Help us improve your experience.

Let us know what you think.

Do you have time for a two-minute survey?

 
 

BLE Settings

Most Juniper APs have built-in virtual Bluetooth Low Energy (vBLE) capabilities that support location services. These APs are equipped with an internal 16-element vBLE antenna array that sends out eight directional beams. This setup allows for precise location accuracy within a range of 1 to 3 meters.

Figure 1: vBLE Antenna Array vBLE Antenna Array

Even though BLE utilizes the 2.4 GHz frequency to communicate, the BLE signal does not conflict with the 2.4 GHz radio in the APs. When RRM is set to auto, Juniper Mist automatically chooses channels 1, 6, and 11 to avoid BLE interference. In addition, the BLE signal is only 2 MHz wide, and transmits on channels 37, 38, and 39 (advertising channels that are between the commonly used channels 1, 6, and 11).

You can use device profiles or the device-level configuration page of the AP to configure BLE settings:

  • For multiple devices, you can use device profiles to enable or disable vBLE across all supported APs. You can also configure the beacon power, although this is rarely necessary. From the Mist portal, select Organization > Device Profiles, click a device profile, and scroll down to the BLE Settings section.

    • Enable Virtual BLE Array—Enable or disable vBLE for all APs associated with the device profile.

    • vBLE Beacon Power—Use the configuration slider to adjust the vBLE signal range, which affects the accuracy of location services that rely on vBLE. Moving the slider allows you to fine-tune the range or level of detail provided by the vBLE-based location services.

      • Level 7 is higher power, and corresponds to +9 dBm or +12 dBm, depending on the AP model.
      • Level 1 is lower power, and corresponds to -8 dBm or -11dBm, depending on the AP model.

      On the slider, dBm values for the different levels are more or less evenly distributed from high to low.

  • Device settings for iBeacon, LE Eddystone, and Eddystone URL are available for additional customization and are configurable in the device-level configuration page of the AP. From the Access Points page. click an AP, and scroll down to the BLE Settings section.

Related Documentation