SITE SURVEY

INB 47403 WIRELESS NETWORK

PREPARED FOR:

PREPARED BY:

NO. STUDENT NAME ID NUMBER123 AFIQ ASHRAWI BIN ADRIS 53259211368

Purpose of doing Site Survey

It helps define the contours of RF coverage in a particular facility.

It helps us to discover regions where multipath distortion can occur, areas where RF interference is high

Predicting network capability and throughput.

Determine the number and placement of access points that provides adequate signal coverage throughout a facility or city area.

Benefits of doing site surveyOptimized number of accesspoints

Diagrams the network and defines the appropriatenetwork topology to optimize the number of required access points.

QoS evaluation Identifies areas that require higher concentrations of access points to increase aggregated throughput in geographical areas.

Minimized networkinterferences

Allocates the areas RF interference is high and findsolutions to eliminate such issues.

Shortened implementationcycle

provides the starting point and takes the guesswork out of the implementation process, reducing the overall implementation timeframe and the time spent on troubleshooting.

AirMagnet Survey Design and deploy wireless LANs for optimal performance,

security and compliance 802.11a/b/g/n and 4.9 GHz site surveying of indoor and

outdoor networks . “Real-world” measurements provide accurate deployment

guidance.• 802.11n, voice & spectrum surveys.

Site Surveying Phases

1. Preparation

2. Site Survey

3. Analysis

4. Reporting & Sign-off

5. Periodic Site Surveys

Phase 1: Preparation Phase

• Preparation checklist – Questions to ask– Do you know all the stakeholders?

– Is wireless access needed for indoors or outdoors or both?

– Are any building blueprints or street maps available?

– Where do you require coverage?

– What type of business is it?

– Is this a new deployment or an add-on to the existing one?

Phase 1: Preparation Phase (Continued)

– If adding to an existing wireless network:• Are you unhappy with it? Are users complaining? Or is your

business expanding?

• What equipment have you installed? Where are they installed?

– Think about capacity• How many users require wireless service and what applications

will they use?

• What is the geographical distribution for the users?

• Will they be using applications where they need to roam? What are their throughput requirements?

Phase 1: Preparation Phase (Continued)

– Are there any known major non Wi-Fi interfering sources? Do you know their locations?

– Is this a multi-floor deployment?

– What are the security requirements?

– Where are the power and Ethernet drops throughout the facility? Is the customer open to installing new drops?

– What is the anticipated growth for the future?

Phase 1: Preparation Phase (for 802.11n)

• Questions to ask for 802.11n networks– Am I deploying an 802.11n Greenfield network or do I

need to support legacy 802.11a/b/g devices?– Will the 802.11n devices be deployed in the 2.4 GHz or

5 GHz Band? Or do you want the Site Survey product to recommend the choice?

– What type of clients will be connecting to the network? – Will I deploy 802.11n devices for my Guest Network?– Do I see coverage overlap from APs that belong to my

neighbor? Is that coverage from 802.11n or legacy 802.11a/b/g devices?

Phase 2: Site Survey• Load floor plan maps

– Supported format– Simple, black and white plans– Calibrate your floor map scale

• Survey tips and tricks– Perform a visual inspection of the facility

• Can I get everywhere I need to?– Figure out where you require coverage and where

you don’t including areas that obscure results– Perform survey during “normal” business hours– Don’t scan unwanted channels

Phase 2: Site Survey• Survey tips and tricks

– Make good judgement on the “Signal Propagation Assessment” value

– “Measurement intervals” accuracy• Auto Logging Data Period• No further than what your Signal Propagation

Assessment is set to

– Take readings on both sides of the wall– Also take readings along the perimeter of the

rooms– Recommendation: Plan your walking path

• Results in more accurate clicking

Phase 2: Site Survey• Survey tips and tricks

– Take readings around the outside of your building

– Place your man where you are headed for and then click when you reach that location

– Don’t try and do it all in one go• Enable you to “retract” when necessary

– Switch between auto sampling and click only sampling as you walk around• Auto sampling for straight line walks (i.e. corridors)• Click only for points within a room

– Size of hashing at click points indicates range of Signal Propagation Assessment

Phase 2: Site Survey• Perform your surveys

– Passive Surveys• Collect signal data from all APs &

Stations in the area

– Active Surveys• Collect actual performance

metrics (data rate, retries, etc) • Mandatory for 802.11n

deployments– Iperf Surveys

• Collect uplink/downlink performance statistics

RF Spectrum Site Survey• Gather RF Spectrum Data

– Non Wi-Fi devices operate in the same spectrum as Wi-Fi

– Cause interference and severely degrade the overall network performance

– Even more important for time sensitive applications

– Locate interfering devices on floor map

– Preferred method: Collect RF data at the same time as a Wi-Fi Survey

Phase 3: Analysis Phase• Visualize Wi-Fi signal

coverage

• Visualize real-world user performance metrics– Data rates, retries,

losses– Uplink/downlink

performance

• Visualize Roaming areas

• Visualize areas that suffer from Channel Interference

RF Coverage Analysis

• Visualize Wi-Fi signal coverage at every location

• Locate “dead spots” in your coverage

• Know coverage for your “backup” APs

RF Coverage Analysis

• 3D view– Displays signal strength using height

instead of heat map– Visual representation of where there

may be issues (valleys, mountains)• “Overlap” shows area (in red) where 2 or

more APs meet certain conditions– On SSID – good– On Channel – bad

• Multiview– Bleed from multiple floors– Bleed from outside to inside– Between buildings

Simulate “What-if” scenarios• Optional step in the site

survey process• Simulate different scenarios

and AP settings to minimize “dead zones” and “interference”

• No need to walk the floor again

• Visualize how simulating a new AP, plugs the “coverage hole”

• Simulate noise in the environment

• Helps determine the optimal AP configuration settings

Visualize real-world user performance

• Why do you need this?– Visualize what real users will experience

• AirMagnet Solution– Visualize data rates, packet retries & losses– Accounts for conditions at every location– Obtain uplink/downlink performance metrics

• Critical for 802.11n networks

Network Design Validation

• Design validation– “Certify” if the installed

Wireless LAN actually meets the initial design specifications

– Mitigates against troubleshooting ‘tail chasing’

– Critical for specialized applications such as voice and video

Design Validation example for voice

Non-green areas indicate regions that do not meet

the design requirement

Green area indicate regions

that meet the design

requirement

RF Security• RF Security

– Minimize RF spillage outside corporate boundary

– Visualize if neighbors or attackers in the parking lot can see your network

– Conduct site survey outside the corporate office boundary

– APs may need re-location, different antennas or configuration changes to minimize leakage

Phase 4: Reporting & Sign-off

• Most important output for a Site Survey product or in many cases - the “only output”

• Serve as a map for the current recommendations

• Act as a future reference for surveys and other deployment changes

Phase 5: Periodic Site Surveys

• Critical to account for changes in the environment, interference sources, user behaviour, obstacle changes, etc. – Introduction of a new microwave in

the cafeteria– Introduction of new access points

by neighbours