Netwave Site Survey Help Contents

Planning the Netwave Site

What is a Site Survey?

Site Survey Preliminary Requirements

Access Point Coverage Calculations

The Netwave Site Survey Utility

Using the Netwave Site Survey Utility


Planning the Netwave Site

For more detailed information on site planning and installation, see the Netwave Planning and Installation Guide supplied with the Netwave Access Point. The following is an overview of site planning using the Site Survey utility.


What is a Site Survey?

A site survey is part of the planning process for installing a Netwave wireless LAN at your site using Netwave Access Points to connect to your wired network. It will help you determine how many Access Points are needed and their optimal placement for the best wireless connection in the desired area. Before starting the site survey, some preliminary site evaluation and calculation have to be done. Both the initial site survey and later evaluations of results can be facilitated with the Site Survey utility provided on the Netwave Utility Disk supplied with the CreditCard Netwave Adapter.


Site Survey Preliminary Requirements

The following items are needed for a Netwave site survey:

·	A set of blueprints or floor plans of your building environment

·	A Netwave Access Point connected to a power outlet (the Access Point does not need to be connected to the wired LAN to conduct a site survey)

·	CreditCard Netwave Adapter hardware and software (including the Site Survey utility) installed in your portable computer

·	AC power extension cord

Additional items such as a ladder, drawing tools, paper and scissors may be needed, depending on the planning and site survey methods chosen.


Access Point Coverage Calculations

1.	Use the Netwave Site Survey utility to calculate the approximate number of Access Points required for your total Extended Service Area (ESA). Run the Site Survey utility and choose Access Point Coverage from the Tools menu. This estimate is based on the 50-meter range obtainable between the Access Point and the mobile unit in typical office environments. Fill in the overall dimensions of your desired ESA, then click Calculate. The minimum number of Access Points required to cover the area is calculated and displayed. These results will have to be further refined, using the Site Survey utility, to make allowances for building construction, interference, and the number of Netwave users.

2.	Use the blueprints and drawings of your site and the standard 50-meter range of the Netwave Access Point to divide up your facility into Access Point Basic Service Areas (BSAs).·Allow for some reduction in range in areas containing building materials such as steel, brick, or thick concrete walls. Define approximate locations for the minimum number of Access Points calculated in the Access Point coverage exercise in step 1, and sketch cells to represent the Basic Service Area (50-meter radius) around each Access Point location.

3.	You are now ready to begin refining the positioning of Access Points using the Site Survey utility. Position an Access Point at the center of Access Point Basic Service Area as sketched in step 2. For best radio coverage, position the Access Point at the top of a wall, near the ceiling. Then run the Site Survey utility as described in the following sections. Repeat the process for each Access Point Basic Service Area until the entire Extended Service Area is surveyed and the Access Points positioned for optimum coverage.


The Netwave Site Survey Utility

The Netwave Site Survey utility helps Netwave users to

·	See the link quality between the mobile unit and the attached Access point

·	Determine how many Access Points are needed to cover the desired service area, and where they should be placed

·	Verify wireless link quality after initial installation, and make adjustments to optimize coverage and minimize interference due to building structure and materials or other radio devices.

To start the Site Survey utility, click the leftmost button on the Netwave Control Panel toolbar, or double-click the Site Survey icon in the Xircom CreditCard Program Group.

Netwave Site Survey is a tool to help plan the installation of a Netwave network. It displays a list of all the Access Points the Netwave Adapter has access to in the domain it is configured for, providing there is more than one Access Point in that domain.

If your mobile unit is registered with an Access Point, you will see the link quality updated in a bar gauge on the right side of the Site Survey window as you move around an Access Points Basic Service Area. A numeric value, description, and color are also shown.

Green	good link quality between the mobile unit and attached Access Point. For best results, Link quality should register good most of the time at the locations where Netwave will be used to access the wired LAN.

Yellow	fair link quality between the mobile unit and attached Access Point. Link quality is weaker due to distance from the Access Point, obstacles (such as steel, brick, concrete), or radio interference. If the gauge consistently displays only fair link quality, consider adding an Access Point in that area.

Red	on-the-fringe link quality between the mobile unit and attached Access Point. Link quality is very weak because the mobile unit is close to the edge of the Access Points coverage area or because of obstacles (such as steel, brick, concrete), or radio interference. If the gauge consistently displays fringe link quality, an additional Access Point is recommended for that area.

Link quality is a different measurement of wireless activity than Connection Quality, which is displayed by the Netwave Connection Quality program.

You can record the link quality at a particular location in your site by clicking Record. A dialog box pops up as the link quality is sampled once a second for ten seconds. Click OK when the sampling is complete to record the link quality in the survey list at the bottom of the window. Or click Cancel at any time to stop sampling. If you click Cancel at the end of sampling, the average link quality is not added to the list.

To survey your site, make a list of key locations within the Access Point coverage area you will survey, record the link quality at each one, then save the survey in a file. Later you can open the file in Site Survey or with a spreadsheet or word processor. Site Survey can also print a survey report.

You may want to take notes about the placement of the Access Point for a results comparison later. Repeat this process for each Access Point you want to survey.


Using the Netwave Site Survey Utility

Before performing a site survey, the CreditCard Netwave Adapter must be installed on the mobile unit and a Netwave Access Point must be positioned and powered on.

1.	Choose File/New.

2.	Click in the Survey Location box or press Alt+L.

3.	Type the name of the first location in your survey.

4.	Click Next or press Alt+N to add the location to the list. (If you use Alt+N, the cursor will stay in the Survey Location box, ready for entry of the next location.)

5.	When you have added all the locations you want to survey, choose File/Save to save the survey.

6.	Proceed to one of the locations on the list and highlight it.

7.	Press Enter or Alt+R to choose the Record button and check the link quality.

8.	Press Enter to accept the measurement when it is done. The link quality and registered AP are saved in the list for that location.

9.	Press Alt+N to go to the next location.

10.	Repeat steps 6 through 9 until your survey is finished.

11.	Enter notes in the Survey Notes box if you want to record some details about your setup for the survey.

12.	Choose File/Save to save your survey. (If you choose File+Save As you can save the survey in a new file and leave the original, blank file with all the locations ready for another survey. You might want to do several surveys with Access Points in different locations to compare the results.)

13.	Move on to the next Basic Service Area, power up an Access Point, and repeat steps 1 through 12 for that area.

You can always record a new measurement at an existing location in your list by selecting that location then choosing Record. Click Cancel if you dont want to replace the measurement. There is a blank item at the end of the list for new measurements. If you choose the last item then choose Record, a new measurement is added to the list.