Can BeamFlex be disabled on a T-310S?

Question

We have a customer with T-310S access points in a warehouse with approx 35' ceiling heights.  The APs are mounted straight down shooting the sectoral antenna coverage to ground.  There are significant roaming issues and connectivity issues from forklift mounted Zebra terminals.  The leading suspect cause is BeamFlex adjustments to coverage.  Can BeamFlex be disabled?  Will this also set channel/power manually or allow RRM to handle it?

david_black_594 · Answer

If the T310s APs (the 120 sector model) are mounted on the ceiling pointing down to the floor, that is the problem. You will have better luck if you move them to the wall mounted at 12-15 ft and pointed straight down the aisle.  The spacing of the APs will depend on contents, rack length. and aisle width.  If rack length is less than 250 ft, you would have equally good luck with any of the low-end indoor APs.  For rack lengths  250-400  the 120 sector will work fine, for rack lengths > 400 ft a "T310n" was a good choice (before it was discontinued).  We avoid mounting directly to the ceiling especially within pick aisles (collision zones). First choice is right-angle wall mounts at ladder serviceable height (keep the AP horizontal).  2nd choice is conduit mount in open areas or transit aisles (where forklifts are traveling, not picking, and the loads are always at ground level).  Use EMT to lower the AP 10-15 ft from the ceiling structure and stay 12 ft away from pick aisles and rack edges (anyplace where fork lifts might have elevated loads).  Camera guys basically mount the same way a lot of times.  90% of the time we use indoor APs (R3xx on the walls due to lower max operating temp), and R5xx for conduit mounts.  We use directionals for long contiguous rack lenghts where there are no transit aisles.  For example, most Amazon warehouses that we do have 36-45 ft ceilings, 30+ ft tall uprights, extremely narrow 6 ft aisles, and 450-550 ft long racks with no transit aisles or tunnels.  Beamflex is the reason why Ruckus far outperforms other brands in warehouse, factories, and outdoor areas.

syamantak_omer · Answer

Test reply, please ignore.

DarrelRhodes · Answer

Hello

It's not possible to disable BeamFlex functionality. However, it shouldn't be necessary, as BeamFlex only operates within the radiation pattern of the AP's antenna.  In the case of the T310s this is 120-degrees (horizontal).

Ruckus APs have been deployed in hundreds (if not thousands) of warehouses globally, without issues. I did this prior to joining the company. However, it's not unusual for a network to require some fine-tuning to provide optimum connectivity with the specific client-devices in use in the environment.

There are too many configuration options to cover here. However, I would recommend investigating disabling of multicast-to-unicast, disabling of DSSS (802.11b), disabling DFS 5GHz channels and increasing minimum BSS rates and potentially reducing TX powers.

I hope that helps,
Darrel.