WLAN Design Principles You Should Know

While there would be great advances that are made in the speed as well as ease of implementation of Wi-Fi networks, the basic nature of RF (radio frequency) is considered to be unchanged generally. Increasing the number of users who could access the WLAN in a small physical space would be remaining a challenge. The general concepts would be underlying high-density Wi-Fi design that remains true for lots of environments. But it is considered to be very important to note that the solutions and content presented here won’t fit every WLAN designing scenario. Rather, the intention of the guide is considered to explain the challenges in WLAN design for high-density client environments as well as to offer successful strategies so that engineers and administrators understanding them and would be able to articulate the impact design decisions would have. Before we discuss it further, if you wish to have hands-on experience of the same, you should opt for the training courses offered by the SPOTO Club, to ensure your success.

Targeting Environmental Characteristics for WLANs in Higher Education Environments

High-density WLAN design would be submitted to any environment where client devices would be situated in densities would be greater than coverage opportunity of normal enterprise deployment, in this case, a traditional carpeted office. For reference, a typical office environment would be having indoor propagation characteristics for signal attenuation. User density is considered to be a critical factor in the design. Aggregate available bandwidth would be delivered per radio cell, as well as the number of users and their connection characteristics like the speed, radio type, duty cycle, band, signal, and SNR occupying that cell would be determining overall bandwidth available per user.

A typical office environment, Figure 1, might be having APs deployed for 2,500 to 5,000 square feet with a signal of -67 decibels in dBm (millowatts) coverage as well as a maximum of 20 to 30 clients per cell. That would be a density of one user every 120 square foot (sq. ft.) as well as yields a minimum signal of -67 dBm.

In deploying and planning such a WLAN, an AP is considered to be naturally placed in an area predictable for having a higher user density, like in a conference room, while common areas are considered to be left with less exposure. In this way, preplanning for high-density areas would be anticipated. Conference rooms are commonly placed in clusters, so it is considered to be the best for designing for the maximum capacity of the area.

In a high-density environment like the lecture hall or auditorium, the densities of users in the occupied space would be increasing dramatically. User seating is clustered typically very much close together for achieving high occupancy. The overall dimensions of the space are considered to be really only useful for getting an idea of the free space path loss of the AP signal. User densities aren’t evenly dispersed over the complete space as stages, aisle ways, and podiums represent a percentage of space that would be relatively unoccupied.

The single biggest source of interference in the room would be the client devices themselves. For each user sitting in the auditorium that could rest their hand comfortably on the back of the seat in front of them, the distance would be approximately 3 feet, with an average seat size of 24 inches. This yields what would be defined as a high-density environment, with less than 1 sq. meter per device deployed supercilious one or more devices connected per seat.

So, if you wish to gain more information regarding the WLAN Design Principles, you should opt for the training courses which are offered at the SPOTO Club.