Short Range Devices in Europe

[bhunt7]

Does Cisco have any hardware that supports "Short Range Devices" on the 5Ghz frequency in Europe?

[Aaron]

I hadn't heard of this "Short Range Devices" terminology before - went to the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Range_Devices, and it seems that this is just a generic term. I infer from this that a device that uses 802.11, in the specified 5GHz bands, transmitting at low enough power, would count as a "Short Range Device" - and such a device would presumably be supported by a Cisco AP with 5GHz radio.

[bhunt7]

Hello Aaron,

I have a customer in Europe that per ETSI can only communicate on the "SRD" channels due to the regulatory requirements. Please see the attachment. For the Wireless controller that we use "Cisco 5508" when the country of Germany is selected the "SRD" channels are not available to enable (149,153,157,161,165). I was trying to find out if Cisco has any hardware that would support these channels in Europe?


Thanks,
Brian,

[Flavio Miranda]

You can create an new RF Profile and then allow the channels you need.

As mentioned already, there's no reason for a special hardware when what you need is actually Wi-Fi basically.

[bhunt7]

The Cisco 5508 controller that is deployed in Europe does not allow for the channels that allocated for SRD to be enabled. Please see below. Creating and new RF profile will not help if the controller will not allow or the channels to be enabled. This is only in the EU region due to ETSI regulations.

Frequency Bandwidth Channels
5Ghz 20MHz 149,153,157,161,165

[Flavio Miranda]

Hi,

 Then go to Wireless Tab, allow one Country that allows those channels. There´is nothing wrong if that.

Then, put those allowed channel only on the new RF profile.

[bhunt7]

Yes, I see where I could do that by selecting another country that allows those channels but, That would break the ETSI regulations by enabling channels that are not supposed to be enabled. That is the reason why we select the country the device is deployed in to make sure we are using the channels that are allowed for that country correct per ETSI or FCC whatever region it's deployed? If that is not true then why even have a country selection just enable all channels?

[Flavio Miranda]

That´s correct. However, depends on where you are going to use it, you will not cause any damage to others.

 One way or another, if those channel are not allowed for you, we can conclude that you cant use those devices that work on that channels right ?

[bhunt7]

Hello Miranda,

That is correct we will not be able to use those devices. But, the company needs to use those devices. I'm the network Engineer that is tasked with making it work if that is possible. That is why I was asking is there is another type of Hardware that Cisco has that supports the SRD channels in Europe?

Thanks for all the information.

[Aaron]

Hi Brian, sorry, it doesn't look like Cisco has any products that are licensed in the ETSI region for the 5725–5875 MHz band. We only support up through channel 140 (5710).

Aaron

[bhunt7]

Hello Aaron,

Thank You.. That is what I thought when doing my research but, I thought I would put the question out there.

Thank You for the information.

[Flavio Miranda]

Alrigh!

If those channel is now allowed, they will not be dont matter the hardware. The amendment is not based on hardware but in Frequency range.

 If Cisco had a special hardware for SRD it will not allows those channel as well based on your regulatory domain.

 But I got your point, You asked for Cisco special hardware and I tried to help with a different solution.

 Best of luck!

[patoberli]

For the curious ones, here is some much more detailed information: https://www.bundesnetzagentur.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Unternehmen_Institutionen/Koexistenzstudie_EN.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

And I think the official standard documents, although I haven't yet found one for the 5 GHz range....

http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/radio/short-range-devices

What kind of devices (brand and model), if it isn't classified, are they going to use?

[edit]

Anyway, unless those devices actually use the Wi-Fi of your company and not their own, non Wi-Fi compatible standard (which I actually assume it isn't), then you don't need to configure anything on your current Wi-Fi implementation. The new system would run completely on it's own. That's at least how most, if not all, of the building automization systems (door controll, lights, access controll...) work. They use, often in Europe the 868 MHz band, where they have a good reach and not influence the existing structure.

So as a first, check if those SRD devices can actually work on the Wi-Fi standard. If not, they need their own Accesspoints for their own standard. The Cisco APs only support the Wi-Fi standards (and some very special RFID ones, if you have bought the hardware upgrade for the 3x00 series).