User's Manual

ManualsBrandsGE MDS ManualsElectronicsWireless IP/Ethernet Transceiver

100

90 MDS iNET 900 Series User’s Guide MDS 05-2806A01, Rev. E.1

Tips for Optimizing Network Performance

Here are some suggestion on things to try that may maximize

throughput:

1. AP Only: Increment the

Dwell Time to the maximum of 262.1 ms.

This lowers the overhead since it will stay longer on a channel. The

down side is that if a particular channel is interfered with it will take

longer to hop to another channel.

(

Main Menu>>Radio Conﬁguration>>Dwell Time)

2. AP Only: Change the Beacon Period to Normal (508 ms). This will

also reduce the overhead of beacons sent out. On the down side,

association time may be a little longer.

(

Main Menu>>Radio Conﬁguration>>Beacon Period)

3. Change the Fragmentation Threshold to the maximum of 1600. Longer

packets will be sent over the air reducing overhead. On the down

side, if a packet is corrupted it will take longer to be retransmitted.

(

Main Menu>>Radio Conﬁguration>>Fragmentation Threshold)

4. Increase the RTS Threshold to 1600. RTS mechanism is used to

reserve a time slot if packets exceed this number. On the down side,

a hidden-node might interfere more often than if RTS is not used.

(

Main Menu>>Radio Conﬁguration>>RTS Threshold)

5. Decreasing the RTS Threshold, to the 100 to 200 range, will improve

throughput on a busy network. It will add small packets, but reduce

collisions (and resulting re-tries) of large packets.

(

Main Menu>>Radio Conﬁguration>>RTS Threshold)

6. Use the Performance Information Menu to check the packets received by

zone. (Remotes Only:

Main Menu>>Performance Information>>Packet

Statistics>>Packets Received by Zone

)

Readings should be close in value. A signiﬁcantly lower value (2%

reduction) probably indicates interference. Performance can be

improved by blocking the affected zones at the Access Point. (

Main

Menu>>Radio Conﬁguration>>Skip Zone Option

)

7. Use the Performance Information Menu to check for errors, retries and

dropped packets. Do the same with Ethernet trafﬁc.

With weak signals, interference, or hidden nodes, the optimal per-

formance may be lower due to collisions and retries.

Data Latency—TCP versus UDP Mode

The latency of data passing through a network will depend on user data

message length, the overall level of traffic on the network, and the

quality of the radio path.