Wireless LAN Network Design: Site Survey or Propagation Modeling?

Abstract

There are two basic ways to deploy wireless LAN access points in an indoor scenario: manual deployment using a site survey based on empirical measurements or planning using a software tool with built-in signal propagation models. In this paper advantages and disadvantages of both ways are discussed. The planning based on propagation modeling is recognized as a highly preferable approach for design of large WLANs. Experimental data in this paper were processed in MATLAB.