Cisco Flexible Antenna Port

Information About Cisco Flexible Antenna Port

The presence of multiple antennas on the transmitters and the receivers of access points (APs), results in better performance and reliability of the APs. Multiple antennas improve reception through the selection of stronger signals or a combination of individual signals, at the receiver. You can configure the antenna ports to be used in the APs as either dual-band antennas or as single-band antennas to optimize radio coverage.

  • Dual-band antenna mode: APs operate in both the 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bandwidth with all the four antennas—A, B, C, and D. An example of a dual-band antenna mode AP is the Cisco Industrial Wireless 3702 AP.

  • Single-band antenna mode: Among the APs, antennas A and B operate in the 2.4-GHz bandwidth, and the antennas C and D operate in the 5-GHz bandwidth. An example of a single-band antenna mode AP is the Cisco Catalyst Industrial Wireless 6300 AP.

Configuring a Cisco Flexible Antenna Port (GUI)

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Configuration > Wireless > Access Points.

Step 2

Click AP Name.

Step 3

Click the Advanced tab.

Step 4

From the Antenna Mode drop-down list, choose the antenna mode.

Step 5

Click Apply & Update.

Configuring a Cisco Flexible Antenna Port (CLI)

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

ap name ap-name antenna-band-mode { dual | single}

Example:

Device# ap name ap-name antenna-brand-mode single

Configures antenna band mode as single or dual.

Verifying Flexible Antenna Port Configuration

The following is a sample output of the show ap name ap_name config general command that shows the bands selected on a specific AP:
Device# show ap name APXXXX.31XX.83XX config general 
Cisco AP Name   : APXXXX.31XX.83XX
=================================================
Cisco AP Identifier                            	 : b4de.312e.00c0
Country Code                                    	: Multiple Countries : US,IN
Regulatory Domain Allowed by Country   : 802.11bg:-A   802.11a:-ABDN

AP Submode                                      	: Not Configured
Antenna Band Mode                               	: Dual
The following is a sample output of the show ap name ap_name config slot 0 command that shows the bands selected on a specific AP with dual-band mode enabled:
Device# show ap name APXXXX.31XX.83XX config slot 0 | sec 802.11n Antennas
    802.11n Antennas
      A                                         : ENABLED
      B                                         : ENABLED
      C                                         : ENABLED
      D                                         : ENABLED

    802.11n Antennas
      MIMO                                      : x
      Tx                                        : Unknown
      Rx                                        : Unknown
The following is a sample output of the show ap name ap_name config slot 1 command that shows the bands selected on a specific AP with single-band mode enabled:
Device# show ap name APXXXX.31XX.83XX config slot 1 | sec 802.11n Antennas
    802.11n Antennas                                                   
      A                                         : DISABLED             
      B                                         : DISABLED             
      C                                         : ENABLED              
      D                                         : ENABLED              

    802.11n Antennas
      MIMO                                      : x
      Tx                                        : Unknown
      Rx                                        : Unknown