Getting Started

Prerequisites

To successfully auto-place APs on the floor plan, ensure that the following prerequisite categories are met:

Hardware

• AP auto-placement is supported for 500, 600 & 700 series APs.

• A minimum of five APs that support FTM functionality are required to facilitate the auto-locate process, utilizing four anchor APs and requiring at least one additional AP for effective auto-placement.

• The usage of the 6 GHz band for AP-to-AP and STA-to-AP ranging is currently only supported on the AP-605H & AP-615.

Software

• Support for FTM is introduced with AOS-10 version 10.5.

• Support for FTM Monitor mode is introduced with AOS-10 version 10.7.1.

• Minimum AOS-10 version required for auto placing 700 series APs is 10.7.2.

Configuration

• Ensure that the APs are provisioned and belong to the same AP group and site on HPE Aruba Networking Central.

• Geo-Locate the floor on the map must be selected when creating a floorplan. For more details on how to scale the floor, refer to Creating Initial Floor and Building.

Operational

• Confirm that APs can detect neighboring APs to initiate FTM exchanges, a crucial step for accurate auto-locate functionality. For more details on verifying the FTM telemetry, refer to AP Testing and Verification.

• APs must operate for at least 24 hours to compute auto-locate data efficiently. During this time, APs scan the RF environment, send FTM requests to each other, and transmit telemetry data to Central.

• During the Open Locate provisioning phase, all APs must be able to operate on an 80 MHz bandwidth channel; currently, the AP-to-AP and STA-to-AP FTM data needed for location determination is most efficiently obtained using 80 MHz channels.

  • For environments where using 80 MHz channels in production is not feasible, FTM Monitor mode can be used.

Configuration steps

Open Locate operation requires two levels of configuration.

1. Enabling FTM functionality in Classic Central
2. Initiating the auto-locate process in New Central

Enabling FTM

Enable the FTM scan and FTM responder modes in Classic Central.

• FTM scan: To enable the FTM scan, follow the steps at Configuring Automatic Placement of an AP.

Checking the Enable Automatic Placement box activates FTM scanning, and configures the APs to handle FTM tasks 25% of the time reserved for off band channel scanning, that is only valid when no clients are connected and hence it takes up to 24-48 hours to collect FTM data if not using FTM Monitor mode.

• FTM Responder mode: To enable the FTM-responder mode, follow the steps at Configuring Advanced Settings for a WLAN SSID Profile.

Checking the Fine Timing Measurement (802.11 mc) Responder Mode enables FTM capability on the APs and enables FTM communication between APs and stations like phones or laptops.

• Additionally, set 80 MHz channel width: If the deployment does not allow usage of 80 MHz channels, fast forward to FTM Monitor mode configuration.

Otherwise, set the channel bandwidth to 80 MHz by following the steps at Configuring Radio Parameters.

Set the Minimum and Maximum bandwidth to 80 MHz. A wider bandwidth improves FTM exchanges and reduces multipath effects, leading to better accuracy in location-based applications.

Initiating auto locate

The floorplan manager serves as the starting point for initiating location-aware services within New Central. In this dashboard, site properties, including buildings and floors, can be created, and floor plans can be uploaded and configured. After creating the floors, devices can be assigned to the floors so the system can begin the process of auto-placing the APs. To access and create the floorplan, refer to New Central Floorplan Manager techdocs.

Once the floorplan is ready, we need to assign devices to the floorplan before we auto place the APs.

Assigning devices to floorplans

To assign devices to specific floorplans, complete the steps at Assigning Devices to Floorplans in Floorplan Manager.

Automatic AP deployment

To start placing APs automatically on the floorplan, follow the steps at Automatic AP Placement.

FTM Monitor mode

FTM Monitor mode activates a special monitor mode on the 5 GHz band. While in FTM Monitor mode, the APs on the specified floor sequentially scan each 80 MHz channel within the 5GHz band to collect FTM ranging data. Once the required inter-AP ranging information is gathered, the APs are returned to their original bandwidth settings. This approach significantly reduces the time required to collect accurate location data, enhancing overall system efficiency in environments where continuous 80 MHz operation isn’t feasible.

Prerequisites for utilizing FTM Monitor mode:

• FTM Monitor mode currently only operates on the 5 GHz radio band. Support for 6 GHz radio is on the roadmap.

• APs on the given floor-id must be ‘ftm-monitor’ capable, running AOS 10.7.1 or greater.

• APs must be configured to support FTM and assigned to a floor in New Central.

• APs on the given floor-id must be configured in the same regulatory domain (ie. configured with the same country code).

• APs on the given floor must be synchronized with the same NTP server.

Configuration

Endpoint: POST https://example-central-server.com/network-monitoring/v1alpha1/sitemaps/{site-id}/floors/{floor-id}/ftm-scans/start

Parameters:

• site-id: Site ID where the FTM scan is required.
• floor-id: Starts an FTM scan for the given floor-id.

The site-id and floor-id can be found by navigating to the floor plan in new Central and inspecting the URL.

Example response of “Start FTM Monitor mode” POST API:

{
    "scanStartTime": "2024-12-11T22:17:33.574Z",
    "id": "2174534000",
    "result": "SUCCESS",
    "errorMessage": null
}

Description of the fields in the response:

The result returned will be one of the following:

• SUCCESS - Scan was successfully created and is now PENDING
• FTM_SCAN_ALREADY_ACTIVE - Scan already active on the given floor-id. Only one scan is allowed per floor at any given time. Scan cannot be started.
• NOT_ENOUGH_APS - There were not enough ftm-monitor enabled APs on the given floor-id. Scan cannot be started.
• REGULATORY_DOMAIN_MISMATCH - Not all APs are configured with the same country code. Scan cannot be started.
• NO_VALID_CHANNELS - Based on the user configured country code and channel selections, there are no available channels to run the FTM scan on. Scan cannot be started.
• ERROR - There was an error starting the scan, see errorMessage for details of the error.

Note down the id provided in the response to check the status using the next API call.

Verification

The scan typically takes between 15 to 30 minutes to complete. During this process, the APs sequentially scan each 80 MHz channel within the 5GHz band to collect FTM ranging data. Throughout the scan, all APs operate in monitor mode.

Use the following REST API to verify the scan process.

Endpoint: GET https://example-central-server.com/network-monitoring/v1alpha1/sitemaps/{site-id}/floors/{floor-id}/ftm-scans/{ftm-scan-id}

Parameters:

• site-id: Site ID where the FTM scan is required.
• floor-id: Starts an FTM scan for the given floor-id.
• ftm-scan-id: Retrieved from the ftm-scan-start API.

Example response of “Status of the FTM Monitor mode” GET API:

{
    "total": 1,
    "next": null,
    "items": [
        {
            "dwellTimeMillis": 90000,
            "updatedAt": "2024-12-11T22:12:32.682Z",
            "serialNumbers": [
                "CNMSKY0000",
                "CNMSKY0000",
                "PHPNKY0000",
                "PHPNKY0000",
                "PHPNKY0000",
                "PHPNKYJ000",
                "PHPNKYJ000",
                "PHPNKYJ000",
                "PHPNKYJ000"
            ],
            "errorMessage": null,
            "scannedChannels": [
                {
                    "primaryChannelList": [
                        36,
                        52,
                        100,
                        116,
                        132,
                        149
                    ],
                    "bandwidth": "CHANNEL_BW_80MHZ",
                    "band": "RADIO_BAND_5GHZ"
                }
            ],
            "estimatedCompletionTime": "2024-12-11T22:32:33.574Z",
            "floorId": "9f8ba9ee-c866-4654-82b1-xxxxxx",
            "siteId": "791830000",
            "status": "SCHEDULED",
            "scanStartTime": "2024-12-11T22:17:33.574Z",
            "id": "2174534000",
            "type": "FTM_SCAN",
            "createdAt": "2024-12-11T22:12:32.682Z"
        }
    ],
    "count": 1
}

Descriptions of the fields in the response:

The status returned will be one of the following:

• Pending: Scan request was accepted and awaiting scheduling by the system.
• Aborted: Scan request was delayed and could not be scheduled before the calculated start time.
• Scheduled: Scan request has been scheduled by the system and is awaiting the scan start time.
• Scanning: Scan is currently running (wifi network connectivity is currently unavailable).
• Complete: Scan has completed.

Once the FTM Monitor mode scan has completed, proceed with initiating the auto locate process.