Technical Tip: Identify FortiAP-221E Hardware Revision

FortiAP-221E comes in 3 different versions:

• Generation 1.
• Generation 2.
• Generation 3.

Naturally, there are advantages between one generation and another, with the highest advantage being taken by those access points that are Generation 3:

1. Generation 1 uses SU-MIMO: (Single-user Multiple input, multiple output), it allows to send and receive data between the wireless device and the access point one at a time. Capable of 3x3 spatial streams. Modulation 256 QAM
2. Generation 2 uses MU-MIMO (Multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output), it allows to simultaneously transmit data to multiple wireless devices. Capable of 4x4 spatial streams.Modulation 256 QAM.
3. Generation 3 uses MU-MIMO (Multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output), it allows to simultaneously transmit data to multiple wireless devices. Capable of 8x8 spatial streams.Modulation 256 QAM.

The option to validate the generation supported by the FortiAP-221E is:

FortiAP-221E # fap-get-status | grep Revision
Hardware Revision Info: Gen2 PVT