User's Manual

Convergent Design 14 January 2020
12
Erika User Manual
Online Resources
How do I survey my location for 2.4GHz WiFi to check for heavily used channels?
A WiFi Analyzer is used to survey a location's WiFi channel usage. One example is the FREE Net Spot
application, available here (https://www.netspotapp.com/wlan-wifi-analyzer.html). Net Spot has a
beautiful, easy-to-use interface and is suitable for both beginners and experienced network
administrators.
The Net Spot app runs on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, providing you with a visual representation of
what WiFi channels are in use, and each signal's relative strength. The more sources that send a WiFi
signal out over a single channel, the less desirable it is for use because the other signals will cause
interference with Erika. Erika will automatically block out channels with heavy interference. It is
preferred to have as many channels available for Erika.
Another option to provide more channels for Erika is to move your local WiFi network up to the
5GHz band, turning off the 2.4GHz transmission. The Net Spot application does operate on the 5GHz
channels as well, so you can see how populated those channels are.
Some other WiFi analyzers available (found through an Internet search, Apple App, or Google Play
stores) include
InSSIDer – https://www.metageek.com
NetCut – https://arcai.com
Vistumbler – https://www.vistumbler.net – Windows only
WiFi Commander – https://wifi3d.app
Wireshark – https://www.wireshark.org
Intel's whitepaper on USB3.0 RF interference on 2.4 GHz Wireless devices – found here -
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/io/universal-serial-bus/usb3-
frequency-interference-paper.html