Wireless Interface Configuration
Configuring Radio Settings
■ Multicast Data Rate: The maximum data rate at which the access point
transmits multicast and broadcast traffic.
■ Beacon Interval: The rate at which beacon frames are transmitted from
the access point. The beacon frames allow wireless clients to maintain
contact with the access point. They may also carry power-management
information.
■ Data Beacon Rate: The rate at which stations in sleep mode must wake
up to receive broadcast/multicast transmissions.
Known also as the Delivery Traffic Indication Map (DTIM) interval, it
indicates how often the MAC layer forwards broadcast/multicast traffic,
which is necessary to wake up stations that are using Power Save mode.
The default value of 2 indicates that the access point will save all broad-
cast/multicast frames for the Basic Service Set (BSS) and forward them
after every second beacon. Using smaller DTIM intervals delivers broad-
cast/multicast frames in a more timely manner, causing stations in Power
Save mode to wake up more often and drain power faster. Using higher
DTIM values reduces the power used by stations in Power Save mode, but
delays the transmission of broadcast/multicast frames.
■ Fragmentation Threshold: Configures the minimum packet size that
can be fragmented when passing through the access point. Fragmentation
of the PDUs (Package Data Unit) can increase the reliability of transmis-
sions because it increases the probability of a successful transmission due
to smaller frame size. If there is significant interference present, or
collisions due to high network utilization, try setting the fragment size to
send smaller fragments. This will speed up the retransmission of smaller
frames. However, it is more efficient to set the fragment size larger if very
little or no interference is present because it requires overhead to send
multiple frames.
■ RTS Threshold: Sets the packet size threshold at which a Request to Send
(RTS) signal must be sent to a receiving station prior to the sending station
starting communications. The access point sends RTS frames to a
receiving station to negotiate the sending of a data frame. After receiving
an RTS frame, the station sends a CTS (clear to send) frame to notify the
sending station that it can start sending data.
If the RTS threshold is set to 0, the access point always sends RTS signals.
If set to 2347, the access point never sends RTS signals. If set to any other
value, and the packet size equals or exceeds the RTS threshold, the RTS/
CTS (Request to Send / Clear to Send) mechanism will be enabled.
■ Maximum Associations: Sets the maximum number of clients that can
be associated with the access point at the same time. The maximum
number of associated clients is the total for all SSID interfaces on the
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