Walk in the Park: Part One - SynerStrand Blog

Welcome to Part One of the Walk in the Park series.

In this segment, we will take you through the initial stages of our Wi-Fi survey process. By walking you through a real-world example, we aim to demystify the steps involved and provide valuable insights that you can apply to your own projects.

Our goal is to share a Wi-Fi survey in a familiar setting and provide insights into our survey process, helping you understand how to optimize your own wireless network.

The Recipe

We follow a simple recipe to complete this type of survey: Prepare, Measure, Analyze, Advise, Validate.

In preparing for a Wi-Fi survey, we must identify the work area, then match a suitable technique. For “Walk in the Park” the name really says it all. We identified a walking path to capture a broad representation of Wi-Fi Coverage in our target area. For this example, we’re at Main City Park in Elko, NV. Depending on your work area requirements, survey techniques can range from driving with GPS to plotting a course manually on scaled interior drawings.

Once we know where and how we will survey, the next step is to perform the measurement. As simple as initiating software and walking a path may sound, take some time to assess the hazards in your work area. During a survey, it can be quite easy to get distracted by the tools and potentially bump into things or walk into unsafe situations.

Always prioritize awareness of surroundings above all when conducting your survey!

Throughout the survey, be on the lookout for photo opportunities. Taking photos of the work area, radio sites, and any notable obstructions to coverage is a wonderful way to enhance your survey and help recall pertinent information for reporting.

Now that we have acquired data, let us take our first look!

The Results

2Ghz Coverage

At 2GHz, signal strength is strong across the park, except near the tennis courts in the north, which fell below –67 dBm.

5Ghz Coverage

At 5GHz, the results differed significantly. Only a few areas had a received signal strength greater than –67dBm.

Initial Impression

The analysis of these two images confirms that 2GHz Wi-Fi propagates through the park more extensively than 5GHz Wi-Fi. Now that we know there is signal, that means I should get some Wi-Fi coverage in the park, right? Not necessarily, you must be a trusted user with permission to use one of the 228 unique networks we discovered.

Thank You

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what’s in the park with us. Next time, we’ll go beyond signal strength and find out what else we can learn from this data. Walk in the Park: Part Two is in the works. Until then, be well!

-SynerStrand Team

Special Note

This post was originally published on December 3rd, 2024. We’re working on translating our previous inventory to an updated blogging platform for consistency. Let us know if anything is out of place or difficult to use. Cheers!