HP Wireless LAN Assessment Report

3.0 Situation Overview and Analysis

Overview

<Customer> has purchased a Wireless Site Survey to determine the location, frequency, and type of wLAN access point to use at <location>.

The open conference room design and the sheetrock and stud construction work together to pass the RF to cover the areas with wLAN signals. This limits the number of access points that can be installed without using same channel interference. The 802.11b/g standard only allows for 3 non-overlapping frequencies. This survey takes into consideration, the number of users and the numbers of users per access point. The access points are configured with the lowest possible power settings and lowest gain antennas to help reduce the number of users per AP. This is necessary for effective use of the wireless network.

When the 802.11b/g access point is set to 1 mW output and omni directional dipole antennas are used, the wLAN coverage is optimized for a large number of users and smaller cell coverage. The coverage patterns are intended to be small since each conference room may have up to <???> users on the network at the same time.

The access points can be installed just above the tile ceiling. The antennas are directly attached to the AP and should also be above the ceiling. The locations of the access points are optimized for ease of mounting, distance from wiring closets, and wireless coverage.

It is desirable to use access points that can take power over the Ethernet connection to minimize the installation costs. Some access points would require the installation of electrical outlets in the ceiling to power the units. Other desirable features may be 802.1x security, and the ability to manage multiple Access Points simultaneously. All these features can be found in the Cisco 1200 series AP that the survey tool used for these predictions.

3.1 Site Specific Information

The first and mezzanine floor of the conference center is mainly comprised of the two floor high conference rooms, and the auditorium. Some offices located on the mezzanine will be provided wireless coverage from the access points above and below the mezzanine. There are no access points installed on the mezzanine level. A total of 14 access points are required to completely cover this area and provide acceptable WLAN access speeds. Acceptable speeds are described as 11 Mbps. Diagram 1 shows the placement of these access points. The circles only show that the antennas are omni directional, not the coverage area.

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