manual ® a m l a nu d n a r e n n a l P te i ifi L W r e D n 3 n F a R l r P o fi f i W D 3 F R 1
manual Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 PC 1.1PC Hardware Requirements 1.2 Installation and Activation 1.3 Product Updates 2 Fundamentals of Wireless Network Planning 2.1 Standardization in Wireless Networking 2.1.1 The IEEE 802.11b Specification 2.1.2 The IEEE 802.11g Specification 2.1.3 The IEEE 802.11a Specification 2.1.4 The IEEE 802.11h Specification 2.2 Frequencies and Channels 2.3 Cellular Structure of a Wireless Network 2.4 Antennas 2.4.1 Omnidirectional Antennas 2.4.2 Patch Antennas 2.4.
manual 1 Introduction Thank you very much for choosing RF3D WifiPlanner! RF3D WifiPlanner is an advanced program for planning wireless networks in conformance with the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/h standards. RF3D WifiPlanner helps you design more efficient wireless networks and ensure that they deliver optimum service even under heavy loads. Such planning usually saves costs too, not least by eliminating unnecessary access points.
manual 1.1 PC 1.1PC Hardware Requirements • Processor: Intel Pentium, 1.5 GHz or faster • Display: 1024×768 or greater • RAM: 750 MB for networks with less than 30 access points. For larger network plans, 1 GB or more. 1.2 Installation and Activation Before installing the software, please open Add or Remove Programs under Start / Control Panel, and verify that the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (or higher) has been installed on your computer. If it is not already installed, please download the Microsoft .
manual Now choose the installation folder for the program. We recommend using the default directory path. Please do not change the name of the application folder, “RF3DWifiPlanner”. Click Next and wait for the installation to be completed. After you click Finish, RF3D starts and displays a license activation dialog: If you would like to evaluate the software in demo mode, simply click Cancel.
manual 1.3 Product Updates New versions of RF3D WifiPlanner are released from time to time. To search for updates, please visit www.rf3d.com in the Internet. The RF3D website has a download area where you can download the latest program version. The same website allows you to upgrade from RF3D WifiPlanner Lite to the next higher version. Or you can order an upgrade by e-mail to sales@rf3d.com.
manual 2.1.2 The IEEE 802.11g Specification The IEEE 802.11g wireless Ethernet specification is an advanced extension of the widely accepted 802.11b standard, and was adopted in mid-2003. Like its predecessor, 802.11g also uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band. The data transfer rates were substantially increased, however, so that the 802.11g standard permits throughput of 1, 2, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36 and 54 Mbit/s.
manual However, the channels in the ISM band overlap. For example, with reference to the actual radio output of an access point, we find that an access point transmitting on channel three also emits a signal on the neighboring channels 1, 2, 4, and 5. This means that other WLAN components communicating on any of those four channels will receive interference. This happens whenever the components transmit data.
manual Interference arises whenever data is transmitted, and therefore networks that carry little or no data generate less interference. This also means that, although a network with lower data traffic still functions in spite of channel overlap, problems can be expected as traffic increases. In planning, of course, attention must be given to avoiding channel overlaps.
manual Note that, in this cellular structure, channel overlap must be avoided not only within each floor of a building, but also between adjacent floors. In other words, access points above and below one another should not use the same channels. Another important consideration is the security of a company-wide wireless network. Usually the operator wants to avoid WLAN transmission beyond the boundaries of the company’s premises in order to prevent unauthorized access from outside.
manual 2.4.1 Omnidirectional Antennas Omnidirectional antennas are generally used to increase the communication range within offices or homes. The antennas commonly supplied with access points are omnidirectional. Omnidirectional antennas have a beam angle of 360° in the horizontal plane. Vertically, their radiation pattern is compressed, and may cover an angle of 80°. These antennas can have a gain of 2 to 5 dB, and may be used to increase an access point’s horizontal range.
manual 2.7 Redundancy To protect the supported applications against failures, a certain redundancy must be designed into a wireless network. This means that, if a given access point fails, the stations it served can join neighboring radio cells. However, since access points too close together generally cause interference, redundancy planning always involves a compromise between reliability and throughput.
manual rently in DXF format (as produced by Auto-CAD for example), you can convert them either using the graphics program they were created with, or using commonly available utilities. Other ways of obtaining the necessary plans include scanning paper drawings or photographing the emergency exit plans posted on each floor of most buildings. It doesn’t matter if the individual floor plans have different resolutions or orientations: the Import Wizard solves such problems easily.
manual After you have selected the image file for the first floor plan, you can align it with the grid so that the walls are exactly horizontal and vertical. This will make it much simpler to draw in the walls later. To align the plan, rotate it using the slider, then use the left and right arrow keys for finer adjustments. Then set the “coordinate origin,” such as the upper left corner of the building, and a second “reference point,” such as the upper right corner of the building.
manual 3.2 The Toolbox The Toolbox provides all the tools you need to design a wireless LAN. When you select Floor, Supp. Wall, or Wall, the drop-down list to the right in the Toolbox contains a list of the possible material types for the corresponding building element. To draw in building elements on the plan, select a material type in the list. The material types are stored in the program as libraries, which can be easily expanded. For details, see Chapter 5, “Advanced Settings”.
manual 3.3 Drawing and Selecting Elements First select the desired element in the Toolbox, then choose the appropriate type of material. Draw in plan elements using both the left and right mouse buttons: first use the left mouse button to mark corners, then the right mouse button to finish the element. Walls, floors and supporting walls are ordinarily drawn only in horizontal and vertical segments. But you can also draw diagonal segments at any angle simply by pressing the Ctrl key as you move the mouse.
manual Log. Power This is the received signal strength of the strongest access point at each location. Use this view to gauge the quality of your network coverage. A value of –70 dB or higher is sufficient. (Remember that, since the values in dB are negative, a higher value is one that is closer to zero.) Log. SNR This view shows the signal-to-noise ratio at each location, which reflects the effects of co-channel interference. A value of 10 dB or higher is good.
manual 3.5 The Access Point Tab The Access Points tab lists all the access points currently planned, and allows you to modify their properties. The properties of each access point include a name and a description, the transmitter power, the channel setting, and the antenna orientation. The orientation is expressed in terms of rotation in the horizontal plane and inclination from the vertical.
manual For a warehouse application, for example, you should design the wireless cells larger and tolerate a higher level of interference. This increases reliability, since the second nearest access point to a given location will probably be usable in case the nearest one fails. To change the size of the wireless cells, click the Access Points tab and adjust the transmitter power of each access point. The higher the transmitter power of an access point, the larger the cell it covers.
manual 4.3 Positioning Access Points Now that you have drawn all the elements of the building, you can begin to design the WLAN itself by positioning the access points and defining their properties. Because RF3D WifiPlanner considers each access point in combination with its antenna, you should know what type of antenna you are thinking of using when you select the Access Point tool in the Toolbox. If you plan to use an access point without an external antenna, you can select one of the “Generic” types.
manual Sufficient signal power (–60 dBm or better) throughout the building.. Start your planning with the access points in the lowest level, and use a cellular structure as described in Section 2.3. Set the communication channels of the access points in conformance with national restrictions. When you continue with the access points in the other levels, remember that access points transmit through floors and ceilings.
manual When you choose channels for the access points, it can be helpful to switch the view mode from signal power to data rate, because the data rate view reflects any adverse effects of co-channel or near-channel interference due to channel settings. Checking the results of access point settings in the Data Rate view. 4.4 Optimizing Wireless Networks When you have finished planning wireless signal coverage for the building, you can begin to optimize the network.
manual 5 Advanced Settings 5.1 Editing Wall and Floor Libraries he properties and settings of wall and floor materials are stored in the library. You can easily edit and expand this library. Each type of wall or floor is saved in a separate XML file. These files are contained in the folder RF3DWifiPlanner/WallsFloors. The names of the wall and floor files must follow certain rules in order to be recognized by the RF3D WifiPlanner program. Example: ft_003_6-_Brick_7_18dB.
manual 5.2 Editing the Access Point/Antenna Library The antenna library, like the wall and floor library, is stored in the form of individual files for each antenna type. These files are contained in the folder RF3DWifiPlanner/Antennas, and can be edited with Notepad. The best way to create an antenna type is to find the file that defines a similar, existing type, open it in Notepad, and save it under a new name before editing its contents. Any antenna can be defined for the 2.
manual The IsZIsotropic_2_4GHz line indicates whether the antenna is approximately omnidirectional in the horizontal plane in the 2.4 GHz band. The value true indicates that its radiation pattern is roughly rotationally symmetric with respect to the vertical axis. true The Gain_dB_5GHz line defines the antenna gain in the 5 GHz band.
manual The array, or list of values, which follows contains phi values (angle measures in degrees) for 72 data points at 2.4 GHz. If you use a different number of data points, replace the “72” in this line with the number of data points you want to define. - -180
- -175
- -170
. . .
manual The next array, with the attribute id=”ref-9”, contains gain values in dBi for the values of theta listed above, representing 72 data points at 2.4 GHz. - -16.683
- -12.24
- -7.157
. . . - -5.032
- -7.721
- -12.307
The next array, with the attribute id=”ref-10”, contains a phi value (angle measure in degrees) for one data point at 5 GHz.
manual 5.3 Options and Settings To adjust other program settings, select the the menu command Tools/Options. The Country option group allows you to set appropriate parameters for the country where you are located. The Geometry option group lets you specify default values for the height of new access points above the floor, the vertical distance between floors, etc.
manual In this way you can draw the floor in one piece while leaving an interior area open. 5.5 Split-Level Buildings To represent buildings with split levels, import a drawing for each partial level and draw in partial floors for the existing floor areas. Remember, though, that walls you draw in on a lower level extend only to the height of the next higher level, even if they do not meet a floor there.
manual Appendix A The Antenna Library Antenna Library Hier finden Sie die Antennendiagramme für die in RF3D WifiPlanner hinterlegten generischen Antennentypen.
manual Generic Antenna a/b/g 7dBi Omni Horizontal section of b/g Net Vertical section of b/g Net 30
manual Horizontal section of a/h Net Vertical section of a/h Net 31
manual Generic Antenna a/b/g 8dBi directional Horizontal section of a/b/g Net Vertical section of a/b/g Net 32
manual Generic Antenna a/b/g 13,9 dBi Directional Yagi Horizontal section of a/b/g Net Vertical section of a/b/g Net 33
manual Generic Antenna a/b/g 18 dBi Directional Horizontal section of a/b/g Net Vertical section of a/b/g Net 34
manual Appendix B The Wall and Floor Library List of wall & floor materials measurement unit: feet Att. 2.4 Att.
manual Floor 30,0 45,0 10 Floor 24,0 36,0 12 Floor 25,0 37,5 12 Floor 34,0 51,0 12 Floor 4,0 6,0 1,5 Floor 6,0 8,0 1,5 10“ Concrete/Steel w/ Metallic Drop Ceiling 30/45dB 12“ Concrete w/Steel 24/36dB 12“ Concrete/Steel w/ Nonmetallic Drop Ceiling 25/37dB 12“ Concrete/Steel w/ Metallic Drop Ceiling 34/51dB 1.5“ Wood Flooring w/ Subfloor 4/6dB 1.
manual List of wall & floor materials measurement unit: meter Floor / Att. 2.4 Wall GHz [dB] Wall 8 Wall 10 Wall 13 Wall 15 RF3D Text Att. 5 (Mean) GHz Thickness cm [dB] 20 18 Brick wall 18cm 8/20dB 25 25 Brick wall 25cm 10/25dB 32,5 50 Brick wall 50cm 13/32.5dB 22,5 18 Steel reinforced concrete wall 18cm 15/22.5dB 30 25 Steel reinforced concrete wall 25cm 20/30dB 37,5 31 Steel reinforced concrete wall 31cm 25/37.5dB 3 18 Light-Weight concrete/gas concrete 18cm 2/3dB 0,8 N/A Dry wall/1.
manual Appendix C Table of Colors knownColor R G B A Aqua Color 30 0 255 255 255 Aquamarine 31 127 255 212 255 Black 35 0 0 0 255 BlanchedAlmond 36 255 235 205 255 Blue 37 0 0 255 255 BlueViolet 38 138 43 226 255 Brown 39 165 42 42 255 BurlyWood 40 222 184 135 255 CadetBlue 41 95 158 160 255 Chartreuse 42 127 255 0 255 Chocolate 43 210 105 30 255 Coral 44 255 127 80 255 CornflowerBlue 45 100 149 237 255 Crimson 47 220 20
manual Color knownColor R G B A HotPink 82 255 105 180 255 IndianRed 83 205 92 92 255 Indigo 84 75 0 130 255 Khaki 86 240 230 140 255 LawnGreen 89 124 252 0 255 LightBlue 91 173 216 230 255 LightCoral 92 240 128 128 255 LightGray 95 211 211 211 255 LightGreen 96 144 238 144 255 LightPink 97 255 182 193 255 LightSalmon 98 255 160 122 255 LightSeaGreen 99 32 178 170 255 LightSkyBlue 100 135 206 250 255 LightSlateGray 101 11
manual Color knownColor R G B A Purple 140 128 0 128 255 Red 141 255 0 0 255 RosyBrown 142 188 143 143 255 RoyalBlue 143 65 105 225 255 SaddleBrown 144 139 69 19 255 Salmon 145 250 128 114 255 SandyBrown 146 244 164 96 255 SeaGreen 147 46 139 87 255 Sienna 149 160 82 45 255 Silver 150 192 192 192 255 SkyBlue 151 135 206 235 255 SlateBlue 152 106 90 205 255 SlateGray 153 112 128 144 255 SpringGreen 155 0 255 127 255 St
manual 1.
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manual 12. NOTICES. All notices and return of the Software and Documentation should be delivered to: Psiber Data GmbH or Felix-Wankel-Str. 4 D-82152 Krailling GERMANY PSIBER DATA SYSTEMS INC. 7075-K Mission Gorge Road San Diego, CA 92120 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 13. APPLICABLE LAW & GENERAL PROVISIONS.
manual For more information or updates please contact: www.RF3D.com Psiber USA: PSIBER DATA Systems Inc. 7075-K Mission Gorge Road San Diego, CA 92120 phone 1-619-287-9970 fax 1-619-287-9978 E-mail info@psiber.com Psiber Europe: PSIBER DATA GmbH Felix-Wankel-Straße 4 D-82152 Krailling Tel +49 (0) 89 89 13 60 - 60 Fax +49 (0) 89 89 13 60 - 66 E-Mail info@psiber-data.
