Wireless Site Survey - What is it and Why is it so Important?
9/8/2006
Source: Cisco Systems
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_q_a...
What is a Wireless Site Survey? A radio frequency (RF) site survey is the first step in the deployment of a Wireless network and the most important step to ensure desired operation. A site survey is a task-by-task process by which the surveyor studies the facility to understand the RF behavior, discovers RF coverage areas, checks for RF interference and determines the appropriate placement of Wireless devices. What is the need for a Wireless Site Survey? In a Wireless network, many issues can arise which can prevent the radio frequency (RF) signal from reaching all parts of the facility. Examples of RF issues include mulitpath distortion, hidden node problems, and near/far issues. In order to address these, you need to find the regions where these issues occur. A site survey helps you to do this. A site survey helps define the contours of RF coverage in a particular facility. It helps us to discover regions where mulitpath distortion can occur, areas where RF interference is high and find solutions to eliminate such issues. A site survey that determines the RF coverage area in a facility also helps to choose the number of Wireless devices that a firm needs to meet its business requirements. As a Cisco Premier Partner and Advanced Technology Provider (ATP) Partner, with Wireless specializations, PCC Network Solutions is trained and qualified to perform both indoor and outdoor wireless site surveys for applications ranging from enterprise wireless LANs, to outdoor wireless bridged networks (point-to-point and point-to-multipoint), as well as Metro Wi-Fi mesh networks. Click on the link above to learn more about wireless site surveys.