Measure Twice

1. Measure Twice, Cut Once: Validating Your Wireless Design with a Wi-Fi Site Survey What is a Wi-Fi Site Survey? A Wi-Fi site survey is a site visit to capture Wi-Fi signal and spectrum data and inspect access point mounting and cabling accessibility. Wi-Fi site surveys can test predictive wireless designs before a network is deployed, verify that changes or additions are installed correctly, and ensure that the network continues to be fast and reliable for its users and applications. The term survey can mean different things to different people, but generally relate to one of the following five site survey types: Wi-Fi Design Survey – A site visit, generally done before you create your predictive wireless design. By performing a Wi-Fi Design Survey, you capture existing RF conditions, including your neighbor’s wireless networks and the channels they use, and other sources of RF interference like DFS (Radar) activity, motion sensors, or microwaves. You also visualize potential limitations for AP mounting like ceiling heights and materials.  Pre-Deployment Site Survey – Also known as an AP on a Stick Wi-Fi survey, pre-deployment surveys are used to simulate access point and antenna performance. In this type of survey, an access point is temporarily placed in the location and configuration of the design, and the Wi-Fi is analyzed to ensure it performs as anticipated in the predictive design.  Post-Deployment Site Survey – A survey to check that the network has been deployed and configured properly and that the performance is meeting the expectations of the predictive design.  Health Check Survey – Ongoing maintenance surveys used to proactively check Wi-Fi performance over time so you can spot potential interference, coverage or capacity problems before they become costly outages.  Troubleshooting Wi-Fi Survey – Reactive survey to track down issues reported by users. 

2. The Importance of Validating Your Predictive Wireless Design with a Wi-Fi Site Survey Luckily, with the right tools, it’s easy to validate your predictive design in the live environment. Conducting a survey of where the wireless network will be installed can generate visual heatmaps to easily reveal any potential fine-tuning needed for your design before running the final cabling and installing the APs. It also gives you the opportunity to account for potential interferences or additional requirements you might not have known without stepping foot on site. As the “measure twice, cut once” component of Wi-Fi design, validation is cheap insurance and smart risk mitigation against costly and time-consuming redesign processes that would follow a failed deployment. Remember, a predictive design isn’t final and ready for deployment until you have validated your design. Here are a few validation data points you’ll only get onsite: Verified Floor Plan Accuracy – Your predictive design places a lot of  trust in the accuracy of the floor plan CAD or other image file. Going onsite lets you validate that distances are accurate and walls are where you expect them to be. If your predictive design is based on an outdated floor plan, it’s not optimized for the real-world environment. Wall Types and Expected Signal Attenuation – Many predictive designs  are created with “best guess” wall type information. The accuracy of the Ekahau Sidekick is your best friend for verifying wall attenuation — it will give you the exact RF measurements to base your design on. 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. Access to Predictive Design AP Locations – Site walkthroughs are your  chance to verify the locations in your plan are appropriate in the live environment. Variables like exposed HVAC ducting too close to your planned AP location or other obstacles that will get in the way of mounting may require you to modify the design. The beauty of the validation survey is being able to test and optimize for all the unique site-specific challenges.

3. Noisy Neighbors – Predictive designs can’t design for nearby RF noise  produced by neighboring networks. Your onsite evaluation is the perfect chance to observe the spectrum and capture the channel of measured energy, allowing you to optimize your network channels for peak performance while avoiding nearby interference. Between dealing with potential asbestos testing, facilities requests to tent off an area, hard deck ceilings, temporary network outages for impacted areas, expensive labor, cost of running cable, etc., validating your design can prevent additional installation costs and remove risk from your business-critical Wi-Fi design