Performing Wireless Site Surveys

On-site surveys are essential for optimal WiFi performance. This is how you do it

Pre-deployment wireless site survey

Before implementing a new wireless network, a site survey should be conducted to begin developing a wireless network project based on the needs gathered by the company's stakeholders. There are two ways to conduct a pre-site survey: AP-on-a-Stick or predictive modeling.

AP-on-a-Stick that uses more time. This includes setting up a WLAN and WLAN access to

connect to a laptop. The laptop is equipped and familiar with the Wireless Site Survey software

Collect information such as signal strength, data rate, and overlapping channels. It's simply called an AP-on-a-Stick because an access point mounts to a pole and rises to where the access point will be installed. The radio engineer then analyzes the access point and collects the necessary data.

Determine the cell size, signal spread, and other information.

In site inspection software, the engineer freezes the access point on the floor plan so you can

You can move the access point to another location and inspect a new area. This allows a technician to find the edge of each cell and plan the appropriate cell overlay for roaming and secondary coverage, as well as other requirements.

Although still used by radio engineers, the AP-on-a-stick method is not used very often these days. That

An engineer takes too long to complete, and for some companies, this cost is a high hourly rate. Some scenarios, like B. external distributions, but are very suitable for the method.

A faster and more efficient way to design a wireless network using location detection software is

Create a prediction model. The result is a floor plan with strategically positioned simulated access points with an appropriate channel plan based on coverage and capacity requirements.

Software location detection performs all of these calculations using special formulas based on

Provider access point and on the antenna selected for the prediction model. The engineer imports a floor plan into the software and tracks the wall materials based on the expected dB loss across the floor plan.

To return to coverage requirements, the software considers the configured minimum

Requirements such as:

• Interference on the same channel or overlapping channels
• Signal strength
• Data speed
• Lost packet

The software can also take into account the capacity requirements when configuring the number of devices and their types expected in the wireless network. The devices are discovered during the requirements capture phase and added to the location detection software.

Remember, this method is exactly what we call it: predictive. It is the prediction process

Signal propagation, data rates, channels, access performance of the access point and other mathematical data and attenuation data.

Post Deployment Wireless Site Survey

Post-distribution surveys are often called validation surveys. The purpose of validation

The survey is designed to ensure that the distributed wireless network meets customer needs. The validation survey should be compared to the prediction model that was run previously. In some scenarios, pre-deployment detection may not have been performed. A distribution survey can be conducted at any time and is also part of the iterative wireless distribution process.

The process of running a validation survey begins with importing a floor plan. The next

The step is to measure a long wall, which is needed to crumble the numbers used to calculate the RF properties. One of the advantages of validation surveys is to omit the arrangement of the walls in the floor plan.

When the validation survey ends, it's time to take the laptop with you, start the survey, and walk slowly

and stable It is important to walk slowly and smoothly so that the external adapter passively collects wireless information from all necessary channels. The adapter scans all frequencies in the 2.4 GHz spectrum and all channels in the 5 GHz spectrum. To maintain performance, you can choose which channels to scan.

After exploring and collecting this data, it is time to analyze and validate it. At least

Determine if the cell size of an access point is within the specification. Determine if the transmit power level is set correctly. Secondary coverage of other access points is essential to verify compliance with roaming requirements if necessary. This can be seen with site survey software like Ekahau Site Survey. The secondary cover shows the overlapping cells.

Make sure the channel widths are adequate. The 20 MHz width changes in most environments.

Offer maximum efficiency. Anything larger will result in improper channel reuse and can cause channel overlap. If the validation survey shows that 40 MHz channel widths can be used, do so. However, I highly recommend not using 80 MHz or 160 MHz channel widths.

Speaking of overlap: Another basic measure is channel overlap. Although secondary

Coverage is critical, channel overlap should be kept to a minimum. If two or more access points operate on the same channel in the same area, the capacity of one access point increases. Devices not only share the same conflicting domain, but access points also compete for airtime.

Review the validation survey and determine if optimization is required. If so, validate again

the project with another survey and compare it with the client or the client's requirements. The distribution can only be considered complete if these requirements are met. Be aware that wireless environments and requirements change, which may trigger the entire wireless survey cycle again.

Wireless site survey software

You may be wondering what software is available to perform prediction and validation surveys.

Fortunately, there are a few options available. The following list is not exhaustive. Do your due diligence and request a demo to find out which one is best for your workflow.

• Research on the Ekahau website
• IBwave
• Fluke Networks AirMagnet
• Acrylic WiFi
• TamoGraph
• VisiWave