Radio Resource Management: 802.11b/g/n and 802.11a/n

802.11b/g/n and 802.11a/n standards help in providing the best coverage in your Vocera wireless environment.

Cisco Wireless LAN Controllers provide advanced management capabilities for configuring and controlling Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP). Among these features are Radio Resource Management (RRM) algorithms designed to automatically adjust power and channel configurations to mitigate adjacent and co-channel interference and signal coverage problems.

RRM allows access points to dynamically adjust their transmit power and wireless channels used by the access points to compensate for coverage holes and interference in the WLAN. If RRM is not configured with a minimum and maximum Transmit Power (Tx) power range, Tx power asymmetry can occur. Although the signal from access point can reach the badge, the signal from the badge may not be able to reach the access point. This may cause choppy audio or one-way audio on Vocera badge calls.

The B3000n badge, and iOS, Android devices running the Vocera Collaboration Suite application support 802.11 a/b/g/n. The B3000 badge supports 802.11b/g only.

802.11a supports bandwidth up to 54 Mbps and uses the higher, regulated frequency spectrum above 5 GHz. Channels are 20 and 40 MHz and are non-overlapping. However, due to the higher frequency, 802.11a has a shorter range signal than 802.11b/g.

The B3000n and Vocera recommended Smartphones can be configured to use 802.11a/n only, 802.11a/b/g/n, or 802.11b/g/n. Vocera recommends that you avoid a deployment that requires inter-band roaming. Configure the B3000n badges to use either 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz. Vocera recommends that you do not use both the bands at the same time.

Note: Deploying any wireless voice requires a voice quality site survey to ensure proper performance.

To enable radio resource management, refer to Enabling 802.11 a/n/ac and 802.11 b/g/n.