A wireless site survey was conducted following a request from our client in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who experienced intermittent connectivity issues and areas with no wireless coverage.
The site had 16 MR42E Cisco Meraki AP installed with Dipole MA-ANT-3-A5 antenna. During the survey, RF Engineer found lots of coverage holes. These holes were primarily due to offline Wireless Access Points and incorrect installation of the antenna. Issues with individual Access Points (APs) were identified and a detailed report was submitted to the client with a remediation strategy. RF Engineer also identified power level issues with some APs. Hence RF profile optimization was also recommended via Meraki Dashboard.
The details of the surveys are below.
Site type: 16ft feet tall warehouse with 9ft tall office area
Area: 65,000 sq ft
Height: 24 ft
Survey type: Post Wireless Design
Coverage: 2.4 GHz and 5GHz
AP used for APoS: Cisco Meraki MR42E
Antenna: Dipole (MA-ANT-3-A5/6)
| 5 GHz | 2.4 GHz | |
| Signal Strength | -65 dBm | -65 dBm |
| Secondary signal strength | -68 dBm | -68 dBm |
| Signal-to-noise ratio | 25 dB | 25 dB |
|
Data rate
|
12 Mbps | 12 Mbps |
Signal Strength on 5GHz
The image below shows the Signal Strength and SNR in 5 GHz for the site. There are 16 Access points but lots of wireless coverage holes were identified. This was due to offline wireless access points, improper power, and RF Profile configuration in the Meraki dashboard.
The image shows the Signal Strength and SNR in 5 GHz for the site. There are 16 Access points but lots of wireless coverage holes were identified
Signal Strength on 2.4GHz
The image below shows the Signal Strength and SNR in 2.4 GHz for the site. There are 16 Access points but lots of wireless coverage holes were identified. This was due to offline wireless access points, improper power, and RF Profile configuration in the Meraki dashboard.
The image shows the Signal Strength and SNR in 2.4 GHz for the site. There are 16 Access points but lots of wireless coverage holes were identified.
Access Points exhibiting the signal issue
The image below shows the signal issue shown by a few APs onsite. These APs were transmission very low power wireless due to configuration or physical issues. The client was recommended to check all the cabling infrastructure and re-certify all of them. They were also requested to check the Power and RF profile configuration in the Meraki dashboard along with the connection between the antenna and APs.
Access Points with issues with power in 5GHz
Access Points with issues with power in 2.4GHz
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Image Source: Canva