User's Manual

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Aligning Nodes

The next step in the installation process is to align the customer-side MetroE node to the plant-side

node for maximum signal strength using the RSSI (received signal strength indicator) metric on

the ARCView Statistics screen:

1. Connect the mesh to a network containing ARCView.

2. Launch ARCView and login to the mesh network.

3. Right click the network on the Network View. This will launch the Node View screen

showing all the MetroE nodes in the network.

4. Select the customer-side MetroE Icon on the Node View screen. A drop down menu will

appear.

5. Left click on Statistics. This will bring up among other parameters, the RSSI value of the

node.

6. Adjust the horizontal, vertical and up/down tilt of the MetroE ODU until the maximum RSSI

value is achieved. Note each change will take approximately 5 minutes to register on the

screen. (Note that these are negative number, so -85 dBm is a stronger signal than -95

dBm.)

(a) The

RSSI value should be greater than ---60 dBm in order for the radios to reliably

associate and pass data.

(b) The

RSSI value must be greater than the RSSI Threshold set for the Mesh Network.

The RSSI value is typically set above interfering signals found during the site survey

process.

7. Check that the RSSI value of the network side MetroE node is greater than -60 dBm or the

RSSI Threshold plus the Hsyteresis Window.

and/or check the path between the two nodes.