Stadiums, arenas and big event spaces break most of the rules of everyday Wi-Fi design. The nearest mounting point can be 30 metres from the seats, and tens of thousands of people arrive at once. Cisco's answer used to be the Catalyst 9104 stadium antenna. Its successor is the Cisco Wireless CW9179F, a Wi-Fi 7 access point with built-in directional antennas. In this blog, we'll look at what's changed, how the beams work and what it takes to design and install one.
The 9104 was essentially a Catalyst 9130 access point built into a reconfigurable antenna (we nicknamed it the "car door"). The CW9179F keeps the idea and brings it up to date, with radios for 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz (two of them) and 6 GHz, up to 4x4 spatial streams per radio and 320 MHz channels on 6 GHz.
It's still a big unit. The AP weighs 4.54 kg on its own and 6.26 kg on its articulating mount, and it's rated for sustained winds of up to 100 mph (about 160 km/h). Bracket strength and wind loading still need a structural engineer's sign-off on exposed mounting points.
The CW9179F has three software-selectable beam modes: wide, narrow (boresight) and front-and-back. You change coverage from the controller or dashboard rather than climbing up and re-aiming the antenna, which suits venues that switch between sport, concerts and conferences.
The graphic below shows the three modes for the 5 GHz and 6 GHz radios.
In wide mode, each of the two 5 GHz radios produces a 35° beam, steered 15° apart, and the 6 GHz beam widens to 70° × 35°. Narrow mode points everything straight ahead at 35° × 35° with the highest gain (12 dBi on 5 GHz and 6 GHz) for the longest reach. Front-and-back keeps a 35° main beam forward and sends the 2.4 GHz radio and one 5 GHz radio to the rear N-type connectors, so an external antenna can cover the area behind the AP.
On a Catalyst 9800 controller, the beam state is set in the RF tag (from IOS XE 17.18). In the Meraki dashboard, it's part of the RF profile.
Pro-Tip: Each 5 GHz radio is locked to its own set of channels, and in wide mode the two 5 GHz beams cover different areas. That makes orientation important, so record which way round each AP is mounted on the as-built drawings.
As a rough guide, a narrow beam from 30 metres covers about 281 m², rising to about 500 m² from 40 metres. These are Cisco's illustrative figures, and the real cell is larger than the beamwidth suggests.
The AP can be mounted in landscape or portrait, and a built-in accelerometer lets you check the installed tilt afterwards. Outdoors, fit the Outdoor Environment Pack (rated IP65/IP67) at ground level before lifting the AP into place. Above 40°C the radios step down from 4x4 to 2x2, so shade and solar load matter on exposed roofs.
Test before you fix anything. When we surveyed for the original 9104, we used a carbon-fibre survey pole during the pre-deployment survey, and the same lesson applies here: make sure the pole is rated for the weight of the AP, and that it won't tip over.
For full 4x4 operation on every radio, the CW9179F needs 802.3bt (Class 6, UPOE) power, up to 47 W. On 802.3at (PoE+) it runs every radio at a reduced 2x2. Typical draw is about 26 W, and Cisco also offers a power injector (CW-INJ-8) for locations without a suitable switch port.
It has two multi-gigabit Ethernet ports, each up to 10 Gbps. 10 Gbps needs Cat6 or Cat6A cabling (Cat5e tops out at 5 Gbps), so plan new runs in Cat6A.
In stadiums the APs are often a long way from the comms room, which is why we usually pair them with a fibre backbone and industrial switches close to the APs. It keeps the copper runs short and the power where it's needed.
Cisco's guidance lines up with our own experience. Keep transmit power balanced between the radios so one doesn't take all the load, set specific minimum and maximum power values rather than leaving them wide open, and assign radio roles statically (client serving) instead of using Flexible Radio Assignment.
In Australia, check the current ACMA rules for each band at design time, particularly for outdoor use of 5 GHz and 6 GHz channels, as they differ from indoor use.
Finally, have an experienced wireless engineer validate the design with professional survey tools once the APs are in, and keep configuration backups. On an AP where coverage is set in software, an accidental RF profile change can move a beam.
The Cisco Wireless CW9179F is a Wi-Fi 7 access point with integrated high-gain directional antennas, designed for stadiums, arenas, festivals and airports. It has 2.4 GHz, dual 5 GHz and 6 GHz radios, software-selectable beam modes, and can be managed from a Catalyst 9800 controller or the Meraki dashboard.
Yes. Cisco describes the CW9179F as the evolution of the C-ANT9104 stadium antenna. It adds Wi-Fi 7, 6 GHz and Meraki management, and the beams are now set as a beam state in the RF tag or RF profile rather than with the 9104's antenna settings.
Yes. The same hardware can be managed from the Meraki dashboard, from a Catalyst 9800 wireless controller, or from Catalyst 9000 switches running the embedded wireless controller in SD-Access. A Cisco Networking Subscription is required either way.
802.3bt (Class 6, UPOE) for full 4x4 on every radio, up to 47 W. 802.3at (PoE+) works with all radios reduced to 2x2. Both Ethernet ports are multi-gigabit up to 10 Gbps, which needs Cat6 or Cat6A cabling.
The CW9179F takes the idea that made the 9104 useful, a high-gain antenna whose coverage you can change in software, and brings it up to Wi-Fi 7 with 6 GHz and a choice of Catalyst or Meraki management. It's a big, heavy unit that needs proper mounting, 802.3bt power and multi-gig cabling, and like any stadium AP it only performs as well as the design and survey behind it.
Our wireless engineers design and survey high-density Wi-Fi for stadiums, arenas and event venues, from predictive design through pre-deployment surveys and RF tuning. Find out more about our Wi-Fi survey and design services, get in touch with the IPTel team or email sales@iptel.com.au.