3Com Megahertz
Site Survey Administrator Guide
Inspecting the Survey Area  

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Inspecting the Survey Area

During the planning stages of the site survey, a representative from the site survey team will visit the proposed AirConnect radio coverage site. As a standard practice in the site survey consultation, the representative gathers facility drawings and completes a Site Survey Requirements document and a site survey questionnaire. The representative documents the wiring used within the facility (10BaseT, 10Base2, fiber optic) and assesses its applicability to AirConnect components.

Several trial installation areas should be selected. The site survey team analyzes each proposed installation area to document radio transmission constraints and to develop preliminary AP placement alternatives to be tested during the actual site survey. The findings from the initial site inspection should be documented in a Site Survey Request Form and serve as the outline of the site survey.

The following variables should also be considered in the site survey requirements definition:

The completion of the RF Site Survey Requirements document is a coordinated effort between the site survey team and the customer management team.

The RF Site Survey Requirements document does not identify potential installation constraints within the customer site, nor does it recommend AP and antenna placement location. The RF Site Survey Requirements document represents a preliminary overview of the customer site, and is used as a baseline for refining site survey requirements.

Environmental Considerations

The site survey team selects trial AirConnect component installation areas away from transformers, heavy-duty motors, fluorescent lights, microwave ovens, refrigerators, and other industrial equipment. Areas with excessive moisture, heat, and dust are inappropriate for installing an AirConnect wireless network.

Signal loss can occur when metal, concrete, walls, or floors block AP transmission areas. AirConnect AP antennas are trial-mounted in open areas or added to an existing AP to boost the AirConnect coverage area.

The positioning of an AP depends on the floor plan of the site. The site survey team makes AP placement recommendations based on the following installation site variables:

Direct-Sequence Considerations

In a direct-sequence radio coverage cell, APs with identical direct-sequence channels cannot share the same cell. Direct-sequence access points operating on different channels require careful survey area testing to ensure that radio transmissions do not interface.