When undertaking a Wi-Fi design, we often need to test onsite. When doing this onsite testing, we test with equipment that allows us to position the APs for the most accurate tesing possible. In this blog, we’ll explore how we do this.
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Before we get into the mechanics of how we run our onsite testing, it’s worth a review of why we are doing this testing.
Our standard RF design process is:
We call the onsite survey a Pre-Deployment survey (because we conduct this before the cabling and APs are installed). This survey is also commonly known as an APoS survey (standing for AP on a Stick) – the reason will be quite obvious in the screen shots below!
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For Pre-Deployment surveys, we have a range of equipment we use.
The test rigs we use power the AP, and typically include a battery set and switch to power up the AP.
The other importnat piece of equipment is the pole to mount the AP on. For typical internal building surveys, we use a 2.7m pole. For some applications – warehouses, external, stadiums and auditoriums, we need some additional equipment.
We have a number of the Vantage poles, custom made in the UK from carbon fibre. These are by far the safest option to allow us to position our test APs at height and easily move these around.
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Stadium Wi-Fi is arguably the most complex Wi-Fi to design.
There’s a number of reason for this:
The Vantage pole is put to good work, allowing us to position APs in the right spots, which for a building as complex as a stadium allows us to test the Wi-Fi design will work long before any cables are installed.
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Auditorium Wi-Fi is similar in complexity to Stadium Wi-Fi.
There are some differences though, which perhaps makes the RF design a little simpler:
The Vantage pole is put to good use in testing out a directional AP in the image shown here.
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As you can see the Vantage pole extends a long way.
We of course have to consider Health and Safety, so depending on the job and site type, we may need to have an extra person attend as a ‘spotter’.
It does of course add cost having that extra person onsite, but with a pole that extends this high, we need to be safe – so someone will typically b guarding the pole, while the other person is undertaking the survey.
While probably obvious, the process of moving the pole is a little time consuming too: we have to wind it down, to ensure it won’t tip over when being moved, then extend it in the new location.
The AP on top of this pole is powered by a battery set situated on the ground – so we need a long Cat6 cable to connect the AP to the battery set.
Our setup of AP, battery powered rig and Vantage pole allows us to run an APoS test in a wide variety of situations – this means we can better test the install, before the cabling is installed.
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I’ve often heard that RF surveys are part science, part art and the ensuring the right equipment and the knowledge to use the equipment are key.
The Vantage poles are a premium product, but we use them as they’re so flexible in the use cases we have for them, along with being built from carbon fibre, they’re light and we can fly with them.
We typically fly all over Australia and New Zealand, so having a capable piece of equipment, at a weight we can fly with is key.
If you have any requirements for warehouse, stadiums, auditoriums or outside RF coverage, we’re here to help.
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