WiFi Surveys

Why you need a WiFi Survey

Wireless LAN site surveys are necessary because radio wave propagation is difficult to predict. Walls, doors, glass partitions, metal filing cabinets, people and other obstacles offer varying degrees of attenuation causing the RF (Radio Frequency) radiation pattern to be irregular and unpredictable. Additionally, the proliferation of wireless networks and other non-wireless devices operating in the same frequencies introduces sources of interference that can be detrimental to the performance of a wireless LAN. As a result, it is necessary to perform a wireless LAN site survey to fully understand the behaviour of radio waves within an operating environment.

WiFi Site Surveys that deliver optimum performance

A Wireless site survey is the first and most important step in a WiFi network deployment. Our specialist engineers will plan, design, implement and validate.

Velocefi provide professional grade Indoor, Outdoor, GPS assisted WiFi Site Surveys.

Types of WiFi Survey

Predictive Survey

Predictive Surveys are performed off-site using a software program and facility diagrams. The program uses information about the coverage area including building materials, square footage, RF algorithms and other variables including modelled antenna patterns and obstacle attenuation values to provide a predictive wireless plan for the site. This gives a calculation for AP placement based on various RF parameters, whilst taking into account channel assignments and power settings. Software modelling tools provide a fairly accurate prediction, which can be validated during a site visit. These surveys are typically void of any type of field measurements.

Passive Survey

A Passive Survey involves an RF engineer visiting a site and using a specialist application to assess an environment. The survey application passively captures RF data from all access points in a given area and records this information for real-time or subsequent analysis. It allows the surveyor to plot heat-maps giving a visual representation of where coverage spans and if there are potential sources of interference. Some of the main design elements a passive survey can help validate are signal strength (RSSI), interference (noise), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and co-channel interference.

Active Surveys

An Active Survey captures actual site measurements by associating to an SSID and recording RF statistics for this network. As well as checking coverage, performance testing can be conducted by generating network traffic to measure actual throughput rates, upload/download speeds and wireless transmit rates. An Active survey performed during peak periods will give you a valuable insight into how your WiFi network is performing and can be tailored to include various levels of QoS.

WiFi Health Check Survey

A Health Check Survey is a proactive way of ensuring that your WiFi network is working as expected and allows us to identify potential issues prior to them becoming a problem and impacting business continuity. Health check surveys require one of our engineers to attend your site and perform a walk through while taking active, passive and spectrum readings of the wireless environment. Following a Health Check Survey, we will be able to provide you with an detailed visual representation of the quality of your WiFi network.

Spectrum Analysis

Is your WiFi network experiencing erratic behaviour, possibly at certain times of the day or in a particular area of the building? Velocefi will conduct onsite RF spectrum analysis across the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands to determine the possible presence of unwanted RF interference.

As standard practise, Velocefi will carry out these checks during a WiFi site survey to measure and detect any adverse levels of unwanted RF interference that could affect the results and subsequent design of a surveyed network.

Interferers can come from inside a buildings structure and also bleed into a building from outside resulting in high noise floors which can affect the SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) to its detrement.

Some common types of Interferers like Bluetooth, Microwave ovens and PIR detectors have their own signature which can be matched using the softwares signature overlays. Locating an interferer spike detected that is not immeadietly visible and obvious, can be further detected narrowing the frequency sweep and using a directional antenna to zero in on its location.

Velocefi Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 10294209

Registered Address: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, United Kingdom, WC1N 3AX

VAT registration number 247 4887 60

Contact Us

27 Old Gloucester Street, London, United Kingdom, WC1N 3AX
+44 208 050 5063
info@velocefi.com