These affordable Wi-Fi 6 access points provide
high‑performance connectivity for any organization
experiencing growing numbers of mobile, IoT and mobility
requirements. With a maximum real-world aggregate data
rate of 1.49 Gbps (HE80/HE20), they deliver the speed and
reliability needed for venues and workplaces such as schools,
midsize offices and retailers.
INCREDIBLE EFFICIENCY
The 500 Series APs are also designed to optimize user
experience by maximizing Wi-Fi efficiency and dramatically
reducing airtime contention between clients.
Features include Orthogonal frequency-division multiple
access (OFDMA), and cellular optimization. With up to 2
spatial streams (2SS) and 80MHz channel bandwidth (HE80),
the 500 Series provides groundbreaking wireless capabilities
for budget-conscious deployments.
Read the Multi-User 802.11ax white paper for further
information.
Advantages of OFDMA
This capability allows Aruba’s APs to handle multiple Wi-Fi 6
capable clients on each channel simultaneously, regardless
of device or traffic type. Channel utilization is optimized
by handling each transaction via smaller sub-carriers or
resource units (RUs), which means that clients are sharing a
channel and not competing for airtime and bandwidth.
Aruba Air Slice™ for Extended Application Assurance
Initially, APs in controller-less mode (Instant) can provide
SLA‑grade performance by allocating radio resources, such
as time, frequency, and spatial streams, to specific traffic
types. By combining Aruba’s Policy Enforcement Firewall
(PEF) and Layer 7 deep packet inspection (DPI) to identify
user roles and applications, the APs will dynamically allocate
the bandwidth needed. Non-Wi-Fi 6 clients can also benefit.
Air Slice™ for APs uses Aruba Central for management.
Controller-based APs will be supported in a future software
release.
Wi-Fi 6 aware client optimization
Aruba’s patented AI-powered ClientMatch technology
eliminates sticky client issues by placing Wi-Fi 6 capable
devices on the best available AP. Session metrics are used
to steer mobile devices to the best AP based on available
bandwidth, types of applications being used and traffic type –
even as users roam.
Aruba Advanced Cellular Coexistence (ACC)
This feature uses built-in filtering to automatically minimize
the impact of interference from cellular networks, distributed
antenna systems (DAS), and commercial small cell or
femtocell equipment.
Intelligent Power Monitoring (IPM)
Aruba APs continuously monitor and report hardware
energy consumption. They can also be configured to enable
or disable capabilities based on available PoE power – ideal
when wired switches have exhausted their power budget.
Green AP energy efficiency
Aruba Wi-Fi 6 APs utilize analytics from NetInsight to
automatically transition in and out of a sleep mode based on
client density. Learn more in the Green AP At-A-Glance.
IOT PLATFORM CAPABILITIES
Like all Aruba Wi-Fi 6 APs, the 500 Series includes an
integrated Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 radio (for Zigbee
support) to simplify deploying and managing IoT-based
location services, asset tracking services, security solutions
and IoT sensors. This allows organizations to leverage the
500 Series as an IoT platform, which eliminates the need for
an overlay infrastructure and additional IT resources.
Target Wake Time (TWT)
Ideal for IoTs that communicate infrequently, TWT establishes
a schedule for when clients need to communicate with an AP.
This helps improve client power savings and reduces airtime
contention with other clients.
ARUBA SECURE INFRASTRUCTURE
The Aruba 500 Series includes components of Aruba’s
360 Secure Fabric to help protect user authentication and
wireless traffic. Select capabilities include:
WPA3 and Enhanced Open
Support for stronger encryption and authentication is
provided via the latest version of WPA for enterprise
protected networks.
Enhanced Open offers seamless new protection for users
connecting to open networks where each session is
automatically encrypted to protect user passwords and data
on guest networks.
WPA2-MPSK
MPSK enables simpler passkey management for WPA2
devices – should the Wi-Fi password on one device or device
type change, no additional changes are needed for other
devices. Requires ClearPass Policy Manager.
VPN Tunnels
In Remote AP (RAP) and IAP-VPN deployments, the Aruba
500 Series can be used to establish a secure SSL/IPSec
VPN tunnel to a Mobility Controller that is acting as a VPN
concentrator.
Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
For enhanced device assurance, all Aruba APs have an
installed TPM for secure storage of credentials and keys, and
boot code.
SIMPLE AND SECURE ACCESS
To simplify policy enforcement, the Aruba 500 Series
uses Aruba’s policy enforcement firewall (PEF) feature
to encapsulate all traffic from the AP to the Mobility
Controller (or Gateway) for end-to-end encryption and
inspection. Policies are applied based on user role, device
type, applications, and location. This reduces the manual
configuration of SSIDs, VLANs and ACLs. PEF also serves as
the underlying technology for Aruba Dynamic Segmentation.
HIGH-DENSITY CONNECTIVITY
Each 500 Series AP provides connectivity for a maximum of
256 associated clients per radio (512 in total). In real-world
scenarios, the maximum recommended client density is
dependent on environmental conditions.
FLEXIBLE OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT
A unique feature of Aruba APs is the ability to operate in
either controllerless (Instant) or controller-based mode.
Controller-less (Instant) mode
In controllerless mode, one AP serves as a virtual controller
for the entire network. Learn more about Instant mode in
this technology brief.
Mobility Controller mode
For optimized network performance, roaming and security,
APs tunnel all traffic to a mobility controller for centrally
managed traffic forwarding and segmentation, data
encryption, and policy enforcement. Learn more in the
ArubaOS datasheet.
Management options
Available management solutions include Aruba Central
(cloud-managed) or Aruba AirWave – a multi-vendor
on‑premises management solution.
For large installations across multiple sites, APs can be
factory-shipped and can be activated with Zero Touch
Provisioning through Aruba Central or AirWave. This reduces
deployment time, centralizes configuration, and helps
manage inventory.
ADDITIONAL WI-FI FEATURES
Each AP also includes the following standards-based
technologies:
ANTENNA PATTERNS
Horizontal planes (top view)
Showing azimuth (0 degrees) and 30 degrees downtilt patterns (averaged patterns for all applicable antennas
Vertical (elevation) planes (side view, AP facing down)
Showing side view with AP rotated 0 and 90 degrees (averaged patterns for all applicable antennas)
