ARM Overview

ARMAdaptive Radio Management. ARM dynamically monitors and adjusts the network to ensure that all users are allowed ready access. It enables full utilization of the available spectrum to support maximum number of users by intelligently choosing the best RF channel and transmit power for APs in their current RF environment. is a radio frequency management technology that optimizes WLANWireless Local Area Network. WLAN is a 802.11 standards-based LAN that the users access through a wireless connection. performance even in the networks with highest traffic by dynamically and intelligently choosing the best 802.11802.11 is an evolving family of specifications for wireless LANs developed by a working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 802.11 standards use the Ethernet protocol and Carrier Sense Multiple Access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) for path sharing. channel and transmitting power for each Instant AP in its current RFRadio Frequency. RF refers to the electromagnetic wave frequencies within a range of 3 kHz to 300 GHz, including the frequencies used for communications or Radar signals. environment. ARM works with all standard clients, across all operating systems, while remaining in compliance with the IEEEInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 802.11 standards. It does not require any proprietary client software to achieve its performance goals. ARM ensures low-latency roaming, consistently high performance, and maximum client compatibility in a multi-channel environment. By ensuring the fair distribution of available Wi-FiWi-Fi is a technology that allows electronic devices to connect to a WLAN network, mainly using the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio bands. Wi-Fi can apply to products that use any 802.11 standard. bandwidth to mobile devices, ARM ensures that data, voice, and video applications have sufficient network resources at all times. ARM allows mixed 802.11a802.11a provides specifications for wireless systems. Networks using 802.11a operate at radio frequencies in the 5 GHz band. The specification uses a modulation scheme known as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) that is especially well suited to use in office settings. The maximum data transfer rate is 54 Mbps., b, g, n, and ac client types to inter operate at the highest performance levels.

When ARM is enabled, an Instant AP dynamically scans all 802.11 channels within its 802.11 regulatory domain at regular intervals and sends reports on WLAN coverage, interference, and intrusion detection to the virtual controller. ARM computes coverage and interference metrics for each valid channel, chooses the best performing channel, and transmit power settings for each Instant AP RF environment. Each Instant AP gathers other metrics on its ARM-assigned channel to provide a snapshot of the current RF health state.

Instant APs support the following ARM features:

Channel or Power Assignment—Assigns channel and power settings for all the Instant APs in the network according to changes in the RF environment.

Voice Aware Scanning—Improves voice quality by preventing an Instant AP from scanning for other channels in the RF spectrum during a voice call and by allowing an Instant AP to resume scanning when there are no active voice calls.

Load Aware Scanning—Dynamically adjusts the scanning behavior to maintain uninterrupted data transfer on resource intensive systems when the network traffic exceeds a predefined threshold.

BandBand refers to a specified range of frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. Steering—Assigns the dual-band capable clients to the 5 GHzGigahertz. band on dual-band Instant APs thereby reducing co-channel interference and increasing the available bandwidth for dual-band clients.

Client Match—Continually monitors the RF neighborhood of the client to support the ongoing band steering and load balancing of channels, and enhanced Instant AP reassignment for roaming mobile clients.

Airtime Fairness—Provides equal access to all clients on the wireless medium, regardless of client type, capability, or operating system to deliver uniform performance to all clients.

For more information on ARM features supported by the APs, see the Aruba Instant User Guide.