AP to client distance is recommended. That is, if we halve the AP to AP distance, we will get the approximate
cell radius.
The AP1550 series offers comparatively better range and capacity as it has the 802.11n functionality. It has
advantages of ClientLink (Beamforming) in downstream, better receiver sensitivities because of MRC in
upstream, multiple transmitter streams and a few other advantages of 802.11n such as channel combining and
so on. The 1552 access points can provide comparatively larger and higher capacity cells.
Link budgets are different for different country domains. The discussion in this section takes into account
the most widely distributed and large country domains: -A and -E.
Note
Comparison of Link Budgets of AP1520 Series and AP1552 Series in 2.4- and 5-GHz Bands (-A Domain)
For the 2.4-GHz band 1520s and 1552s have almost the same Tx power, but 1552s have 3 dB better Rx
sensitivity because of improved MRC (see
Table 19: Link Budget Comparison for the 2.4-GHz band in -A
Domain, on page 74
).
Table 19: Link Budget Comparison for the 2.4-GHz band in -A Domain
Comments
Cisco 1522 (-A Domain)
Cisco 1552 (-A domain)
Parameter
Center Frequencies
2412-2462 MHz
2412-2462 MHz
Frequency Band
802.11b/g
802.11b/g/n
Air Interface
20 MHz
20 MHz
Channel Bandwidth
1
2
No. of Tx Spatial Streams
Up to 54 Mbps
Up to 144 Mbps
15
PHY Data Rates
Maximum power, data
rate dependent
27 dBm
28 dBm, Composite
16
Tx Power Conducted
Includes 4.7 dB MRC
gain for AP1552
–90 dBm at 6 Mbps
–80 dBm at 54 Mbps
–94 dBm at 6 Mbps
–79 dBm at 54 Mbps
–73 dBm at 300 Mbps
17
Rx Sensitivity
3
3
No. of Receive Channels
MRC
MRC
Rx Diversity
0.5 dB
0.5 dB, with external
antenna
Antenna Cable loss
Cisco Mesh Access Points, Design and Deployment Guide, Release 7.3
74
OL-27593-01
Site Preparation and Planning
Cell Planning and Distance