Wireless Network Design: The Fundamentals of Wireless Site Surveys

When building your wireless network, you can eliminate many potential problems by conducting a Wireless Site Survey.

To configure your wireless network with the best possible capacity and coverage, you need to have an understanding of the radio frequency on the site and the best way to get it is through a survey on the wireless site.

The site survey can uncover areas with channel interference and detect dead areas on the roof, helping you avoid problems for end-users in advance.

This type of analysis will determine the feasibility of building a wireless network for the company, hospital or school and will provide answers to questions such as the location of the access points and the path of the cables.

Conducting a survey on the wireless site is the backbone to determine the amount of equipment needed, the best location for this equipment and the best installation techniques to install this equipment based on your unique environment.

To get the most out of your wireless network design, you need to understand the fundamentals of proper Networking  Site Survey.

Performance planning

Access points WLAN access points can be placed almost anywhere, but there is a science behind where to place them to avoid interference and overlaps.

Too much is not only a waste of money but actually disastrous for your network. So while adding access points may seem to result in better coverage, this is not necessarily the case.

If you share your location with other companies or occupy a building with several offices, each containing its own network and equipment, the survey allows you to see where your APs should go to avoid any interference, thus hindering your network and theirs. 

Channel interference: Channel interference is problematic for your wireless network and is caused by many contributing factors.

Whether it's the microwave in your kitchen, the amount of body in your building or even the location of the access points, many factors can affect the performance of the wifi on the site.

The best way to avoid channel interference is to conduct a survey on the wireless site to understand the current situation, thus having the opportunity to design the best possible wireless network for optimal network capacity and coverage.

Different types of surveys on the site

There are different types of surveys on the site and it is important to understand what the differences are so that you can get the most out of your design.

A passive survey on the site listens to current access points inside and outside the physical environment or building. This type of test listens to things like signal strength, interference, and coverage.

An active survey on the site physically connects to the access points via a wifi adapter for the survey. With an active survey on the site, more detailed information can be obtained and is commonly used for new projects and implementations.

A predictive site the survey is performed without ever accessing the site, but rather using software to establish the appropriate design.

A plant (with building materials) is needed for this type of investigation and is often used when the building is not completely built or network engineers cannot actually be on site.

This means that if your company is located in California, North Carolina network engineers can perform a very accurate analysis of your current or future network at a much lower Wireless Site Survey Cost. They can then conduct an on-site survey to validate their previous predictive tests.

Whichever wireless the survey you choose, they all help provide valuable information to understand the specific environment before implementing or optimizing the wireless network.

Just like you wouldn't build a house without designs and plans, we recommend the same when building your wireless network.