Cisco Mesh Access Points User Manual

For the 1520 Series
AP1520 radios have a much higher transmit power, better receiver sensitivity, and broader outdoor temperature
range as compared to AP1510 and AP1505 mesh access points.
• The 5-GHz radio (802.11a) is a Single-in-Single-Out (SISO) architecture and the 2.4-GHz radio (802.11
b/g) is 1x3 Single-in-Multiple-Out (SIMO) architecture.
• The 2.4-GHz radio has one transmitter and three receivers. Output power is configurable to 5 levels.
With its 3 receivers enabling maximum-ratio combining (MRC), this radio has better sensitivity and
range than a typical SISO 802.11b/g radio for OFDM rates.
When operating with data rates higher than 12 Mbps, you can increase gain on a 2.4-GHz radio to 2.7 dB by
adding two antennas and to 4.5 dB, by adding three antennas. For information about RX sensitivities and
MRC gain, see Table 9: RX Sensitivities and MRC Gain, on page 35.
Table 9: RX Sensitivities and MRC Gain
MRC gainTypical sensitivity (dBM)
Three antennasTwo antennasThree antennas
MRC
Two antennas
MRC
One antennaModulation Rate
0.00.0–92.0–92.0–92.01
0.00.0–91.0–91.0–91.02
0.00.0–90.3–90.3–90.35.5
0.00.0–90.0–90.0–90.011
0.00.0–90.3–90.3–90.36
0.00.0–90.3–90.3–90.39
1.00.5–90.0–89.5–89.012
2.01.5–90.0–89.5–88.018
4.02.7–88.3–87.0–84.324
4.52.7–85.8–84.0–81.336
4.52.7–81.8–80.0–77.348
4.52.7–80.5–78.7–76.054
For the 1550 Series
In the 1552 series mesh access point, MRC gain is different than the 1520 series mesh access points. The
1520 series access points do not have 802.11n functionality. In the 2.4-GHz band, it has only one transmitter
and up to three receivers. Therefore, it is SIMO (Single in Multiple out) in 2.4 GHz. In the 5-GHz band, it
Cisco Mesh Access Points, Design and Deployment Guide, Release 7.3
OL-27593-01 35
Mesh Network Components
Cisco Outdoor Mesh Access Points

Cisco Mesh Access Points Specifications

General

Brand	Cisco
Model	Mesh Access Points
Category	Wireless Access Point
Language	English