AP5020 Radios and 6 GHz Support

The AP5020 is an indoor Wi-Fi 7 tri-radio access point with support for multiple Extreme Networks operating systems.

The AP5020 Series access points offer three radios:
  • Radio 1 —
    • 4x4 WLAN Service 2.4 GHz, or
    • 2x2 WLAN Tri-Band Sensor, 2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz, 6.0 GHz
    Radio modes:
    • sensor
    • b/g
    • g/n
    • b/g/n
    • g/n/ax
    • client-bridge
  • Radio 2 — 4x4 WLAN Service 5.0 GHz
    Radio modes:
    • a/n/ac
    • a/n/ac/ax
    • client-bridge
  • Radio 3 — 4x4 WLAN Service 6.0 GHz
    Radio modes:
    • ax6
    • client-bridge
The AP5020 supports the following:
  • IEEE 802.11ax Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) multi-user access.
  • Out of Band discovery on the 6 GHz band. APs that provide WLAN service on the 6 GHz band include Reduced Neighbor Report IE in all 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz beacons and probe responses. Out of Band discovery helps clients find 6 GHz SSIDs and channel information that comes from 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz beacons of co-located access points.
  • Supports AirDefense Services Platform (ADSP) on radio 1 (3 bands) when 2x2 WLAN Tri-Band Sensor 2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz, 6.0 GHz is selected on radio 1.
  • Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) 6E Compliant network authentication methods.
Note

Note

The World-Wide Universal Access Points 6 GHz radios support only the following Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) 6E Compliant network authentication methods:
  • OWE (Opportunistic Wireless Encryption) for Open Networks
  • WPA3-Personal
  • WPA3-Enterprise
  • WPA3-Enterprise 192-bit mode
  • WPA3-Compatibility
    Important

    Important

    WPA3-Compatibility is not WFA compliant. WPA3-Compatibility supports both WPA2 Personal and WPA3 Personal on the same network. If a WPA3-Compatibility network is assigned to 6 GHz radio, only WPA3 Personal is assigned, thus making the network compliant.

ExtremeCloud IQ Controller requires that your 6 GHz radio network assignment be WFA 6E compliant. It rejects network configuration changes that result in 6 GHz radio network assignments that are not compliant. It might be necessary to redefine your networks when configuring the 6 GHz radio on the Universal Access Points.
Note

Note

For all Extreme Networks access points, use the Extreme Networks certified ACC-WIFI-MICRO-USB console cable. Other MICRO-USB console cables have not been certified by Extreme Networks.

AP5020 Support for AFC

LPI (Low Power Indoor) operation is permitted in US and Canada, as is 6 GHz SP (Standard Power).

Before the 6 GHz radio can turn on with SP (Standard Power):

  1. The AP5020 must obtain GPS coordinates from the Extreme Mobile App (to function as an anchor) or derive geo coordinates from the Geo-Location Agent.

  2. The AFC server has to allocate spectrum; that is, the channel power plan based on the reported geo-location coordinates.

Radio Support for AP5020 per Compliance Region outlines the current radio support per compliance region for the AP5020.

Table 1. Radio Support for AP5020 per Compliance Region
RegionIndoor 2.4GHzIndoor 5GHzIndoor 6GHz (LPI)Indoor 6GHz (SP)
FCCYesYesYesYes
CanadaYesYesYesYes
WR: Rest of WorldYesYesYesYes

AP5020 Software Defined Radios

The AP5020 software-defined WI-FI 7 AP provides support for dual 5 GHz and dual 6 GHz, as well as additional software programmable modes to optimally manage radios to provide the best performance.

The AP5020 tri-radio AP transmits with multiple combinations of three data radios across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands in addition to a dedicated tri-frequency sensor. The AP5020 monitors the software-configurable radios, enabling configuration of the APs in different modes as required.

Supported Software Defined Radio Modes shows the maximum TX power allowed to be conducted per chain to operate within hardware thermal design restrictions. The actual maximum TX power conducted may vary per channel, according to regulatory testing for each country.

For ExtremeCloud IQ Controller, the actual maximum conducted power per radio is calculated as follows:

  • 2x2 chain Radio: controller-reported conducted power per chain + 3dBm (if the radio reports 13dBm on the GUI, the actual power feed to the antennas is 16dBm)

  • 4x4 chain Radio: controller-reported conducted power per chain + 6dBm (if the radio reports 13dBm on the GUI, the actual power feed to the antennas is 19dBm)

The Effective Radiated Power (ERP) from the radio is calculated as follows:

  • Actual maximum conducted power per radio + Antenna Gain

Table 2. Supported Software Defined Radio Modes

Num

Mode

Radio 1

Radio 2

4x4 160 Mhz

Radio 3

12.4/5/6 GHz Service2.4G(18dBm 4x4)5G-Full(18dBm 4x4)6G(18dBm 4x4)Tri Radio
25/6 GHz Service w/ Sensortri-radio 2x2 scan5G-Full(18dBm 4x4)6G(18dBm 4x4)High Band w/ Scan
35L/5H/6 GHz Service 15G-Low(16dBm 2x2)5G-High(16dBm 4x4)6G(18dBm 4x4)Dual 5GHz w/ 6GHz
42.4/5 GHz Service w/ Sensortri-radio 2x2 scan 5G-Full(18dBm 4x4) 2.4G(18dBm 2x2)DBDC w/ Scan
55L/5H/2.4 GHz Service 15G-Low(16dBm 2x2)5G-High(18dBm 4x4)2.4G(18dBm 2x2)Dual 5GHz w/ 2.4GHz
66L/5/6H GHz Service 16G-Low(16dBm 2x2)5G(18dBm 4x4)6G-High(18dBm 4x4)Dual 6GHz w/ 5GHz

Notes:

1 When operating in Dual Band mode, it is possible to observe a higher power-level output on Radio 1 as compared to the Radio 3 output. This is possible because Radio 1 uses 2x2 transmission and Radio 3 uses 4x4 transmission, and the total power output is divided among antennas (chains) associated with each radio.

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