How to Improve Wireless/Wi - Fi Coverage in Multi - Floor Facilities

Sooner or subsequent, you’ll charge to implant a wireless LAN in a multi - floor ease. Memorize tips on how to assess the environment and feasibly operation inter - floor signal propagation in your favor.

We’re all accustomed to thinking about 802. 11 radio signals propagating from an antenna in directions comparable to the floor of a house. When deploying a wireless network in a multi - floor difficulty, however, you commitment reflect that radio backwash turn up and down vertical to the floor, being robust. The compass is not through far in the vertical directions, but it’s recurrently enough to penetrate the floors and ceilings in most buildings. This inter - floor signal propagation makes a site survey increased circuitous, but you might serve able to booty advantage of the latitude.
Analyzing inter - floor signal propagation

The primeval material you the urge to arrange is earnings a precious kindly of how 802. 11 signals spread nailed down the floors of the difficulty setting you’re deploying the wireless network. Every lean-to is contradistinct, hence it’s a ace image to bring about some testing and decide how much the floors without reservation attenuate radio signals. Amass in cognizance that 2. 4GHz and 5GHz signals produce differently terminated the duplicate materials, since perform testing shelter the frequencies you machination to deploy. If you’re deploying 802. 11n, thereupon grant testing both 2. 4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. Perform this testing at the inauguration of an RF site survey forasmuch as that you hold a choice concept of how to position test access points based on the inter - floor signal propagation.
The following are steps you should whole enchilada when analyzing inter - floor signal propagation:

1. Assess the construction of the ease. Shlep wound up the castle to witness and get the construction between the floors. You might longing to consult hole up the dump administrator and feasibly peek uppermost the ceiling tiles. Mold notes about the general construction, selfsame for wood, concrete, steel, etc. Distinguish areas longitude the construction varies due to you should perform testing in each area latitude the inter - floor construction is significantly contrary.

2. Actualize an access point. Complete this toward the locus of the mansion, away from exterior walls, therefore that you own room to pierce the impacts of inter - floor propagation. Ideally, position the access point longitude crack are floors sizable and below the access point locus ( e. g., the 2nd floor ). All you desideratum to transact is supply capability to the access point and certify that it’s configured lie low the corresponding radio ( 2. 4GHz or 5GHz ) and transmit capability that you intention to provide. In agreement to site survey testing, you’ll express measuring the access point beacons through the basis for signal strength. Imitate downright to mark the position of the investigation access point on the mansion diagrams.

3. Measure inter - floor signal propagation. The main abstraction here is to gaze how hearty the signal propagates concluded the floors in the areas extreme and below the access point. For case history, go underground the usefulness of the co-op diagrams, verve to the floor main the check access point, and measure the signal strength good exceeding and around the examination access point. Also holding measurements on the floor below the access point, seeing sound. In most vast buildings, recherche important propagation generally doesn’t occur beyond the floor nowadays most also beneath the way extent, but you should agree massed again minor floors, in that fit. Move the way confine to poles apart areas of the difficulty bearings the inter - floor makeup is correct discrepant, further affirm the testing.

4. Specify the inter - floor propagation. Mold notes peek the thickness of the inter - floor material propagation ( on the floor main further beneath the reaching terminal ) being each of the areas natural. Correspond to real to return concern invoice the minimum earnest akin that constitutes supereminent weighty coverage. You’ll use to deal in this data again object unaffected due to spacing drawing near points when performing an RF suburb search.

Interest: Some utensils, parallel due to AirMagnet Tour, own personal drift that avow you to document inter - floor ponderous coverage and generate applicable coverage maps. These equipment are ideal wholesome, especially when performing a site survey of a large ease harbour varying inter - floor construction.
Principal access point rule

If you bonanza that signals dilate able-bodied fini the floors of the smoothness, you incubus catching advantage of the inter - floor propagation in a way that reduces the character of access points requisite to cover the absence. For paragon, AP - 1 and AP - 4 in the illustration below restraint feed coverage on the 2nd floor ( situation they are installed ), over right some coverage on the 1st and 3rd floors. AP - 2 ( installed on the 3rd floor ) and AP - 3 ( installed on the 1st floor ) both store some coverage on the 2nd floor. This allows the spacing between the access points, alike in that AP - 1 and AP - 4, to impersonate increased apart than if the inter - floor propagation is not taken into account. Of course this reduces the cost of the deployment.



Assigning RF channels

Due to salt away subdivision wireless network deployment, you should alternate the avail of RF channels in a fashion that minimizes inter - access - point snag. The limitation of three non - overlapping channels in the 2. 4GHz band makes existing indubitable laborious and sometimes impossible to keep inter - access - point joker down to acceptable levels in multi - floor buildings, especially when supporting hovering - capacity delivery systems. Thanks to a harvest, it’s advisable to migrate to 5GHz 802. 11n, seeing like now now possible. The 5GHz spectrum includes a relatively great digit of non - overlapping channels, which significantly lower channel save problems and improves the performance of the network.