Welcome to an IPTel blog covering Wi-Fi Design 101 and all that's involved in producing the highest performing network possible! There's a lot to the process of Wi-Fi Design and Implementation - hopefully this blog helps.
The first key part of the Wi-Fi design process is to establish what you actually want to do with the network.
This means developing an understanding of what the customer wants to achieve with their new WLAN network, as well as the environmental and other technical constraints under which the design needs to be completed.
IPTel highlight and establish a number of key components at our Customer Requirement Gathering stage in the early phases of our engagement.
Coverage - or the Wi-Fi Grade - that the customer wants to deploy is the most fundamental question.
The key metric is Primary Coverage. This is all about the signal you receive from the first (loudest) Access Point you can see in any spot.
The next metric is Secondary Coverage. This is the coverage you receive from any AP that is NOT the nearest one to you. This is essentially a measure of the overlap from adjacent APs - and this is a key measure in determining if clients can roam efficiently.
Our bespoke IPTel checklists have been designed to ensure Access Point density is correct for our customers. Without the correct analysis, coverage can be weak due to either not enough APs or too many APs!
Another fundamental component you need to take into account is the capacity of the network when designing for Wi-Fi.
What does this mean exactly?
The changes in area density directly correlate with the number of APs an area requires i.e. more APs will be required in highly populated areas.
Every wireless network needs to support a wide variety of clients ranging from Laptops, Phones, Radios, TVs etc...
They’re not always that well behaved unfortunately - and sometimes they are quite old, with poor antennas and firmware. We are particularly interested though in the ones with low transmit power and poor gain antennas. These are typically small, lightweight, mobile devices.
Some devices also operate differently from a roaming algorithm point of view. Such common devices include bar code scanners, smart devices, all the way through to biomedical equipment. They all operate differently and require special design requirements associated with transmit power, AP overlap and AP placement.
Understand the requirements, then design for coverage, capacity and the devices that will use the network.
The weakest important client — often a phone, scanner or tag — which transmits at the lowest power. The design must work for it, not just for laptops.
Coverage is signal everywhere it's needed; capacity is enough airtime and APs for the number of users and their traffic.
With a predictive model first, then an on-site pre-deployment survey, and a validation survey after installation.
Hopefully the blog has been of interest to you in exploring key design considerations that must be undertaken when planning for a deployment.
Ensuring at each stage the assessments and subsequent designs are implemented correctly will ensure you see the highest performing Wireless network possible.
For a bit more reading, we have an associated blog on the topic of Wi-Fi Design and Implementation.
Our Wi-Fi survey and design team designs, surveys and fixes enterprise Wi-Fi across Australia, and the free AP Estimator gives you a first AP count. If that would be useful, get in touch with the IPTel team or email sales@iptel.com.au.