Meetings
In part 1 I talked about what equipment you will need to do a site survey; in part 2 I helped you visualize what the airwaves would look like while walking through the area to be surveyed. Having the equipment and an idea of what you are looking for is a great start; we need to push on however into specific skill sets.
The next thing that we need to do is to get the Survey Requirements, especially if it is a new installation. We need to meet with the end users of the system and determine what they need, and what they want. They may not necessarily realize that they need security, but they probably know that they want to push graphics through the air which means to us engineers, high speed.
If you are re-surveying a live pre-existing space for specific metrics such as throughput, errors, noise, or rogues, you will need to get detailed information about what the end user is experiencing. Latency, loss off data, and other tangible events are where you should start.
You will need blueprints of the facility (if available), otherwise you will need to make your own maps. Square footage, room size, ceiling heights, and obstructions need to be taken into consideration.
TIP: Take detailed and accurate notes at all of your discussions. As systems evolve sometimes expectations do as well.
You are surveying for the middle links in a network, so logically you will need to know both endpoints:
* Where data is sent from (laptops, hand held scanners, etc.)
* Where data is going to (Internet, across the office, to a printer, mainframe, etc.)
Many professionals fail to scope for capacity. A single access point could probably cover an area the size of a grammar-school gymnasium but if there are a couple of hundred people in seated in the room, the system will choke big time. How many users in each AP's zone is a crucial metric to know. A good rule of thumb may be no more than 20 per AP.
As long as I brought up the topic of a high density of people in a small area, how would you service them? In the 802.11g world you have (realistically) only 3 channels to choose from--we said 20 per AP... that's 60 people running OK. What about the other 140 people?
You would have to have a high density of Access Points, closely mounted, all running minimum power and the most attenuation you could get on their antennas. You would want the coverage of each AP zone to be very small. Very small. Not pretty but doable.
Knowing what the end user needs and wants is the basis of what you will accomplish in your survey. For example if you determine that most of the clients have 802.11g NICs with a few 802.11b units, you may want to explain how converting 802.11g wall to wall is a better investment, especially if they are going to be sending graphics.
To recap this installment provides direction on :
* End user requirements on a new install, or report on pre-existing problems
* Type of equipment they are using
* Accurate detailed notes and Maps.
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