Improving performance of a wireless bridge

[SteveP]

Hi,

I've got a pair of access points operating as a wireless bridge, and would like to boost the signal, particularly of the remote access point, to improve connectivity. The local access point broadcasts wifi signal in its area, so I'm guessing a directional antenna probably isn't appropriate for it, but don't know whether the receiving end would benefit from a directional antenna?

I'm a little confused because all of the boosting antennas only have a single connection, and my access points have two aerials. Does this mean that I need to purchase two boosting aerials, or will just one do?

Cheers,

Steve.

 

[vsmora]

You will get some benefit from a directional antenna at just one end. It will make the WAP more sensitive to receive and more focused to transmit in the given direction.

In single-band (ABG) WAPs the extra antenna is used for signal diversity to allow better coverage, but only one at a time according to the best signal. Many WAPs that appear to only have one antenna actually have a smaller internal one too, printed into the PCB. If you still have enough local coverage with a single antenna on the local WAP, then it will be fine to use a directional on the 2nd port, as diversity will keep everything happy and there's little to be gained from using 2 directionals in the same direction on one WAP.

Take care with dual-band WAPs, as they may dedicate one antenna per band e.g. swapping the local 2.4GHz dipole for a directional might leave local devices with 5GHz access only.

"N" WAPs use the extra antennas for diversity and additional "spatial streams" i.e. to have more "conversations" at once. This can be with one client to double max speed, or to allow several devices to get the best out of their link simultaneously. Assuming you'll still have some internal antennas for local coverage, you may improve the bridge bandwidth by using 2 directional antennas per WAP.

 

[SteveP]

Thanks for the info. The access points (Tenda W306R's) are "N" rated, and I checked and found that the unit would work withouth antenna 1, but seemed totally reliant on antenna 2 - without that it wouldn't work at all. Presumably, that would be the one that would benefit most from a directional antenna.

Cheers,

Steve.