Wireless Network Planning

Today, Wireless Connectivity is a Mission-critical Enterprise Service – a Wi-Fi Survey is the first step

For more information on our professional Wi-Fi Design and Survey Service , for new installations, upgrade of an existing Wi-Fi network or validation of an existing network, get in touch with the team at Dimension Network Systems today

01 4663316

Wireless Network Design Process

Dimension Network Systems has installed hundreds of wireless networks across all business sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, education, finance, retail, customer service, and more. We understand that each client has specific requirements, which is why we provide in-depth Ekahau AI Pro Wi-Fi Planning Surveys – Passive, Active and Predictive – to ensure your network solution will be designed with your unique requirements in mind.  We understand the importance of a correctly designed, operating and properly secured wireless infrastructure .

As more organisations are moving to replace wired networks with Wi-Fi, the importance of correct design and planning for coverage, user capacity and secure access control becomes more and more important.

After the Covid pandemic, companies have increased their use of bandwidth-hungry video like Zoom and Microsoft Teams and have increasing numbers of clients and IoT devices connecting to their wireless networks.

This has lead to wireless networks becoming oversubscribed and network users having bad experiences with, for example, dropped or stalled video calls, slow file transfer and connectivity issues.

Legacy Wi-fi networks that were designed for 2.4Ghz are now starting to creak and not fit for today’s applications. The spectrum is saturated with Wi-Fi devices and also Bluetooth and household devices such as microwave ovens and baby monitors all adding to interference in the frequency. Our advice for corporate users, is to stop using this frequency in their network. For now, use the 5Ghz frequency but for new installations or network upgrades, plan and survey for the new 6Ghz frequencies.

The 6 GHz Wi-Fi spectrum is 1200 MHz wide which is more than double the size of 2.4 and 5Ghz spectrum. It supports almost twice as many channels as 5 GHz and they enable gigabit Wi-Fi speeds and allow operations free from Wi-Fi interference and congestion.

Wireless Heatmap Coverage
Wi-Fi is no longer a network of convenience or used as a secondary method of connecting to the network. Wireless has replaced wired as the connection method of choice for many users and increasingly, in organisations.

Users today expect the wireless network to be simple to use, super-fast at delivering and receiving data, and smart enough to allow roaming at will, regardless of the device or application – video, voice, or data.

When your wi-fi network is not operating as it should, we offer a troubleshooting and  verification service. 

A Wi-Fi Heatmap Survey is the first step to validate or troubleshoot your existing network. When carried out it will visually display the coverage areas or holes, actual data rate throughout and any unexpected points of interference , highlight poorly designed infrastructure which could be the cause of existing issues.

 

They are Define,  Wi-Fi Survey , Deploy, and Heatmap Validation

Define Requirements Wireless Networks

Define

Design Wireless Networks

Wi-Fi Survey

Deploy

Validate Wireless Network

Heatmap Validation

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Get in touch with our team today for more information on our IT Networking Systems for commercial clients
info@dimension-networks.ie
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An Irish company founded in 2002, Dimension Network Systems is a value-added integrator of multivendor networking systems. Our technical expertise, professionalism and partnerships provide the most-inclusive, single point-of-contact for network solutions.
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  • Anfield House,
  • Baldonnell Business Park,
  • Baldonell, Co. Dublin,
  • D22 N2N4, Ireland
  • 01 4663316
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Copyright © 2023 | Web Development by Aura Internet

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Define

Wireless Heatmap Coverage
Heatmap Signal Coverage
Define
This is the gathering requirements stage. This includes functional requirements such as coverage, capacity and usage For every deployment or redesign, project requirements and scope need to be defined with the customer
Coverage
Where exactly you would like WiFi coverage – e.g throughout all offices or just meeting rooms. Throughout the warehouse or just loading bays, in patient wards or just theatres and outpatient dept ?
Capacity
Once coverage area is decided, you can plan for the end users that will be connecting to the network, specifically, how many devices, and which types e.g smartphones, laptops, IoT devices e.g sensors
Usage
Lastly, what type of applications will be used on the network, e.g email or bandwidth-heavy applications, Zoom, Microsoft Teams voice / video calls?
Security
Perhaps even more important than, performance, your WIFI network needs to be designed for security. Guest access can be simple and unencrypted but corporate users will require encrypted communication, based on their credentials and company policies. It is very important to define your security requirements.

Design

Wireless Coverage
Wireless Network Pass / Fail
Design
It is essential to avoid a trial-and-error installation of your wireless LAN, which is why Dimension Network Systems offers unique and personalised site surveys for all of our clients. An on-site wireless survey provides a proactive, physical approach. While WiFi signals pass through drywall, plywood, and most building materials relatively easily, there are exceptions. Glass walls, metal, brick, and reinforced concrete can absorb or completely block WIFI signals. This is why an onsite approach is most beneficial – we get accurate actual results.
With the information gathered, a design report will be created and presented to the client to enable the procurement of required equipment.

For new buildings or additional space, a Predictive Site Survey is required. We can design the optimum wireless network using Ekahau Pro Predictive Survey software. It starts with importing accurate floor plans into our Wi-Fi planning application – Ekahau.

Wireless 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies, work differently in areas where there are physical barriers than it does in wide-open space. Attenuation objects such as types of walls e,g concrete or plasterboard, doors, fire doors, windows, atriums etc. all affect the signals emitted from access points and so create different coverage patterns. So, using our software , we need to ‘build’ the network by choosing the correct type of e.g wall. Ekahau Site Survey Pro planning tool includes multiple types of walls and attenuation area profiles.

Then by inputting the information collected in the ‘Define’ stage – usage, coverage, and capacity – the auto-planner will suggest access point locations, visualise the predicted coverage based on the previously defined

Deploy

Deploy
During the Deploy stage, all hardware and equipment will be installed and configured as per the Onsite Survey Design report or the Predictive Wireless Report. The wireless network will be configured and Access Points will be cabled and mounted in the correct positions and connected to their management controllers. After we have physically installed and configured the network hardware, connectivity tests will be carried out to ensure all devices have access to their required applications.

Validate

Validate or Troubleshoot
Once a Wireless LAN (WLAN) has been deployed, we may want to check the performance of the wireless network to ensure you are getting the best results from your deployment. A Heatmap Survey is the first step to validate or troubleshoot your existing network. When carried out it will for example, display the coverage areas, the data rate in each area and any co channel interference issues and will confirm if the network meets the design.
We also analyse the results to verify that the network coverage, performance, and capacity requirements are being met. If the verification survey reveals that the network still doesn’t meet the requirements, we will recommend ways to fine tune and optimise the network to meet your objectives and requirements. Typical methods of optimization include fine-tuning the AP channels and transmit powers; strategically turning off unnecessary, interfering 2.4 GHz radios; and coping with sources of non-Wi-Fi interference.
Also, Environments change over time and these changes can affect the performance of the wireless network. A validation survey can assist in troubleshooting these issues.
It can also be the case that the wireless network requirements have changed over time. The network may have been installed for 20 people in the 1st Floor office who just needed to download email over the wireless network however the network now has a requirement for higher bandwidth applications, Voice over Wi-Fi and there the number of devices on the network has also increased applications like VoWiFi, the user experience begins to suffer. If users have been complaining of bad connections, slow file downloads or buffered video calls, it is time to check your network.
Heatmap Signal Coverage
Ekahau Heatmap Wi-Fi Survey
Wireless Network Pass / Fail