Wireless site survey

A wireless site survey, sometimes called an RF site survey or wireless survey, is the process of planning and designing a wireless network, to provide a wireless solution that will deliver the required wireless coverage, data rates, network capacity, roaming capability and Quality of Service (QoS). The survey usually involves a site visit to test for RF interference, and to identify optimum installation locations for access points. This requires analysis of building floor plans, inspection of the facility, and use of site survey tools. Interviews with IT management and the end users of the wireless network are also important to determine the design parameters for the wireless network.

As part of the wireless site survey, the effective range boundary is set, which defines the area over which signal levels needed support the intended application. This involves determining the minimum signal to noise ratio (SNR) needed to support performance requirements.

Wireless site survey can also mean the walk-testing, auditing, analysis or diagnosis of an existing wireless network, particularly one which is not providing the level of service required.

Wireless site surveys are typically conducted using computer software that collects and analyses WLAN metrics and/or RF spectrum characteristics. Before a survey, a floor plan or site map is imported into a site survey application and calibrated to set scale. During a survey, a surveyor walks the facility with a portable computer that continuously records the data. The surveyor either marks the current position on the floor plan manually, by clicking on the floor plan, or uses a GPS receiver that automatically marks the current position if the survey is conducted outdoors. After a survey, data analysis is performed and survey results are documented in site survey reports generated by the application.

All these data collection, analysis, and visualization tasks are highly automated in modern software. In the past, however, these tasks required manual data recording and processing .

There are three main types of wireless site surveys: passive, active, and predictive.

During a passive survey, a site survey application passively listens to WLAN traffic to detect active access points, measure signal strength and noise level. However, the wireless adapter being used for a survey is not associated to any WLANs. For system design purposes, one or more temporary access points are deployed to identify and qualify access point locations. This used to be the most common method of pre-deployment wifi survey.

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