MR46E + MA-ANT-3-A recommended height to install

[maromero]

Hi,

Good morning.

I have a customer who installed MR46E + MA-ANT-3-A in a ceilling about 10 meters. He has many issues because the coverage in the floor is about 58 to 65dBm.

What is the recommended height to install these APs with theses antennas?

Do you recommend to use other antennas by this height?

The antennas for Meraki MR46-E are the following:

• MA-ANT-3-A6: Meraki Dipole Antenna (3.8/5.5 dBi)
• MA-ANT-3-B6: Meraki Dipole Antenna (3/5.7 dBi)
• MA-ANT-3-C6: Meraki Panel Omni Antenna (4.9dBi)
• MA-ANT-3-D6: Meraki Downtilt Panel Omni Antenna (2.9 dBi (2.9) / 3.7 dBi (5))
• MA-ANT-3-E6: Meraki Wide Patch Antenna (E6: 7 dBi (2.4) / 6.3 dBi (5))
• MA-ANT-3-F6: Meraki Narrow Patch Antenna (11.2 dBi (2.4) / 10.8 dBi (5))

Thanks in advance.

Regards.

[techiejames]

From a pure RSSI standpoint, those signals are right in the sweet spot for most designs. I'd hazard a guess that signal strength isn't the main culprit with the reported issues.

If this was a greenfield design at 30 feet, I'd lean towards a patch or maybe a downtilt Omni depending on the building layout. You really should do an AP on a stick survey though to validate the antenna choice. 

[maromero]

Hi techiejames,

The customer has installed these APs Meraki MR46 with MA-ANT-3-A6: Meraki Dipole Antenna (3.8/5.5 dBi) about 32 feet or 10 meters.

In the floor, the endpoints has between -58 and -65dBm are we are specting many issues about coverage, continuos roaming,...

The customer only use 5 GHz frequency.

Maybe we have to  raise the power of the APs from 10dBm to 24dBm or maximun power?

We did a Site Survey On Site.

Do you recommend to change the antennas from MA-ANT-3-A6 to:

• MA-ANT-3-E6: Meraki Wide Patch Antenna (E6: 7 dBi (2.4) / 6.3 dBi (5))
• MA-ANT-3-F6: Meraki Narrow Patch Antenna (11.2 dBi (2.4) / 10.8 dBi (5))

Thanks in advanced.

Regards.

[antonis_sp]

Raising the AP power will almost always cause more problems.

Installing omni antennas at a large height (over 3-4 meters) is not recommended.

Choise of antennas and installation height should be done at least with a simulation and later verified on-site.

You probably have a few APs installed in the same area and you are seeing most of them due to the antenna's and height used. Patch antennas can be used to localize each APs coverage area and reduce signal overlap between APs, but you will need more APs.

[MarcelTempelman]

I often use MA-ANT-3-E6 antennes to cover ground areas if the ceiling is above 8m (in designs). Below that I'd advise you to use a downtilt omni antenna. Main advantage of the 3-E is that you get a smaller coverage cell than with an omni so if roaming is required this will give you a more predictable wireless environment.

This is a MR42E with a 3-E antennes at approx 11m in a warehouse. 3-F antennes are used for getting the signal between the racks (also mounted at 11m) and standard APs at the docks (mounted at 3m).

[JonathanHa]

Hey, any chance to have a chat/call with you on your experience? 
Currently struggling with simulation results of MR46E with MA-ANT-3-D at around 9m height and MA-ANT-3-A6 for end of the hallways.

Not sure if the pattern will cover the whole ground (daily operation location to scan objects = 99,7% of the time).
During inventory (0,03%of the time) scanning needs to be done at highest points as well (about 9m).

Simulation is from Late 2021, not sure if new antennas have been released and would be used today.

Best,
Jonathan

[MarcelTempelman]

9m is just above the recommended height for the 3-D antenna. It might work but you might experience some problems at the ground level. The 3-E is more suited for that. The antenna portfolio is still the same. Must say after doing a few Cisco jobs again, Meraki has a better antenna portfolio than Cisco.... (more choice). 

A chat or call is no problem.

[UKDanJones]

RSSI looks good, but I suspect it will be a problem with multi-path (lots of reflections) What's your Minimum Basic Rate? I'd suggest that if it's a warehouse environment you'd want to lower it to 6 Mbps

[JonathanHa]

Hi DanJones,
what's RSSI - sorry, still quite new to the topic? And the minimum basic rate I do not know either, but would that decrease the multi-path issue in a way?

Sorry as well for the belayed answer, I did not recognize your comment.

[JonathanHa]

Hey @MarcelTempelman ,

update on that site, referring to your assistance: We changed the design to F6-Antennas (height ~11m) at both ends und using B6-Antennes in between (also ~11m). On a different site, they used F6-Antennas at ~5m at both end of the rows and expect to cover >90m of distance without B6 antennas in between.
More to follow 😉 

[MarcelTempelman]

Good to hear and it was a pleasure to help!