Aruba 550 Series Indoor Access Points

Wi-Fi Radio Specifications

5GHz radio (dual-radio operation): Eight spatial stream Single User (SU) MIMO for up to 4.8Gbps wireless data rate with individual 8SS HE80 (or 4SS HE160) 802.11ax client devices, or with eight 1SS or four 2SS HE80 802.11ax MU-MIMO capable client devices simultaneously

5GHz radio (tri-radio operation*): Four spatial stream Single User (SU) MIMO for up to 2.4Gbps wireless data rate with individual 4SS HE80 (or 2SS HE160) 802.11ax client devices, or with four 1SS or two 2SS HE80 802.11ax MU-MIMO capable client devices simultaneously

2.4GHz radio: Four spatial stream Single User (SU) MIMO for up to 1,150Mbps wireless data rate with individual 4SS HE40 802.11ax client devices or with two 2SS HE40

802.11ax MU-MIMO capable client devices simultaneously

Support for up to 1,024 associated client devices per radio* (typical recommended limit for active clients is 200), and up to 16 BSSIDs per radio

Supported frequency bands (country-specific restrictions apply):

• 2.400 to 2.4835GHz (radio 1)
• 5.150 to 5.250GHz (radio 0 and 0L)
• 5.250 to 5.350GHz (radio 0 and 0L)
• 5.470 to 5.725GHz (radio 0 and 0U)
• 5.725 to 5.850GHz (radio 0 and 0U)

Available channels: Dependent on configured regulatory domain

Dynamic frequency selection (DFS) optimizes the use of available RF spectrum

Supported radio technologies:

• 802.11b: Direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DSSS)
• 802.11a/g/n/ac: Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)
• 802.11ax: Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) with up to 37 resource units (for an 80MHz channel)*

Supported modulation types:

• 802.11b: BPSK, QPSK, CCK
• 802.11a/g/n: BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM (proprietary extension)
• 802.11ac: BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, 1024-QAM (proprietary extension)
• 802.11ax: BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, 1024-QAM

802.11n high-throughput (HT) support: HT20/40

802.11ac very high throughput (VHT) support: VHT20/40/80/160

802.11ax high efficiency (HE) support: HE20/40/80/160

Supported data rates (Mbps):

• 802.11b: 1, 2, 5.5, 11
• 802.11a/g: 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54
• 802.11n: 6.5 to 600 (MCS0 to MCS31, HT20 to HT40), 800 with 256-QAM
• 802.11ac: 6.5 to 1,733 (MCS0 to MCS9, NSS = 1 to 4, VHT20 to VHT160), 2,166 with 1024-QAM
• 802.11ax (2.4GHz): 3.6 to 1,147 (MCS0 to MCS11, NSS = 1 to 4, HE20 to HE40)
• 802.11ax (5GHz): 3.6 to 4,804 (MCS0 to MCS11, NSS = 1 to 8, HE20 to HE160)

802.11n/ac packet aggregation: A-MPDU, A-MSDU

Transmit power: Configurable in increments of 0.5dBm

Maximum (aggregate, conducted total) transmit power (limited by local regulatory requirements):

• 2.4GHz band: +24dBm (18dBm per chain)
• 5GHz band: +27dBm in dual-radio mode, +24dBm in tri- radio mode (18dBm per chain)
• Note: conducted transmit power levels exclude antenna gain. For total (EIRP) transmit power, add antenna gain.

Advanced Cellular Coexistence (ACC) minimizes the impact of interference from cellular networks

Maximum ratio combining (MRC) for improved receiver performance

Cyclic delay/shift diversity (CDD/CSD) for improved downlink RF performance

Space-time block coding (STBC) for increased range and improved reception

Low-density parity check (LDPC) for high-efficiency error correction and increased throughput

Transmit beam-forming (TxBF) for increased signal reliability and range*

802.11ax Target Wait Time (TWT) to support low-power client devices*

*Not initially supported; will be enabled in a future software release

• A mix of horizontally and vertically polarized antenna elements is used
• Combining the patterns of each of the antennas of the MIMO radios, the peak gain of the combined, average pattern is 2.4dBi in 2.4GHz and 0.7dBi in 5GHz (dual- radio mode).
• In tri-radio mode, the peak gain of the combined, average pattern is 1.1dBi (radio 0L, lower half of 5GHz) and 3.6dBi (radio 0U, upper half of 5GHz)

• Auto-sensing link speed (100/1000/2500/5000BASE-T) and MDI/MDX
• 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps speeds comply with NBase-T and 802.3bz specifications
• POE-PD: 48Vdc (nominal) 802.3af/at/bt POE (class 3 or higher)
• 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE)

Link aggregation (LACP) support between both network ports for redundancy and increased capacity

POE power can be drawn from either port (single source, or set to prioritize) or both ports simultaneously (set to combine). When set to prioritize, the AP draws power from E0 and may failover to E1.

DC power interface: 48Vdc (nominal, +/- 5%), accepts 1.35mm/3.5mm center-positive circular plug with 9.5mm length

USB 2.0 host interface (Type A connector)

• Capable of sourcing up to 1A / 5W to an attached device

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE5.0) and Zigbee (802.15.4)* radio

• BLE: up to 8dBm transmit power (class 1) and -99dBm receive sensitivity (125kbps)
• Zigbee: up to 8dBm transmit power and -97dBm receive sensitivity
• A pair of integrated omnidirectional antennas (polarization diversity) with roughly 30 degrees downtilt and peak gain of 4.5dBi

Visual indictors (two multi-color LEDs): for System and Radio status

Reset button: factory reset, LED mode control (normal/off)

Serial console interface (proprietary, micro-B USB physical jack)

Kensington security slot

*Not initially supported; will be enabled in a future software release

When POE power is supplied to both Ethernet ports, the AP can be configured to combine or prioritize power sources

When both DC and POE power sources are available, DC power takes priority over POE

Power sources are sold separately; see the ordering Information section below for details

When powered by DC, 802.3bt (class 5) POE or 2x 802.3at (class 4) POE, the AP will operate without restrictions.

When powered by 1x 802.3at (class 4) POE and with the IPM feature disabled, the AP will disable the USB port, disable the other Ethernet port, operate the 5GHz radio in 4×4 mode, and disable tri-radio operation

In the same configuration but with IPM enabled, the AP will start up in unrestricted mode, but may dynamically apply restrictions depending on the POE budget and actual power. The feature restrictions and order can be programmed.

Operating the AP with an 802.3af (class 3 or lower) POE source is not supported.

Maximum (worst-case) power consumption (dual-radio operation):

• DC powered: 32.6W
• POE powered (802.3bt or dual 802.3at): 38.2W
• POE powered (802.3at, IPM disabled): 25.1W
• All numbers above are without an external USB device connected. When sourcing the full 5W power budget to such a device, the incremental (worst-case) power consumption for the AP is up to 6.0W (POE powered) or 5.4W (DC powered).

Maximum (worst-case) power consumption in idle mode (dual-radio operation): 15.0W (POE) or 15.1W (DC).

Maximum (worst-case) power consumption in deep-sleep mode: 3.8W(POE) or 3.6W (DC)

• 260mm (W) x 260mm (D) x 58mm (H) / 10.2″ (W) x 10.2″ (D) x 2.3″ (H)
• 1,570g / 55.4oz

Dimensions/weight (AP-555; shipping):

• 320mm (W) x 303mm (D) x 108mm (H) / 12.6″ (W) x 11.9″ (D) x 4.3″ (H)
• 2,230g / 78.7oz

• Temperature: 0C to +50C / +32F to +122F
• Humidity: 5% to 93% non-condensing
• AP is plenum rated for use in air-handling spaces
• ETS 300 019 class 3.2 environments

Storage and transportation conditions

• Temperature: -40C to +70C / -40F to +158F
• Humidity: 5% to 93% non-condensing
• ETS 300 019 classes 1.2 and 2.3 environments

CE Marked

RED Directive 2014/53/EU

EMC Directive 2014/30/EU

Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU

UL/IEC/EN 60950

EN 60601-1-1, EN60601-1-2

For more country-specific regulatory information and approvals, please see your Aruba representative.

Wi-Fi Alliance:

• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED a, b, g, n, ac
• Wi-Fi CERTIFIED ax¹
• WPA, WPA2 and WPA3 – Enterprise with CNSA option, Personal (SAE), Enhanced Open (OWE)
• WMM, WMM-PS, Wi-Fi Vantage, W-Fi Agile Multiband
• Wi-Fi Location*
• Passpoint (release 2)

Bluetooth SIG

Ethernet Alliance (POE, PD device, class 4)

*Not initially supported; will be enabled in a future software release