signal. If the power level is too low, wireless clients will not detect the signal or experience poor WLAN performance. If the power level is too high, the RF signal might interfere with other APs within range. Automatic power uses a proprietary algorithm to automatically adjust the RF signal to broadcast far enough to reach wireless clients, but not so far that it interferes with RF signals broadcast by other APs. The power level algorithm increases or decreases the power level in 10% increments based on presence or absence of packet retransmission errors. Configuring Wireless Radio Settings 91