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Wi-Fi 6E Standard Power and Automated Frequency Coordination

Standard power is available on certain Juniper APs.

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows networks on Wi-Fi 6E to operate under Low Power Indoor (LPI) operating class, which limit operations to indoor only, no external antennas, no weatherproof enclosures. LPI also limits power to 5 dBm/MHz PSD (Power Spectral Density).

The other operating class that the FCC had announced at the same time was Standard Power (SP) which came with a requirement that its operations be coordinated through an AFC or Automated Frequency Coordination service. This was required to prevent interference with incumbent users (legal license holders still using these frequencies) and protect their existing deployments. The AFC provides coordination so that Wi-Fi and other users can both operate without worry of interference. Wi-Fi 6E operating under Standard Power opens up several of the use cases that LPI cannot address. The SP operating class rules:

Indoor and Outdoor operations

Allows the use of external antenna’s

Allows more power with 23 dBm/MHz PSD and max AP EIRP of 36 dBm and Client max *EIRP of 30 dBm

Operations are limited to UNii-5 and UNii-7, with UNii 6 and 8 being protected for Incumbents

*EIRP = Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power or radio geek for what comes out of the antennas.

SP operating Class in Wi-Fi 6E in the US?

Different Juniper APs support different power modes (standard and low power indoor), different radio bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and/or 6Ghz), and vary in whether or not they include GPS.

For the 6 GHzGPS is needed for a precise geolocation, which Mist uses to perform its cloud-based AFC optimizations for the 6 GHz radio spectrum. . If the AP itself does not have GPS, it can leverage the GPS from a nearby AP

Table 1 shows GPS and power modes for the 6 GHz APs. For example, the Juniper AP45E does not include GPS. So, for the 6 GHz radio band to work, you need to deploy the AP45E in the same site (or within the radio frequency vicinity) as an AP that does have an inboard GPS so the AP45E can get it's location from that AP.

  • The AFC system (database driven) provides the maximum permissible power to 6g APs based on the info provided by the FCC (U.S. Federal Communications Commission) regulations.

  • Based on the AP’s data (geographic location coordinates - latitudes/longitudes, antenna height above ground level (AGL) or above mean sea level (AMSL), manufacturer’s serial number, etc), the AFC system will dynamically send the power info (EIRP/PSD values) for channel-based/frequency-based combinations, which in-turn will be used by AP during frame transmission.

  • AFC systems allow SP (Standard Power) APs to transmit at a higher power, while avoiding interference between the users within the band.

For APs that support standard power only, it is enabled automatically when you configure the 6 GHz radio on the WLAN. For APs that support both low power indoor (LPI) and standard power, however, the default power mode is LPI. For these APs, you need to enable standard power when you enable the 6 GHz radio, for example as part of a dual band configuration on an AP64.

6 GHz standard power requires GPS for geolocation. For Juniper APs without GPS, they can get a geolocation from any neighboring Juniper AP that does have GPS.

Table 1: Power Modes for Juniper APs with 6 GHz Radios
Juniper APs with 6 GHz Radio GPS Low Power Indoor Standard Power
AP66/D yes no planned
AP47/D yes default yes
AP47E yes no yes
AP36/AP37 yes default planned
*AP36M yes default planned
AP64 yes no default
AP45 **no default planned
AP45E **no no planned
AP34 **no default planned
AP24 **no default planned

*AP36M defaults to the integrated directional antenna and LPI.

** These APs require a nearby Juniper AP with GPS for their geolocation.

In the United States, the FCC requires standard power for weatherized APs and APs with external antennas, even if they are deployed indoors. For indoor-rated APs, standard power is optional, for example, in a deployment where high AP and/or client transmit power is required.

Automated Frequency Control (AFC) for standard-power operations reduces the potential for harmful interference to existing licensed users of the spectrum.