February 19, 2010 1 Comment You want Wi-Fi, and you want it to
work. And let’s say you want to design the network so that it
works not only for data, but also for voice and RTLS (location
tracking). Once you have your requirements figured out, it’s
time to start planning the network. The network plan (or
predictive design) is all about answering a few key questions: -
How many APs am I going to need? - Where should I place the
access points? - How should I configure the APs? - What kind of
antennas should I use, and how should I align them? - How is my
coverage and performance going to look like? These questions can
be answered quite accurately prior to going on-site by making a
predictive design using a Wi-Fi planning tool. We at Ekahau
offer one with Ekahau Site Survey Pro, for example. Of course,
you can just put the APs “where it feels about right”, but very
few of us are such hardcore experts that this actually will work
optimally. There’s things like different kinds of wall
materials, directional antenn