Auto-Locate AP

The auto-locate feature is used to automate the placement of APs using Fine Time Measurement (FTM) protocol. FTM helps APs to estimate the physical distance between them and find each other on the floorplan. The auto-locate functionality is a two-step process. The first step is to place the anchor APs on the map and the second step is to automatically place all other APs on the floor. The system automatically identifies the best APs to be used as anchor APs based on measurements orchestrated and processed by HPE Aruba Networking Central.

Note:

Auto-Locate AP feature is not supported in New HPE Aruba Networking Central On-Premises 3-node cluster in HPE DL 360 server.

Pre-requisites

  • Auto-locate is only available for APs running ArubaOS 10.5.0.0 or higher versions.

  • Only 500 Series and 600 Series access points can be automatically placed on the floorplan. The 300 Series access points are not supported for auto-location and must be placed manually on the floorplan.

  • Sufficient FTM telemetry data should be available on the site for the auto-locate feature to work. FTM data collection time depends on the floor size, deployment size, and AP position. In some cases, auto-locate may take up to 24 hours to complete. To enable automatic placement of an AP, FTM must be enabled on at least one SSID. For more information, refer to Configuring Advanced Settings for a WLAN SSID Profile.

  • For 500 Series access points, there should be at least 5 APs assigned on the floorplan for the auto-locate functionality to work. After the computation of anchor APs, the suggested anchor APs are displayed on the UI and the APs can be placed manually on the floorplan map. After the anchor placement is done, the user must trigger the auto-placement process for the other APs on the floorplan.

  • For 600 Series access points, there should be a minimum of 5 APs on the floorplan with 4 of them having the GPS lock for auto-locate functionality to work. After the computation of anchor APs, the suggested anchor APs are placed on the floor automatically. If you do not find at least 4 APs with GPS lock, you must manually place the anchor APs similar to the 500 Series access points.

  • For mixed deployment of 500 Series access points and 600 Series access points, auto anchor AP placement is possible only when all the suggested anchor APs are 600 Series access points. If there are less than four 600 Series access points suggested as anchor APs, then you must the place the anchor APs manually on the floorplan.