Post-Installation Wireless Survey
Our Approach
Being a wireless-specialist company, Wireless Edge Networks takes pride in delivering quality Wi-Fi surveys to our customers. We believe in the the performance gains that a good Wi-Fi site survey brings. Our focus on the finer details, in-depth knowledge of Wi-Fi and the quality of our site survey reports differentiates us.
All wireless devices are not created equal and some devices perform better that others. The massive growth of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet devices makes the Wi-Fi site survey a critical step in the design process. We only use the latest industry tools and techniques to map out the RF coverage and capacity of your intended area and provide detailed documentation.
The Post-Installation Wireless Survey verifies Wi-Fi coverage and capacity meets your requirements. A post-installation survey from Wireless Edge Networks certifies our 100% coverage guarantee and gives you the assurance moving forward that your new wireless network has been properly designed for current and future usage.
Wireless Edge uses professional wireless surveying tools from Airmagnet to clearly show the Wi-Fi coverage of all Wi-Fi access points.
Active Wi-Fi Surveys and Passive Wi-Fi Surveys
Where possible, we will conduct both an active and passive Wi-Fi survey simultaneously when performing a post-installation Wi-Fi survey. During an active survey, the WI-Fi adapter is connected to the Wi-Fi access point to measure signal strength and noise levels, as well as round-trip time, throughput rates, packet loss, re-transmissions and roaming performance. Active surveys give a more accurate indication of Wi-Fi signal quality, which would not be obtained when performing a passive survey.
During a passive survey, the site survey application passively listens to WLAN traffic, measuring signal strength and overlap between adjacent Wi-Fi access points.
By doing both an active and passive Wi-Fi survey, this allows us to report back on potential issues beyond just signal coverage. To illustrate the difference between an active and passive Wi-Fi survey, the passive site survey predicted a data rate of 86 Mbps but the active survey measured approximately 8 Mbps, which is a significant difference.
Spectrum Analysis / RF Interference
A complete spectrum analysis includes the detection, measurement and recording of RF Interference that could degrade the performance of a wireless network. Interference such as microwaves, PIR sensors, Bluetooth and legacy wireless devices can have a serious impact on your wireless network. We perform a spectrum analysis as part of the post-installation Wi-Fi survey to ensure any interference sources are identified. This increases the chances of interference detection from devices that are not transmitting constantly. Any interference sources are identified on site plans. The diagram below shows microwave oven interference detected during one of our site surveys.
Iperf Throughput Testing
Conducting Wi-Fi throughput testing allows us to go one step further in verifying the actual capacity of a Wi-Fi network. Whilst an active Wi-Fi survey accurately determines connected data rate, conducting a throughput test is a much more accurate method for determining Wi-Fi network performance. To illustrate the difference between connected data rate and actual throughput capacity, the survey results below show a connected rate of 144Mbps but an actual throughput ranging from 6 to 52 Mbps, which is a significant difference.
Throughput testing requires an Iperf server be setup on an upstream LAN connection, so this requires prior planning and configuration.
Configuration Settings
We will provide all relevant configuration settings to maximise performance and stability of your Wi-Fi network. This includes radio channels, antennas, transmit power levels of each wireless access point to maximise the performance of your new Wi-Fi network. We have found in a lot of cases that a static transmit power and channel plan provides the most stability in new Wi-Fi deployments.
If you would like more information about a post-installation Wi-Fi survey, please contact us.