Wireless Network Surveys & Design
Great Design Survey
Spectrum Technical Solutions has the knowledge, personnel, and proper Wi-Fi performance tools to accurately survey, design, deploy, and maintain today's mission-critical wireless networks. Having the proper software helps place the right number of access points (APs) in the right locations, with the right configurations to meet the wireless connectivity needs of your business.
First Step
The first step to a great wireless network is a great design survey. A Wi-Fi design survey serves as a blueprint for your wireless network, and by taking the time to understand the components of a great design and following best practices, you’ll not only increase the reliability and performance of your network, you’ll also save money by not overspending on unnecessary network infrastructure.
Why Wi-Fi Design Matters
Well-designed wireless networks
Well-designed wireless networks are easier to troubleshoot and fix., Awesome Wi-Fi starts with STS and an Ekahau design — which not only establishes a great baseline for your network, it makes it easy to perform regular health checks and spot interferers before they become massive issues. Contact an STS Sales engineer today!
Good Wi-Fi is good for business.
Wi-Fi is a part of nearly every mission-critical application used in business — from self-driving forklifts in warehouses to the fleet of laptops and phones deployed throughout your organization. It’s in the life-sustaining medical devices we rely on for health and wellness. It keeps us connected when we need to communicate and collaborate, and it gives us an escape when we need to isolate.
You only notice Wi-Fi when it isn’t working. We have all experienced the frustration of poor-performing Wi-Fi networks. Globally, 200 million wireless networks have been reported as poor performing — unable to meet their requirements for overall coverage and capacity with minimal interference. One of the biggest reasons Wi-Fi networks are poor performing is due to poor Wi-Fi design. As people and organizations come to rely more and more heavily on Wi-Fi networks, the risk of their failure becomes increasingly serious.
Key Design Considerations for Satisfying Your Business AND RF Requirements
6 Key Design Considerations
The most important aspect of designing a high-performing Wi-Fi network is defining network requirements. All too often, networks fail to meet requirements due to an incomplete discovery process.
Allowing STS to conduct a pre-design walk-through survey will help collect the correct information for your predictive, passive, or active design. STS will make sure to document any potential concerns for RF: exposed ceilings with ductwork, columns, signage, large pieces of furniture, areas off limits, etc. These walk-throughs may also illuminate previously unconsidered limitations to wireless infrastructure placement — where you are unable to place APs, or where you are unable to run cables.
Spectrum Technical Solutions will utilize a world-class diagnostic and measurement device that will give you the exact RF measurements needed for your design. By validating wall types, you’ll either confirm your predictive design is correct or you’ll have a chance to adjust based on the empirical data you’ve collected.
Translating Requirements into a Wireless Network Design
WiFi Network Design
A great Wi-Fi network starts with a great design, and a great design starts with accurate Wi-Fi requirements. By asking the right questions and identifying the six requirements presented, STS will be able to develop a wireless design perfectly tuned to your business needs. Here is a quick breakdown of how the business requirements translate to design software inputs:
- Coverage: APs placed and coverage visualized on a scaled floor plan with accurate walls
- Capacity: Usage and device profiles identified listing applications and client models in use
- Least Capable, Most Important Device: Device profile created for the LCMID
- Obstacles in the Physical Environment: Ceiling heights set & deployment notes cited to account for obstacles
- Wall Material Attenuation: Appropriate wall types used throughout the floor plan including custom-created wall types
- RF Spectrum Activity: A channel plan that reduces co-channel interference and optimizes client performance
What is an Active or AP on a Stick survey?
Life Cycle
The lifecycle of a wireless network is the process of designing, validating, optimizing, and troubleshooting that network to ensure it continuously meets the connectivity requirements of your users. Whether upgrading an existing wireless network or designing a greenfield network, the physical environment plays a big role in how a network performs. Spectrum Technical Solutions will assist by collecting wall material attenuation and RF spectrum activity with an AP on a Stick survey, you’re able to reduce the risk of the unknown and design Wi-Fi with a higher degree of accuracy.