Channel Inspector Report — Smart RF

The Channel Inspector Report enhances Smart RF on the controller by providing details about channel interference for each radio.

To access the Channel Inspector Report for Smart RF:
  1. Go to Monitor > Sites.
  2. Select a site. Then select the Smart RF tab.
  3. From the AP Smart RF dashboard, select a row on the Channel Ranking widget.

The channel data generated from Smart RF populates the report. The report is generated from the last channel scan. The report lists visible BSSID and SSID data with RF measurements.

Table 1. Channel Inspector Interference Report
Field Description
Interference Type

Describes the channel interference in relation to the operating channel. Possible values are:

  • Co-Channel. All the APs on the same channel as the target AP are competing. Using Distributed Control Function (DCF) collisions are avoided because the APs know to avoid each other; however, the more traffic on the channel the greater the chance of collisions. Throughput slows but all packets get through.

    Example Notation, Co-Channel 20 44: (5220) indicates that there is co-channel interference on the beacon channel 5220.

  • Adjacent. APs on adjacent channels are close enough to interfere but not close enough to know they are interfering. They do not have the benefit of DCF.
  • Overlapping. Applicable for 40MGz and 80MGz channels only. The 20MGz channel is designated as the primary and the other channels are designated as secondary extension channels. If the primary channel of one AP is the same as the extension channel of another AP it is considered overlapping. Overlapping is the worst type of interference.
Frequency Radio Frequency channels with the beacon channel (primary) denoted with brackets. The following is an 80 MHz channel example showing [5220] as the beacon channel. 44: (5180 5200 [5220] 5240).
RSS Received Signal Strength value.
BSSID Basic Service Set Identifier. Identifies the AP.
SSID Service Set Identifier. Identifies the network to which the station is associated.
AP Name Name of the AP provided at network setup.