What Should Be Included In A Wireless Network Site Survey Design For Businesses?

One of the biggest challenges when looking for the right network design is to find the right solution partner.

For example, many value-added resellers (VARs) do not have the engineering capabilities to create the correct Wi-Fi design, but only promote hardware (access points, switches, etc.).

This process has two main problems. First, implementing a reliable Wi-Fi network requires more than just hardware. Second, how can you know what you need if you are not working in engineering?

If this happens, look for the company that has bought too much, not enough or the wrong type of product. In any case, wireless network site survey do not work optimally.

Therefore, you should work with a solution provider that has the experience and knowledge to provide the right wireless network design to meet your needs.

We are here to make sure you have all the information you need to ask the right questions so you can get the best network design for your company.

First, do you also need a new Wi-Fi design?

If you have a building with an existing network and have problems, you may not even need a new WiFi design. The first step is to get a full Wi-Fi analysis and determine what the problem is.

Only engineers with the right experience and professional qualifications can perform WiFi analysis. They can accept existing needs, provide a comprehensive analysis of the current environment and provide a remediation plan based on the results.

If you have many moving parts and your network is less than 4 years old, you may be able to solve the Wi-Fi problem by adjusting what you already have. You may need more access points, need to deactivate some, modify the configuration or modify the installation.

There are several possibilities before a new design is needed that can solve the problem, but we don't realize until we complete the wireless evaluation.

Once you have identified a network that requires a new design, your company's wireless network design should include:

1. Site Surveys
2. An RF Plan
3. A Wireless Capacity Plan
4. A Proper Hardware Check
5. An SD-Wan Solution
6. A Project Scope

 Site Surveys

In most cases, it usually begins with a predictive design. This is a virtual survey of a site or facility that uses advanced simulation tools to model the site's radio frequency (RF) environment.

Predictive design is not only very accurate on most sites, but also tends to be very profitable. The best results will be obtained if a building plan can be provided.

Predictive wireless design tools are a very effective first step in planning a wireless system, but in some cases, if the installation is complex, such as a hospital, a large warehouse, Become a step.

A site survey is a name when an engineer is physically on the site to evaluate applications that run through access points (AP) and especially latency-sensitive applications.

Both predictive and on-site surveys are one of the first steps, but there are additional types of surveys that must be performed when a new design is completed.

An RF Plan

After completing the survey on the site, you should also receive an RF plan as part of your design. RF must indicate the expected coverage of the building. The plan must show both the expected connection speed and a "heat map" that shows the signal-to-noise ratio.

A Wireless Capacity Plan

It is not just the coverage area. Also important is the number of devices that can be compatible, called capacity planning. Talk to your solution partner about the type of device and the amount your business will admit.

Consider meeting rooms or large meeting rooms where capacity is known to be a major concern.

A Proper Hardware Check

Making sure you are using the right hardware for your business in the context of capacity planning remains an important factor in your design. Two models are not produced in the same situation. You can create a model access point for 200 users and another model access point for 1,000 users.

An SD-WAN Solution

The software-defined wide-area solution (SD-WAN) is a service that allows companies to provide redundancy or a backup Internet service provider (ISP). It does this by providing two forms of Internet that goes through the firewall. This also helps balance the business load between the two ISP pipes. It offers agility and competence for the company while reducing connection costs. This is especially important for companies that need to operate at all times.

A Project Scope

At this point, the design becomes an executable project. Once the engineer has finished the design, he should receive a list of materials with a detailed list of everything included in the network design project and an execution schedule. We are building a new site.

How To: Conduct A Wireless Site Survey?

In wireless systems, it is very difficult to predict the propagation of radio waves and detect the presence of interfering signals without using test equipment. Even if the system implements an omnidirectional antenna, radio waves do not actually travel the same distance in all directions. Instead, ramparts, doors, elevator shafts, people and other obstacles provide varying degrees of attenuation, and RF (radiofrequency) radiation patterns become irregular and unpredictable. Therefore, before installing an access point, you must conduct a wireless site survey (also known as an RF site survey) to fully understand the operation of radio waves in your operating environment.

Site Survey Concept

The ultimate goal of a wireless site survey is to regulate the number and location of admission points (or mesh nodes) that provide adequate signal coverage in a facility or city. For most implementations, "good coverage" means admitting data transmission speed or lower performance. For a survey to be successful, the required performance must be related to the values ​​measured by a survey tool such as SNR. Surveys of wireless sites also detect the presence of RF interference from other sources that can degrade the performance of the wireless LAN.

The need and complexity of a wireless site survey will vary from one facility to another. For example, a small three-bedroom office may not require a site survey. In this scenario, a single Wi-Fi access point (or router) somewhere in the office is probably sufficient but still maintains sufficient coverage. If the access point finds RF interference from another nearby WLAN, you can select a different channel to eliminate the problem.

Large facilities, such as offices, airports, hospitals, warehouses or outdoor areas, such as cities, generally require extensive sites of wireless survey. Without research, users will likely have poor coverage and performance will degrade in some areas.

When Conducting A Wireless Site Survey, Consider The Following:

1. Understand The Wireless Requirements. Determining the best location for an access point or mesh node requires in-depth knowledge of the specific requirements of your network that will affect signal coverage. For example, the maximum range between a client device and an access point decreases as data speeds and resulting performance increase. Therefore, to correctly interpret the results, you must know your target data rate (and performance). In addition, the transmission power of the customer's device can be relatively low and must be taken into account when using most site inspection tools. Identify the technologies that your network implements, such as 802.11g and 802.11n, and conduct your research taking these technologies into account.

2. Acquire The Installation Map. Before going too far with the site survey, find a set of construction plans or city maps. If none are available, prepare a drawing that shows the location of walls, hallways, etc. The wireless site survey tool imports diagrams in various image formats. Of course, the mapping software is suitable for outdoor city surveys. If all else fails during a survey in the building, consider taking digital photographs of fire evacuation maps, usually on the corridor walls.

3. Visually Inspect The Facilities. Before testing to verify the accuracy of the installation diagram, examine the installation in detail. This is a good opportunity to know the possible attenuation barriers that can affect the propagation of the RF signal. For example, visual inspection reveals damage to the signal of elements that are not normally visible in planes, such as metal racks and partitions. Also, consider the places where access points can be mounted, such as on tiles or columns. In urban outdoor environments, the location and availability of street lighting and water towers for the assembly of mesh nodes and recoil equipment should be carefully evaluated. These actions will make your subsequent tests work better.

4. Evaluate Your Existing Network Infrastructure. Determine the capacity of an existing wired network that can interact with access points or mesh nodes. Most buildings have Ethernet and sometimes even fiber-optic networks. Determine how much of your existing network can be used to support your wireless network site survey.

What Is Wireless Site Survey & How Much It Is Cost?

A wireless site survey (also known as a wireless site survey or Wi-Fi survey) is ideally the first step before a company starts a complete wireless installation. Our wireless site survey checklist can help you plan your desired wireless coverage and network capacity, as well as other important factors such as roaming and service quality. After purchasing and installing Wi-Fi equipment, you can also conduct a survey on the wireless site survey, but this is usually done when there is a Wi-Fi problem that you’re internal IT team or other Wi-Fi service providers cannot understand. You do not require a wireless site survey, but it is highly recommended if you want to make sure that your wireless network is installed correctly from the beginning.

How Much Does A Wireless Site Survey Cost?

It's easy to understand the value of a wireless site survey, but how much does it cost? It is not a simple question to answer. Factors that affect cost include the size of the location being surveyed, the type of location, the intended use of the network and the final purpose of the wireless network site survey. Touring a large facility to collect measurements for a site survey can take one or two people in eight hours a day, or it can take several hours. In some places, such as warehouses, there are metal shelves with very high ceilings and collection of time-consuming information.

Once the physical path is completed, the floor plan must be entered into the site inspection software, and the topography engineer must direct the floor plan directly to the floor plan, such as walls, elevators, stairs, etc. Items must be drawn to attenuate the signal. Passive site surveys omit this step and are not very accurate. Drawing a wall may take longer than a physical journey, but this step will help ensure the most accurate results and recommendations of the site inspection.

After drawing the walls and physical elements of the location being surveyed, you should generate a report, enter your recommendations and talk to companies that need a site survey. After all, gathering information and sharing a report of more than 100 pages is of little use without an adequate knowledge base to decipher the report and understand the meaning of all the information. All reports include a Required Work Level section, which highlights the required work and an estimate of the amount of work required to complete the work. Whether you use the company that conducted the site survey or another wireless service provider.

Wireless Site Survey Guidelines For Avoiding Problems When Your Building WLAN Deployment

To implement a wireless network with optimal coverage, you must first have a solid understanding of the radio frequency operation in the field. Wireless site surveys are the best way to obtain this information because they reveal areas of channel interference and identify dead zones. It helps avoid problems when building a network and prevents network users from being interrupted.

The main objective of conducting a wireless site survey is to determine two things. First, determine the feasibility of building a wireless network on your site. When possible, you should determine the best location for the access point and other equipment, such as antennas and cables. An On Site survey can also help you determine the type of equipment you need, where to install it and how to install it.

AP placement

WLAN access points can potentially be located anywhere. Wireless site surveys can help identify where APs should be implemented to avoid overlaps and interference.

Many networks administrators simply install an additional Wi-Fi AP as a simple solution to improve wireless coverage. But recently or nothing to solve the root of the problem. In fact, having too many WiFi access points can increase the likelihood of co-channel interference with other access points that are already implemented. Surveys of wireless sites can help avoid this problem.

Surveys can also help you find the AP around you. There are three non-overlapping channels that can be used to implement wireless networks in the United States: 1, 6, and 11 for 2.4 GHz frequencies. These rules apply to everyone, not just the site. Therefore, if your site is located at the facilities of other organizations that have their own wireless network, you should coordinate with the APs of those other organizations.

To implement a wireless network site survey, that does not overlap with other users in your area, you must know nearby APs. In some cases, it may be more appropriate to use another WiFi frequency, such as 5 GHz for 802.11 a / n / ac.

Channel interference

Channel interference may indicate a problem with the wireless network and may be caused by a variety of problems. Even when using the same radio frequency, even a microwave in the dining room can cause network interruptions.

Humans can also cause problems. The average human body is composed largely of water, and water causes absorption, which can actually absorb radio signals and cause problems to the network.

It is important to keep these things in mind during a site survey. Sometimes we do a survey on the site to determine where all APs should be implemented, but this is when people really travel and work every day (and use the microwave) to discover that the network does not work properly.

The best way to avoid these problems is to use a wireless site survey to get a good understanding of your site's RF. This is important to design and implement a wireless network with optimal coverage.

Types of Site Surveys

There are three types of surveys: Passive, Active, and Predictive.

Passive Survey

A passive survey is a survey conducted in listen-only mode. Survey clients are not associated with an access point (AP). Such research can be useful when looking for malicious devices or when the correct downlink RF coverage gauge of infrastructure devices is needed.

This can be achieved with passive research:

· Identify fraud

· Find RF problem zones quickly

·Validate the final RF configuration

·Conduct an initial survey

The most important information losses in passive surveys are uplink information, physical speed limits (PHY) and retransmissions. PHY rates are generally based on RF signals and noise levels. Passive surveys only report the propagation of the beacon signal measured by a particular customer. The PHY rate can only be measured by the actual data sent to and from the AP.

Active Survey

Active surveys are performed on the survey client associated with the AP used throughout the survey. When a client associates, it performs all the tasks that a typical 802.11 client does. This includes changes in data rate and retransmissions due to changing RF conditions. Active surveys are commonly used in new WLAN implementations because they provide the most detailed information on which to base the design.

There are two main methods used in active surveys.

Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) method: This method blocks the client to the wireless MAC address of the AP and prevents the client from moving.

Service Set Identifier (SSID) method: It is most commonly used in post-deployment scenarios and is used to poll multiple APs. Survey clients can partner with an SSID where the client roams between multiple APs.

Predictive Surveys

Predictive surveys are conducted in software programs. The program uses information about the coverage area to perform AP placement based on RF algorithms. These surveys are generally not valid for any type of field measurement.

The best times to incorporate predictive research are:

• ·         When the deployment environment has not yet been created.
• ·         To obtain the budget environment for WLAN related hardware.
• ·         When roaming requirements are less strict.

Four Different Site Surveys To Improve Wireless Networks

If you are trying to improve the operation of a warehouse, you probably know that technology is the best way to do it. The implementation of new strategies, such as remote scanning, RFID tags, and wireless networks, can provide significant business benefits. Therefore, it is essential to implement these devices as soon as possible.

There is a straightforward solution for your new wireless network to work quickly. If you are not familiar with site surveys, you are looking for a real treat. These can be done by the company that installs the network, or they can request logistics from a third party. In general, if equipment manufacturers can conduct research, it is better to know what is the best way to use the material to meet their needs.

A site survey can be carried out in several stages of development, which helps to identify problem areas and solve them quickly. It is possible to conduct preliminary studies and run simulations without hardware. Therefore, here are four ways that site surveys can help configure a wireless configuration.

Site Forecast Survey

Although it is often misunderstood, this type of site survey offers time and cost-effectiveness and is very accurate. Predictive site surveys use RF and proprietary algorithms to simulate RF in specific environments.

In our experience, this software has become very accurate and provides an incredible view of the environment. When combined with an experienced WiFi service provider, you can achieve successful designs, even in high-density areas. The key to an excellent predictive study is to obtain as much information as possible. We recommend using a floor plan and creating a layout.

Field Survey

This type is highly recommended for more complex wireless lenses. This generally includes applications that move from AP to AP but are more susceptible to delays. For example, RTLS in hospitals, wireless video surveillance, multimedia over wireless.

A network site survey generally uses predicted results to test against a wireless design and pay close attention to interference or noise to check the model in the real world. It is essential to simulate applications that run on the network to make sure they run smoothly.

Passive

These types of surveys, which are used to collect RF data from all access points in a particular area, are adequate to verify design requirements. You can draw a WiFi heat map to provide an excellent view of coverage areas and locations with holes at different levels.

The critical design elements that can be validated in a passive survey are primary and secondary RSSI, interference (noise), SNR, and co-channel interference.

 Post-Validation 

The design of a wireless network site survey can be excellent on paper, but the real success comes when it works correctly for what it was designed. A post-validation site survey uses the requirements established at the beginning of the design to verify that the new network is functioning as designed.

Testing and measuring all the details ensure that the new network can successfully support applications and processes. A closer look at data speeds, a device to radio ratio, fluctuation, delay, QoS, high-density area, co-channel interference, and other RF characteristics.

You can also use the application performance test to test the network from the application side to get a unique view of the network performance.

It is essential to understand the different types of site surveys. Know when each one is needed and make sure the next wireless network is successful. I am sure that doing so will reduce your stress level.

What Is A Wireless Site Survey & Why Is It Needed?

Wireless site surveys, also known as radio frequency (RF) site surveys or wireless surveys, are the procedure of planning and scheming a wireless network to afford a wireless solution that offers the required wireless coverage, data rates, network capacity, and roaming. Function and quality of service (QoS). Surveys generally include site visits to assess RF interference and determine the best location for the access point. This requires the analysis of building plans, facilities inspections and the use of site inspection tools. Interviews with IT administrators and end-users of the wireless network are also important in determining the design parameters of a wireless network.

As part of a wireless site survey, coverage limits are established. Defines the area where signal levels are needed to support the desired application. This includes determining the minimum signal to noise ratio (SNR) required to support performance requirements.

The wireless site survey also refers to tests of walking, auditing, analyzing or diagnosing existing wireless networks, especially those that do not provide the level of service required.

Why Is A Wireless Site Survey Needed?

When implementing a wireless network, a wireless site survey is recommended. Site surveys are essential for any large wireless network implementation. For small wireless implementations, conducting a site survey is good, but the cost of the site survey can be a problem. When implementing wireless networks, we seek optimal wireless coverage and performance with minimal use of the equipment. This saves time, labor and equipment costs. To obtain optimal wireless coverage and performance, you must understand the radio frequency (RF) behavior of your wireless network's implementation site. Wireless network site survey provides this information by identifying where signal interference occurs, where the signal is weak and where there is no signal (dead zone). Wireless studios also help prevent interference from existing radio sources and physical structures, such as columns, beams, walls, and metal objects. In fact, anything affects the profile of a site's wireless signal, including furniture and people. The purpose of a wireless site survey is to determine the probability of implementing a wireless network according to your needs and determine how to implement a wireless network within the limitations of the site.

How does a Wireless Site Survey help?

When deploying wireless networks, WiFi access points (AP) are often organized randomly but is this ad-hoc implementation of AP WiFi a good strategy? For small implementations, the ad hoc approach is not a problem, but for medium to large implementations, a wireless site survey is recommended, which is often required. Surveys of wireless sites can help determine where to locate WiFi access points to avoid interference and avoid duplicate coverage of other access points. In practice, many network administrators will randomly locate WiFi access points and simply install additional WiFi access points if additional coverage is needed or if you receive a complaint of poor WiFi access. In ad hoc wireless networks, network administrators do not know what type of interference exists and how the site's radio signal profile changes. Conducting a wireless survey on the site will determine if there is co-channel interference and how much interference is present, where external radio interference is causing problems, how to minimize the amount of WiFi access points needed and how to use Wi-Fi access points. for optimal coverage, It will help you determine how to locate them better. It is important to understand that a wireless site survey is a snapshot of the site's radio signal profile at that time. If the site changes with the incorporation of new people, cubicles, furniture and electronic devices, the profile of the radio signal may change and a new site survey may be required.