A wireless access point (AP or WAP) provides wireless clients with access to network resources. APs can be deployed and managed as standalone, lightweight, or cloud-based devices, depending on the WLAN architecture. section 19.0
Evaluate an access point through its operating environment and deployment model:
- Plan coverage because wireless signals weaken through free-space path loss and may be absorbed, reflected, refracted, diffracted, or scattered by surroundings. section 18.5
- Account for interference from neighboring WLANs, microwave ovens, cordless phones, and Bluetooth devices. section 18.5
- Distinguish standalone, lightweight, and cloud-based AP architectures, along with their associated controller deployment options. section 19.0
- Relate the AP to WLAN infrastructure such as wireless LAN controllers, access or trunk ports, and link aggregation groups. section 19.0
Coverage and interference check
An AP may fail to provide usable access at the edge of its coverage area when signal strength becomes too weak, or when walls and nearby wireless devices attenuate or interfere with the signal. section 18.5
