Radio planning can adjust the channels and power of APs in the same area network, thereby optimizing the channel allocation and power of APs. Reasonable radio configuration planning can reduce channel interference, improve channel utilization, and enhance the overall performance and capacity of the wireless network. Click Project > RF Planning to enter the radio planning settings interface, which consists of three parts: Radio Settings, Smart RRM, and Manual Planning.

Radio Settings

(1) Country/Region: Defaults: Japan(JP)

(2) RF1(2.4G) Default Channel Width: Defaults: N/A; Options: 20 MHz/40 MHz

(3) RF2(5G) Default Channel Width: Defaults: N/A; Options: 20 MHZ/40 MHz/80 MHZ/160 MHZ

(4) RF3(5G) Default Channel Width: Defaults: N/A; Options 20 MHZ/40 MHz/80 MHZ/160 MHZ

   Note: For Ruijie devices, RF3 is used to support the 5G 11ax (Wi-Fi 6) standard, which means it can deliver higher bandwidth and better performance.

Automatic RF Planning

The automatic RF planning function allows the cloud to calculate the optimal channel configurations and power values for APs by using the radio resource management (RRM) algorithm according to RF information collected by each AP. Optimal recommended configurations can be applied to the APs.

The entire process of the automatic RF planning includes three parts:

• The cloud triggers APs to scan and upload RF information.
• The cloud calculates the optimal recommended configurations.
• The optimal recommended configurations are applied to the APs.

The automatic RF planning supports network-based planning only. 

The AP RF channel optimization algorithm staggers RF channels of neighboring APs respectively based on the 2.4 GHz frequency band and the 5 GHz frequency band while ensuring as much as possible that original configurations are unchanged. To reach optimal power, the AP power optimization algorithm automatically increases or decreases the RF power for an AP according to the co-channel interference.

On Smart RRM page, the APs of the project can be triggered to scan the RF, display recommended RF configurations calculated after scanning, and save the recommended RF configurations to APs.

(1) Scan Mode: Deep Scan is selected by default.

     Options:

• Quick Scan: This mode enables APs to provide the Wi-Fi service properly during scanning. However, data acquired in this mode is not as accurate as that in the Deep Scan mode. This mode is applied when it is expected that the current network is not affected.
• Deep Scan: This mode is also referred to as the enhanced mode, and causes wireless clients to go offline at the beginning and ending of the scanning. Data acquired in this mode is more accurate than that in the  Quick Scan mode, and the automatic RF planning based on the data is more accurate. This mode shall be applied if you can accept that the clients go offline during the scanning.

(2) Synchronize to device: Disabled by default. When it is enabled, the RF scan results will be automatically pushed to the AP.

    The push types including:

• Synchronize recommended channels
• Synchronize recommended channels and power
• Synchronize recommended power of current channel

Note: If an AP has been bound to a location and has been synchronized with RF configurations of the location. This operation will remove the RF synchronization between the location and the AP, and push the selected recommended optimization configurations to the AP.

Click Custom Channel to enter the configuration interface. This function is disabled by default. When enabled, you can customize the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels. After setting the channel according to the actual situation, click Save to complete the configuration.

Click Recent RF Scan History to view the historical records of automatic RF scanning and planning. Each record displays the information obtained each time it is triggered, including the automatic RF scan trigger time, RRM analysis start time, update time, scan mode, status (Initializing/Scanning/RRM analysis/Finish/Failure), application status, results, and other information.

Click Schedule Settings to start the RF automatic scan at a scheduled time. The scheduled scan function is disabled by default. After enabling it, you need to select the scan mode, set the time, and choose whether to synchronize the results to the device. And then click Save to complete the operation.

Manual RF Planning

On the manual RF planning page, the Radio Select drop-down list above the diagram lets you select an RF type (2.4 GHz/5 GHz) to display. The number inside the location icon indicates the current channel, and a range displayed when the cursor stays on the location icon indicates a power percentage.

You can click a location icon to display the RF channel and power configurations on the right. If the location is bound to an AP, the SN of the bound AP is also displayed.

Note: The RF channel or power data is not displayed during configuration.

To perform manual RF planning, set the RF configurations of a location in one of the following ways:

• Configure one location

Click a location icon, enter configurations on the right, and click Apply.

• Configure locations in batches

This function is used to configure the RF channel and power for a large batch of locations, and is suitable for a scenario with many locations on a network.

Click Batch Config above the location diagram to uniformly select the radio and configure the power percentage for all locations on a project.

If you need to synchronize the RF configuration of the corresponding location to the bound AP, click Apply above the location diagram to synchronize the RF configurations of the corresponding location to the bound AP. If you need to perform batch operations, click each location continuously and then click Apply. 

After the synchronization is successful,  is displayed in the lower right corner. At this point, the configurations of the location are synchronized to the bound AP. 

Note: If an unbind operation is performed, RF synchronization configuration will be removed from the AP.