Planning Automatic Access Point Deployment

Automatic placement of APs on the floorplan is done based on the available APs, selected AP model, band, signal coverage, and client density. If the AP model is not selected, the default AP model that is considered while automatic optimization is AP-635.

Note:

Increased ceiling height of a floor impacts the heatmap calculation and planning AP automatic optimization.

To start planning AP automatic optimization, complete the following steps:

  1. From the Action drop-down list, select Plan Access Point Deployment.

    The Plan Access Point Deployment page is displayed. By default, Automatic Optimization is selected.

    By default, the prefix of the AP is the floor number. Optionally, if you want to label the APs with some other name you can update the Access Point Name Prefix field with the new name.

  2. From the Covered Area field you can select either of the options to deploy the APs:

    • Entire floor plan—This option enables you to deploy APs on the entire floor irrespective of any boundary.

    • Defined zones only—This option allows you to deploy APs within the floorplan boundary as well as within specific zones of the floorplan. After selecting this option, the Covered Area by Zone list appears, showing all the zones available on the selected floor. This list is dynamic and updates based on the zones defined for that floor.

      By default, all zones and the boundary are selected, and the corresponding area of the floorplan is highlighted. You can deselect any zone to exclude it from AP deployment. When a zone is deselected, APs will not be deployed in that area. Optionally, if you want to only deploy APs to a single zone in the floorplan, deselect Select All option and only select the specific zone where you want to place the APs.

      For example, in the image below, Zone 5 has been deselected. As a result, the Zone 5 area is no longer highlighted on the floorplan, and APs will not be deployed there.

      Note:

      If two zones overlap, the selected overlapping area will also be included in the auto AP Planning.

      Figure 1: Customized AP Auto Planning

    Additionally, in case you want draw a zone while planning the AP deployment, you can click Edit Zones available within the Coverage Area by Zone list. Clicking this option, navigates you the Zone page, where you can create a zone. For more information on Zones, see Zones.

  3. Select an AP model from the Select a Model drop-down list which that you want to deploy on the floorplan.

    By default, the AP model field displays the AP model as Default (AP-365).

  1. Select the bands that you want the selected AP to cover on the floorplan. You can choose from the following band values:

    • 2.4 GHz

    • 5 GHz

    • 6 GHz

  1. Slide the Signal Coverage and Client Density bar to select the values. An AP can display Signal Coverage as being Low, Fair, Good, or Excellent. You can also see the range for each coverage value while sliding.
    The Client Density of an AP can be displayed as Low, Medium, or High.

    After you adjust the required values, click Next.
    The Automatic Optimization starts and the progress status is displayed. While the automatic optimization is in process, you can close the page and perform any other operation. The process continues at the backend and after it is completed, it automatically moves to the Planning Summary page. A banner is displayed at the floor context while automatic optimization is in progress. You can click View next to the banner to navigate to the AP planning page. Once the optimization is over, the banner displays that automatic optimization is complete.

    The time of the optimization depends on the size of the floor, signal coverage, and client density.

    Note:

    Signal Coverage as excellent and client density as high can cause delay in the automatic optimization of the APs on the floorplan.

    If you select AP signal coverage as Poor the time taken to perform automatic optimization is comparatively faster as when you select signal coverage as Excellent. If there is any wall in the selected floorplan, automatic optimization considers the wall attenuation value and then calculates the AP placement on the floor. For example, if under Fair network the number of APs planned was 20 without wall, then, with wall on the floor the number of planned APs decrease to 15. This happens as the wall attenuation disrupts the signal coverage of the APs on the floor.

    Optionally, if you are not satisfied with the operation and you want to change any value or AP model, click Cancel Automatic Optimization at the top right corner. Clicking Close does not cancel the operation, it just closes the page but, the operation keeps running at the backend.

    Figure 2: Automatic AP Placement


    Note:

    You cannot delete or rearrange the position of the APs while performing automatic optimization. It can only be done in the Planning Summary page.

    After the optimization is complete, you are navigated to the Planning Summary page, where all the AP placement attributes, and the planned APs that has been placed on the floorplan is displayed.

    Figure 3: Planning AP Summary

  1. Click Finish to complete the AP deployment.
    After you click finish, you are navigated to the floor context. The planned APs are represented in white color on the floorplan dashboard.