**Channel AI View** provides a visual overview of wireless channel quality and channel distribution across the selected WiFi band. Each colored block represents a wireless channel currently being used or evaluated by UniFi access points within the deployment.

The visualization helps identify the channel width based on the size of the squares and also congested or overlapping channels by color-coding channel conditions based on interference and channel quality. Healthier channels appear in green, while channels experiencing heavier interference or congestion may appear in yellow, orange, or red. By hovering the mouse over each channel, it is possible to view the list of neighboring APs operating on the same channel. Channels that are not allowed in your region may appear grayed out.

When enabled, the table updates to display channel quality information alongside each radio, making it easier to compare channel conditions, airtime utilization, signal quality, interference levels, and TX retry behavior across all access points.

The band selector allows you to switch between 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz channel analysis views, while the **Optimize** action can automatically recommend or apply improved channel assignments based on the current RF environment.

Additional tools such as **Nearest Neighbors** and the **Channel Plan** help visualize nearby wireless activity, **DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection)** channel availability, blocked outdoor channels, and overall channel reuse throughout the deployment.

This view is especially useful for wireless optimization, interference troubleshooting, channel planning, and identifying congested RF environments that may impact WiFi performance.

Channel AI View

The **WiFi Broadcasts** selector filters the radio table by specific wireless networks, also known as **SSIDs (Service Set Identifiers)**.

By default, all configured WiFi broadcasts are included. Selecting a specific WiFi network narrows the radio list to only access points and radios associated with that broadcast, making it easier to analyze channel usage, interference, and RF performance for a single SSID.

The number beside **All WiFi Broadcasts** indicates how many wireless networks are currently configured on the site, and the search field can be used to quickly locate a broadcast by name.

WiFi Broadcast Filter

The **Access Points** filter lets you narrow the radio table to specific UniFi access points within the deployment.

Selecting one or more access points filters the table to only radios associated with those devices, making it easier to analyze channel assignments, interference levels, airtime usage, and wireless performance on individual APs (Access Points).

The search field can be used to quickly locate access points by name, while Select All includes every access point currently available in the deployment.

Access Points Filter

The **Band** filter lets you narrow the radio table by wireless frequency band.

A WiFi **band** refers to the radio frequency range used for wireless communication between client devices and Access Points. Different bands provide different coverage, speed, and interference characteristics.

- **2.4 GHz** - provides longer range and better wall penetration, but is generally more congested and offers lower overall throughput due to the limited number of available channels
- **5 GHz** - provides faster speeds and more available channels with reduced interference, though with shorter range than 2.4 GHz
- **6 GHz** - is used by newer WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 devices and offers the largest amount of clean spectrum and highest performance potential

Selecting one or more bands filters the table to radios operating on those frequencies, making it easier to analyze performance, interference, and channel usage within a specific wireless band.

Band Filter

The **Channel Plan** helps administrators manage how WiFi channels are allocated across the wireless deployment. Proper channel planning is important because nearby access points using overlapping or congested channels can create interference, reduce throughput, increase latency, and negatively impact overall WiFi performance.

This view provides a visual overview of available, restricted, and actively used channels across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands, making it easier to understand how spectrum is being utilized throughout the environment.

Each channel block represents a wireless channel and channel width combination currently available to the deployment. The visualization helps identify overlapping channel usage, congested spectrum, and available channels that may provide better wireless performance.

The legend indicates channel status:
- **In Use** channels are currently assigned to one or more access points
- **Enabled** channels are available for assignment
- **DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection)** channels require radar detection compliance before use
- **Blocked for outdoor use** channels are restricted for outdoor deployments based on regional regulations
- **Not Available** channels that are not allowed in the selected region
- **Excluded** channels have been manually excluded from use within the deployment

Selecting the expand icon opens the full **Channel Plan editor**, where channels can be enabled, excluded, or reviewed across different channel widths and frequency bands. Wider channels such as 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and 320 MHz are also visualized to help plan high-throughput wireless deployments.

This view is especially useful for reducing RF congestion, minimizing overlapping channel interference, and optimizing overall wireless coverage and performance.

Channel Plan

The **MIMO** filter lets you narrow the radio table by the wireless spatial stream configuration supported by each access point radio.

**MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)** is a WiFi technology that uses multiple antennas to transmit and receive data simultaneously. The values shown, such as **1x1, 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4**, represent the number of transmit and receive spatial streams supported by the radio.

For example, a **1x1** radio contains one transmit antenna and one receive antenna, while a **2x2** radio uses two transmit and two receive antennas. A **4x4** radio uses four transmit and four receive antennas, allowing the access point to manage additional simultaneous spatial streams during wireless communication.

This filter is useful for comparing radio capabilities across access points and identifying which devices support specific MIMO configurations within the deployment.

MIMO Filter

The **Type** filter lets you narrow the radio table based on how the Access Point is connected to the network infrastructure.

**Wired** displays APs connected directly to the network via an Ethernet uplink. **Meshed** displays APs using a wireless uplink through UniFi Mesh, where the AP communicates with another AP wirelessly instead of through a physical network cable.

When both Wired and Meshed are selected, Mesh APs are displayed nested under the parent AP, since both operate on the same channel.

Type Filter

Filters the radio list by device connectivity status. Select Online to display only radios that are currently active and communicating with the network, or Offline to show radios that are unreachable or powered down. Both options can be selected simultaneously to view all radios regardless of their current state. This filter is particularly useful for quickly identifying access point radios that may require troubleshooting or attention.

Status Filter

The **Radio Table** provides a detailed per-radio view of every UniFi access point in the network. Each radio band on an access point is displayed as its own row, allowing wireless performance to be analyzed independently across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands.

This view is designed to help administrators monitor **RF (radio frequency)** health, identify interference, evaluate airtime utilization, and troubleshoot wireless performance issues across the deployment.

The table includes:
- **Name** - The access point associated with the radio
- **Band** - The wireless frequency band currently being analyzed
- **Channel** - The active wireless channel assigned to the radio
- **Ch. Width** - The configured channel width in MHz, which affects throughput capacity and channel overlap behavior
- **Tx Power** - The radio transmit power level used by the access point
- **Clients** - The number of currently connected wireless clients using that radio
- **Avg. Signal** - The average client signal strength reported in **dBm (decibel-milliwatts)**
- **Past 24H** - Total wireless traffic transferred by the radio over the last 24 hours
- **Avg. Interference** - The average percentage of RF interference detected on the channel. Higher values indicate a noisier wireless environment that may negatively impact performance
- **Avg. Airtime** - The average percentage of wireless airtime currently being consumed by traffic on the radio. High airtime utilization can indicate congestion or heavy client usage
- **Avg. TX Retries** - The percentage of wireless frames that required retransmission due to interference, weak signal quality, or communication instability
- **Uplink** - The wired uplink speed connecting the access point to the network infrastructure
- **Model** - The UniFi access point model associated with the radio
- **MIMO** - The supported **MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)** spatial stream configuration of the radio, such as 2x2 or 4x4, which affects wireless capacity and throughput potential

This table is especially useful for identifying overloaded radios, congested channels, poor signal conditions, and wireless interference patterns across the environment.

Radios Table

This section provides important radio configuration options, such as **operating channel**, **channel width** and **transmit power**, along with real-time performance metrics for the **2.4 GHz radio** of the selected Access Point.

The **2.4 GHz** radio configuration view shows a heavily utilized and interference-prone wireless environment. The radio is operating on a **20 MHz** channel width, which is commonly recommended on **2.4 GHz** networks to reduce channel overlap and improve performance in congested RF environments.

The **Live Airtime** graph shows extremely high airtime utilization, indicating the radio is spending most of its available wireless time actively transmitting or receiving traffic. The **interference graph** also shows sustained RF activity, which is common on 2.4 GHz due to neighboring WiFi networks, Bluetooth devices, smart home devices, and other non-WiFi interference sources operating within the same spectrum.

The Active Client Distribution section shows connected clients grouped by signal strength ranges, helping identify whether devices are connecting with weak or strong signals.

This view is useful for identifying congestion, high airtime saturation, and noisy RF conditions commonly associated with dense 2.4 GHz environments.

2.4 GHz Radio Settings and Key Metrics

This section provides important radio configuration options, such as **operating channel**, **channel width** and **transmit power**, along with real-time performance metrics for the 5 GHz radio of the selected Access Point.

The **5 GHz** radio configuration view shows a more balanced wireless environment with lower airtime usage and reduced interference compared to the 2.4 GHz band.

The radio is operating on a **40 MHz** channel width, providing additional throughput while maintaining reasonable channel availability across the 5 GHz spectrum. The graphs show occasional spikes in airtime and RF activity, which typically represent bursts of client traffic or temporary wireless activity rather than constant congestion.

Compared to 2.4 GHz, the 5 GHz band generally offers more non-overlapping channels and reduced interference from household devices, resulting in more stable wireless performance in many deployments.

The client distribution graph helps visualize how connected devices are spread across different signal strength ranges, making it easier to identify weaker client connections or uneven coverage.

This view is commonly used to evaluate channel utilization, monitor wireless load balancing, and optimize mid-to-high performance client connectivity.

5 GHz Radio Settings and Key Metrics

This section provides important radio configuration options, such as **operating channel**, **channel width** and **transmit power**, along with real-time performance metrics for the 6 GHz radio of the selected Access Point.

The **6 GHz** radio configuration view displays a cleaner and lower-interference wireless environment operating with a **160 MHz** channel width. Wider channels like 160 MHz allow significantly larger contiguous spectrum usage and are commonly used by WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 devices for high-throughput wireless communication.

The **Airtime** and **interference** graphs show minimal sustained RF congestion, reflecting the relatively uncongested nature of the 6 GHz spectrum compared to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz environments.

The **Active Client Distribution graph** shows that only a small number of clients are connected on this radio, including one device currently operating with a weaker signal level. Since 6 GHz signals use higher frequencies, they generally provide shorter range and reduced wall penetration compared to lower WiFi bands.

This view is especially useful for monitoring modern high-performance wireless deployments, validating 6 GHz client adoption, and analyzing clean-spectrum operation for WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 networks.

6 GHz Radio Settings and Key Metrics

WiFi Broadcasts Filter

These tabs allow you to switch the Channel AI View between the **2.4 GHz**, **5 GHz**, and **6 GHz** radio bands. Selecting a band updates the channel plan, neighbor analysis, and per-device channel usage displayed on the page to reflect only that frequency range. Use this to inspect channel conditions and optimize assignments independently for each band supported by your access points.

Radio Band Selector

Triggers the Channel AI optimization process for your access points on the selected radio band (in this case, 5 GHz). When activated, UniFi's Channel AI analyzes the current RF environment - including channel utilization, interference, and neighbor activity - and automatically reassigns channels and power levels across your APs to minimize co-channel interference and improve overall wireless performance. Use this button after deploying new access points, noticing degraded wireless performance, or when the RF environment has changed significantly. The optimization applies to all managed APs operating on the selected frequency band.

Optimize

Displays the signal strength range of neighboring access points detected by your UniFi APs on the selected radio band. The gradient bar visualizes the distribution of nearby AP signals, spanning from **-70 dBm** (weaker, farther away) on the left to **-30 dBm** (stronger, closer) on the right. Green segments indicate neighbor signals at that strength level.

This information helps you assess RF interference and co-channel contention in your environment. A concentration of neighbors at stronger signal levels (closer to -30 dBm) suggests nearby APs that may cause interference, while neighbors at weaker levels are less likely to impact performance. Use this data alongside the Channel Plan and the **Optimize** function to make informed channel assignment decisions and reduce co-channel interference.

Nearest Neighbors

Provides a visual overview of the 5 GHz channel allocation across your network. Each small block represents a 5 GHz channel, color-coded to indicate its current status:
- **In Use (green)** - Channels actively assigned to one or more access points in your network.
- **Enabled** - Channels that are available for assignment but not currently in use.
- **DFS** - Dynamic Frequency Selection channels are exclusive to the 5 GHz band and require radar detection before use. These channels may become temporarily unavailable if radar is detected.
- **Blocked for outdoor use** - Channels that are restricted from being used by outdoor-deployed access points due to regional regulatory requirements.
- **Not available** - Channels that cannot be used in your regulatory domain.
- **Excluded** - Channels that have been manually excluded from the channel plan, preventing Channel AI or auto-assignment from selecting them.

This map helps you quickly assess channel utilization and identify opportunities to spread access points across more available channels to reduce co-channel interference. Use it alongside the Optimize button and Channel AI to ensure optimal channel distribution.

5 GHz Channel Plan

Allows you to filter the Channel AI view by key performance metrics for your access points. Select one or more of the following statistics to overlay data on the channel plan and radio list:
- **24h Usage** - Shows the amount of data transferred by each radio over the past 24 hours.
- **Avg. TX Retries** - Displays the average transmission retry rate, which may indicate channel congestion, interference, or hidden-node issues in the deployment.
- **Avg. Signal** - Shows the average signal strength reported by connected clients, helping identify radios with poor coverage.
- **Clients** - Displays the number of clients connected to each radio.
- **Avg. Interference** - Shows the average interference level detected on each radio's channel, useful for identifying noisy RF environments.
- **Avg. Airtime** - Displays the average airtime utilization for each radio, indicating how busy the channel is.

These filters help you quickly assess radio health and make informed decisions about channel assignments and radio configurations.

Statistics Filter

Filters the radio list based on channel assignment mode. Select **Auto** to display only access points whose channel is automatically assigned by the UniFi Network application, or select **Manual** to show only those with a manually configured channel. This filter helps you quickly identify which radios are using automatic channel optimization versus static channel assignments, making it easier to audit and manage your RF environment.

Channel Assignment Filter

This table provides a comprehensive per-access-point view of 5 GHz radio performance and channel assignments when Channel AI View is enabled. Each row represents an individual access point on your network, and the columns deliver the following information:
- **Name** - The model of the UniFi access point.
- **Channel Grid (36-165)** - A visual heatmap showing which 5 GHz channels are currently assigned or available for each AP. Color-coded cells indicate channel status, where vivid tints represent channels currently in use and lighter tints represent unused channels.Green channels indicate low utilization, yellow/orange indicate moderate usage, and red indicate high interference or congestion. In the 5 GHz band, DFS channels (52–144) are also displayed, helping you quickly identify radar-restricted ranges.
- **24h Usage** - The total amount of data transferred over the radio in the last 24 hours. A dash indicates no traffic was recorded.
- **Avg. TX Retries** - The average percentage of transmitted frames that required retransmission. High retry rates can indicate interference, poor signal quality, or co-channel contention.
- **Avg. Signal** - The average signal strength (in dBm) reported by connected clients. Values closer to 0 dBm represent stronger signals. A dash means no clients were connected during the measurement period.
- **Clients** - The current number of wireless clients associated with the AP on this radio band.
- **Avg. Interference** - The average percentage of airtime consumed by non-Wi-Fi or competing Wi-Fi sources. Higher values suggest a noisier RF environment that may degrade performance.

Use this table to identify APs with high interference, excessive TX retries, or weak client signal levels. This data is especially useful before running a Channel AI optimization to understand the current RF landscape and pinpoint problem areas across your deployment.

5 GHz Channel AI Radio Overview

The Packet Capture dialog allows you to capture network traffic directly from a UniFi access point for diagnostic and troubleshooting purposes. The captured data can be analyzed using tools such as Wireshark.

- **Capture on**: Choose whether to capture packets on the **Wireless** interface or the **Uplink Port**. Selecting Wireless captures over-the-air traffic from connected clients, while Uplink Port captures wired traffic between the access point and the upstream switch or gateway.
- **Radios**: When capturing on the Wireless interface, select which radio band to monitor - **2.4 GHz**, **5 GHz**, or **6 GHz**. Only radios supported by the selected access point will be available.
- **Network**: Select the specific network (SSID/VLAN) on which to perform the capture. This narrows the capture to traffic associated with a particular network and its subnet.
- **Duration**: Set how long the capture should run, specified in seconds. Shorter durations help keep file sizes manageable while still collecting enough data to diagnose issues.

Click **Capture** to begin the packet capture or **Cancel** to close the dialog without capturing. Once complete, the resulting capture file will be available for download and offline analysis.

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