Ubiquiti AF-5XHD airFiber 5GHz Carrier Radio

Overview
Ubiquiti Networks continues to disrupt the wireless broadband market with revolutionary LTU technology that breaks through the limitations of 802.11 Wi-Fi technology. Designed for use in the 5 GHz frequency band, the new airFiber AF-5XHD is Ubiquiti's first LTU radio, offering greater channel bandwidths of up to 100 MHz, and more advanced RF components.
Pair the AF-5XHD with a compatible Ubiquiti® airFiber X antenna or RocketDish ™ antenna for a complete 5 GHz Point-to-Point (PtP) solution.
An IP67 upgrade kit is included to provide enhanced protection from dust and water.

Engineered for Performance
Designed specifically for the Wireless ISP industry from the ground floor up, the AF‑5XHD’s custom LTU silicon and radio architecture provide breakthrough performance. Its core communications processing engine surpasses the limitations inherent to generic Wi -Fi chips to provide low latency, long ‑range capability, DFS flexibility, higher constellations, and better power output, along with improved receive sensitivity.
The AF ‑5XHD features industryleading 21.2 bps/Hz spectral efficiency*, line ‑rate data packet processing for up to 1.34 Gbps of real data throughput*, and innovative xtreme Range Technology (xRT ™).
* Assuming 4096QAM, available with a future firmware upgrade.

Key Features
The AF-5XHD offers the following advanced features:
• Programmable Transmit Power The radio's transmit power level can be programmed up to +29 dBm.
• Programmable Duty Cycle (GPS synchronized frames) The AF-5XHD allows configuration of asymmetric TX and RX duty cycles. TX ratios include 25%, 33%, 50%, 66.7%, and 75%.
• Configurable GPS Synchronization The AF-5XHD offers configurable support for 2, 2.5, 4, and 5 ms frames. Timing is compatible with all other synchronous systems.
• Split TX and RX Frequency¹ The radio can operate on different frequencies for TX and RX, allowing great flexibility for interference avoidance.
• Split TX and RX Channel Bandwidth¹ Support for different channel bandwidths for TX and RX allows users to scale required data capacity more efficiently.
• Adaptive Modulation up to 1024QAM Adaptive modulation rates of up to 1024QAM (4096QAM with targeted upgrade) are supported.
• Dual Redundant Gigabit Ethernet Ports with PoE The AF-5XHD has two Gigabit Ethernet ports that can be used to provide redundant PoE power.
• OFDM and OFDMA Support¹ The radio offers flexible scheduling for 2, 4, or 8 subchannels.
• Bluetooth Wireless Configuration Use the built-in Bluetooth interface for wireless configuration.
• AlignLock™ Antenna Aiming Guard This alerts the user when the radio or antenna aiming is changed due to tampering, impact, or storm damage.
• User-Configurable Interference Mitigation Three user-selectable profiles support both high‑interference and greenfield deployments for robust, optimal performance.
• Redundant Images for Fail-Safe Configuration Creation of backup firmware images ensures fail-safe configuration and enhances reliability.
• Persistent Spectrum Analysis with Dedicated RX Perform real-time spectral analysis for the full band on live links without interrupting the link operation.
• Wide Voltage Range, Enhanced Surge Protection The AF-5XHD has an operating voltage range of 19‑50VDC² and provides enhanced surge protection.
¹ Available with a future firmware upgrade
² Depends on length of Ethernet cable

Software
The AF-5XHD uses Ubiquiti's airOS v8 software, which offers you a variety of advanced features. Spectral Analysis with airView airView^® allows you to identify noise signatures and plan your networks to minimize noise interference. airView performs the following functions:
• Constantly monitors environmental noise
• Collects energy data points in real‑time spectral views
• Helps optimize channel selection, network design, and wireless performance
airView runs in the background without disabling the wireless link, so there is no disruption to the network.
In airView, there are three spectral views, each of which represents different data: waveform, waterfall, and ambient noise level.
airView provides powerful spectrum analyzer functionality, eliminating the need to rent or purchase additional equipment for conducting site surveys.

UNMS App
The UNMS ™ app provides instant accessibility to the airOS configuration interface and can be downloaded from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play™ (Android). UNMS allows you to set up, configure, and manage the AF-5XHD and offers various configuration options once you’re connected or logged in.

5 GHz Backhaul
Full-Band Certification with DFS
The AF‑5XHD covers the entire, license-free, 5 GHz spectrum and includes DFS approval. Anyone around the world can deploy and operate the AF‑5XHD in the 5 GHz range practically anywhere they choose (subject to local country regulations).

Optimal Operation in Unlicensed Bands
Channel width flexibility (10/20/30/40/50/60/80/100 MHz) allows independent TX and RX channel frequency configurations anywhere within the radio band to avoid local interference, and the channel centers are selectable in 1 MHz increments. You also have the ability to program different uplink and downlink duty cycles to support asymmetric traffic requirements.

Ultra-Low Latency with HDD Technology
The AF‑5XHD is designed to provide the highest TDD throughput available and is engineered with proprietary Hybrid Division Duplexing (HDD) technology. In a backhaul link, two AF‑5XHD radios use patent-pending HDD technology to calculate the propagation delay and know when each radio can transmit and receive, so they send packets in precise synchronization. Packet transmission latency is virtually eliminated.

Co-Location
Co-location is vital in many scenarios. For example, a WISP may have limited tower space, so it must co-locate all equipment within that allotted footprint.

GPS Synchronization
Precise GPS frame synchronization frees the AF‑5XHD from interference for superior co‑location capability. GPS enables the concurrency of TX and RX frames so you can co-locate the AF‑5XHD radios and enhance the overall performance of your backhaul links.

Clean Power Output
Using digital pre-distortion compensation and multi-IFFT processing, the innovative RF design delivers ultra-clean power output that improves noise immunity and co‑location performance. This reduces the potential impact on the RF noise environment and allows for the use of higher-order modulation, such as 1024QAM.

Deployment Flexibility
The AF‑5XHD can be used with existing airFiber slant-polarized antennas for improved noise immunity and Signal‑to‑Noise Ratio (SNR). It is compatible with multiple Ubiquiti airFiber X antennas offering gain of 23 to 34 dBi. The compact form factor of the AF‑5XHD allows it to fit into the radio mount of airFiber X antennas, so installation requires no special tools.