Bluetooth radio coverage patterns for WiFi5 APs

cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Bluetooth radio coverage patterns for WiFi5 APs

On the datasheets for the MR44 and other WiFi6 APs coverage patterns include the bluetooth radio, similar to below:

 

cmr_0-1641919315361.png

 

I am looking for the same coverage information for the WiFi5 APs like the MR42, has this ever been mapped out?  I ask as for the MR44 the 2.4GHz wireless coverage is very different to the 2.4GHz bluetooth coverage.

 

6 REPLIES 6
BlakeRichardson
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Kind of a big deal

One would have thought so. 

PaulMcG
Getting noticed

The datasheets for MR42 are still available online but they don't include the converage patterns for bluetooth, only wifi.

cmr
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Kind of a big deal

@PaulMcG that's what I'm talking about.  The info isn't in the datasheet, but might exist somewhere... Hopefully!?!

MerakiDave
Meraki Employee
Meraki Employee

@cmr the BLE radio and separate dual-band scanning radio are also omnidirectional in nature, same as what the WiFi6 data sheets show, but when the data sheets were created they only developed the charts for the client-serving radios.  So for those 3rd and 4th radios on the WiFi5 models, all of the XY/XZ/YZ cuts would look VERY similar, but the charts were not generated.  If I come across something that can be shared I'll unicast it to you.

cmr
Kind of a big deal
Kind of a big deal

Thanks @MerakiDave when you say similar, do you mean similar to the MR44 BLE chart above, or to the MR42 2.4GHz Wi-fi coverage (I'm presuming the former)?  I ask as we have a weird issue with an MT where it gets a very low signal near an MR42, but a wireless device gets only one bar off full.  If the former then I think the MT might be located in one of the big indents where the signal is particularly low...  The issue is that troubleshooting BLE signal strength is rather tricky with the equipment we have, unless we just move the AP orientation, wait until the next MT poll and see what happens...?

MerakiDave
Meraki Employee
Meraki Employee

Correct, sorry that wasn't clear - will be very similar to the MR44 BLE cut charts, not exact of course on a different model AP with a different shape and board geometry, but overall it's (generally speaking) a somewhat spherical / omni pattern. Would be pretty tough to determine if an MT just happened to be sitting in one of the indents, and of course typical Bluetooth distances will apply (unrelated to the actual client-serving radios and their respective omni coverage patterns), plus whatever else might be going on in the 2.4 space.   And yes, if it's not inconvenient, something as simple as changing the AP orientation or even moving it by a couple inches could provide a data point and compare signal strength reported on the MT's status page.

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