Hi Scott,
As per my colleagues' responses above - WiNG's 'AP Virtual Controller' mode sounds like just the ticket for your application. There are some variations depending on AP type but with our mid and high-tier APs we can support up to 64 APs in VC mode. The VC can be manually set with a primary and secondary, or just left to be auto-elected to give almost infinite redundancy. Also with some mid-tier and all top-tier APs we have introduced 'heterogeneous AP support' whereby high-spec APs can also manage lower-specification APs. E.g. The 8432 and 8533 APs can manage all other models of AP. The 7632 AP can manage or be managed by 7662 APs. Please see the attached infographic. Also there's no licensing requirements for AP virtual controller mode!
🙂 One word of note is that all the APs need to be connected on the same L2 LAN segment. They can't be routed or on separate VLANs for management (user traffic can use multiple VLANs of course).
Hope that helps,
Darrel.