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Access Point Configurations
Access Point Configurations

Customize and monitor Advanced configurations on your Access Point

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Written by Team Celona
Updated over 2 months ago

Access Point Overview

An Access Point's details page houses its overall configurations and monitoring information. This includes -

  • Configurational Status & Operational Status

  • Access Point Details

  • Network Details

  • Access Point Config

  • Advanced Access Point Config

  • Radio Details

  • Antenna Details & Configuration

  • Active Devices (per specific Access Point)

  • Monitoring (charts of active devices and their throughput)

To open the Access Points Details page, select an Access Point from the Access Points inventory page in Celona Orchestrator.

Access Point Details

The Access Point Details section provides essential hardware attributes crucial for identification and monitoring.

  • Serial Number, found printed on the hardware's back, allowing for precise tracking and management.

  • MAC Address offers a unique identifier for network communication.

  • Model specification denotes the specific make and model of the Access Point, aiding in compatibility and troubleshooting.

  • Radio Technology indicates whether the Access Point is 4G or 5G, guiding network configuration and optimization efforts.

  • Operating Temperature periodically reported by the Access Point provides valuable insight into its current environmental conditions, facilitating maintenance and performance evaluation.

Network Details


The Network Details section offers comprehensive insights into the network attributes of the Access Point.

  • Access Point's IP address, facilitating network management and configuration.

  • Active Neighbors of the Access Point, aiding in network topology understanding and optimization

  • Active Devices connected to the Access Point, allowing for efficient network monitoring and resource allocation.

  • Ethernet properties essential for network stability and performance.

    This includes details on the Ethernet Link, specifying whether it's Copper or SFP, crucial for hardware compatibility and deployment.

    Auto-Negotiated Link Speed, which should ideally be at least 1000Mbps to ensure optimal Access Point functionality; lower speeds may lead to unpredictable behavior. Duplex mode, whether Full Duplex or Half Duplex, which influences data transmission efficiency and network reliability.

Access Point Configuration

The Access Point Config card highlights some wireless parameters you can configure. Each parameter provides information to help monitor performance and mobility on the Access Point.

Please note that two preconditions have to be met for these parameters to be displayed on the Orchestrator -

  • Access Point has to be added to a site and be operationally 'UP.'

  • The Celona Edge associated with the site must be running version 2206 or higher.

PLMN ID

The Celona network is identified using a Public Land Mobile Network Identity (PLMN-ID), which consists of a three-digit mobile country code (MCC) and a three-digit mobile network code (MNC). See the Edge Cluster Creation article for details on configuring the PLMN ID for your network.

Frequency Band (Read-Only)

The frequency band is allocated for the Access Point in 4G/5G and represents blocks of sequential frequency ranges.

  • For Celona 4G deployments, the frequency band 48 is used. It has a total of 150MHz within the 3500 MHz spectrum band that stretches between 3550-3700MHz (or 3.55-3.7GHz), operating in the CBRS spectrum in the United States.

  • For Celona 5G deployments, the frequency bands 48, 77, and 78 are supported.

Tracking Area Code (Read-Only)

Tracking Area Code (TAC) identifies the Tracking Area that serves a group of Access Points in a single core network. If a mobile device moves between different Tracking Areas, it will page the Core network with a Tracking Area Update specifying its current location (Tracking Area).

The TAC value assigned to a mobile device can move within this Tracking Area without changing its serving network.

TDD Configuration (Advanced Edit available from Wireless Configurations)

Celona uses TDD Duplex Mode for the frequency bands supported. In a TDD system, a single frequency is shared in the time domain between Uplink and Downlink. In TDD, supported frame configurations are based on different DL/UL partitions. Celona pre-configures a specific TDD configuration depending on the service requirements of the customer.

Supported Subframe configurations:

Downlink Heavy:

Selects more Downlink subframes when use cases require a greater proportion of Downlink data. E.g., Internet /ISP applications or connected workforce

Uplink Heavy:

Selects more Uplink subframes when the use case requires a greater proportion of Uplink data. This is when most traffic is uplinked, e.g., CCTV/IP camera applications, from remote cameras to the base.

Uplink/Downlink Balanced:

Selects a balanced number of Uplink and Downlink subframes when use cases require uplink and downlink devices and/or applications. E.g., a mix of devices with connected workforce and CCTV/IP camera applications.

TDD Slot Configurations

4G, TDD slot patterns

5G, TDD slot patterns

Downlink Heavy

TDD Config 2 (6D2U)

7D2U

Uplink Heavy

TDD Config 1 (4D4U)

3U1D

Uplink/Downlink Balanced

TDD Config 1 (4D4U)

5D4U

Uplink Target Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) - Advanced edit available from Edit Config

  • Default Setting: The Uplink Target CQI is preset to 13, accommodating most scenarios under the assumption of uniform cellular device distribution in the Celona network coverage area.

  • Cell Edge Challenge: If numerous client devices are positioned at the cell edges, far from Celona Access Points, the default CQI setting may lead to challenges. This includes increased interference, higher setup failures, call drops, and reduced throughput, collectively known as the 'cell edge problem'.

  • Recommended Adjustment for Cell Edge Cases: For optimal performance in cell edge scenarios, it's advised to adjust the Uplink Target CQI to either 9 or 10. This adjustment alters the modulation scheme chosen by the algorithm, based on the SINR reported by cellular devices. A lower CQI value reduces the SINR threshold needed for a higher modulation scheme, such as 16 QAM, thereby improving throughput for devices at the cell edge.

  • Trade-off: Be aware that reducing the Uplink Target CQI value may adversely affect throughput performance for devices nearer to the cell center. Therefore, this adjustment should be carefully considered based on specific network configurations and device locations.

Handover Parameters (Advanced edit available from Edit Config)

This section highlights the thresholds configured in Handover/Mobility capability between Access Points on the network.

  • A1 - Event A1 is triggered when a mobile device is at a location where Serving radio RSRP becomes better than the A1 threshold

  • A2 - Event A2 is triggered when a mobile device is at a location where Serving radio RSRP becomes worse than the A2 threshold

  • A3 - Event A3 is triggered when a neighboring cell becomes better than the serving cell by the A3 offset value. Event A3 triggers intra-frequency mobility, where the device moves between two radios on the same frequencies.

  • A5 - Event A5 is triggered when a mobile device is at a location where the serving radio becomes worse than the A5_1 threshold while a neighboring radio becomes better than the A5_2 threshold. Event A5 triggers inter-frequency mobility, where the device moves between two radios operating on different frequencies.

  • Hysteresis - RF measurements can widely vary from ±3dB to ±7dB or more. The hysteresis mobility margin is to avoid ping-pong mobility/handover effects and ensure neighboring radio RSRP is better than serving radio RSRP.

  • TTT (Time To Trigger) - The criteria for each mobility event trigger must be satisfied during the time to trigger. For example, if the TTT is set to 480ms, the mobile device has that long to report measurements before it can move to a different radio.

    Default Handover Thresholds:

    The thresholds below are recommended configurations by Celona when the network is brought up. These thresholds can be optimized based on use case requirements. Contact Celona Support to discuss your mobility use case.

Edit Handover Thresholds:

Antenna Configuration

Details on how to configure antenna information and activate your Access Points can be found in this article - Activating Celona Access Points

Advanced Configuration

The Advanced Access Point Config card highlights further advanced wireless parameters you can configure. Each parameter provides information to help monitor performance and mobility on the Access Point.

Time Sync Configuration

This configuration specifies the current protocol this Access Point uses to time synchronize with other Access Points on the Celona Network. This configuration can be edited from the Access Points Details page or in bulk from the Site Details page.

Refer to the Time Sync Configuration document for additional information and a guide to configuring a timing synchronization source for APs on your Celona network.

Carrier Aggregation

Enabling Carrier Aggregation doubles the bandwidth and, thereby, the bitrate on the Downlink and network capacity by combining CC (Component Carriers) to 40MHz.

Carrier Aggregation applies to Indoor Access Points and Outdoor Access Points with overlapping antennas or omni antennas.

Please note that Carrier Aggregation is only supported on Celona 4G Access Points.

Max Devices (per sector)

This configuration limits the maximum number of devices an Access Point can have connected at a given time.

For 4G Access Points, the maximum per sector can be - 16, 32 or 48

For 5G Access Points, the maximum per Access Point can be - 64.

5G AP supports 32 active and 64 connected users in the latest software release.

Editing Advanced Configuration

These advanced parameters mentioned above can be configured in two places -

  • the Edit Config dialog above the Advanced Access Point Config card, and

  • the Wireless Configurations page under Admin Settings.

Edit Config

The Edit Config button triggers the advanced configuration dialog where Carrier Aggregation, Max Devices, and the Tx Power can be modified.

Please note that any modifications to these parameters may result in network downtime -

  • you can choose to Configure Now and note that the Access Point will notice an immediate downtime, or

  • you can Schedule the configuration to go through during a maintenance window of your choosing to avoid impacting the connected devices on the network.

Wireless Configurations

Other parameters like TDD Config, QAM Configuration (UL), and UL MIMO can be configured via templates and applied to one or more sites on your network. Please note that these parameters cannot be configured individually per Access Point.

  • To create a wireless configuration template for one or more sites on your network, go to Admin Settings -> Wireless Configurations

  • Click on Create Template to create a new template for your site

  • Add a Template Name, and select the available scope: Entire Site (configuration to be applied across all APs on the site)

  • TDD - Uplink Heavy, Downlink Heavy or Balanced (see more details above)

  • QAM Configuration (UL) - QAM64 or QAM256

  • UL MIMO - Enable or Disable

  • Click on Create & Apply it to apply to an existing site immediately or Create to just create a template and apply to a site/sites later.

  • On clicking, Create & Apply, the Assign Template card shows available sites to apply this new template.

Related Articles
Performance metrics for private 4G
Access Point States
Activating Celona Access Points
General Test Details and Characteristics
Support Guide: Access Point Time Synchronization Events
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