Antenna Selection

While several antennas may work in a given environment, some will provide better coverage than others. Using the right antenna in the right location will maximize both the performance and coverage of your network. Understanding the key characteristics that describe how an antenna sends and receives radio frequency signals is critical to finding the ideal antenna for your deployment.

Enterprise Wireless LAN products operate in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz ISM bands allocated for unlicensed use. Access point and access port products available today support either the 802.11b/g/n or the 802.11a/n standard, or both. Wireless devices conforming to the 802.11b/g standard operate in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, while 802.11a devices operate in the 5 GHz band. The antennas in this guide are grouped according to the frequency band they support. Some antennas are designed to operate within either band. These antennas (described as “dual-band”) may be connected to radios operating in either the 2.4 or 5 GHz bands, although a single antenna may not be connected to two radios at the same time.