Industry: Medical

Services and Materials Provided:

• Scheduling
• Wireless network site survey
• Access point locations determined
• Photo documentation of all locations
• Detailed documentation of all findings and proposed plans

Situation Analysis

As a part of a larger network implementation, a radio frequency (RF) site survey was needed by this customer. 

The purpose of the survey was:

• To determine the equipment required to provide an 802.11g wireless infrastructure in the facility.  This infrastructure would be used for both data, and voice connections.
• To find viable locations for the required quantities of Cisco access points, and appropriate antennas.
• To specify system configuration and connectivity requirements.
• To scan the hospital in order to identify any existing 802.11 and/or 2.4Ghz transmissions that may be affected by and/or adversely affect operation of the proposed system.

Prior to running the site survey, the radios on the Access Points were turned down to 20mW.  Cisco does not recommend running the APs at maximum power with the wireless phones.  Changing the power settings gave us a more detailed look at how the coverage areas would be affected with the wireless phones.

Technical Details

The site survey was performed using a laptop running Airmagnet’s Surveyor software.  In addition to showing the signal strength of the access points used in the survey, the software can also detect any other access points or transmissions that could create interference with the new system.

A portable Cisco site survey kit, comprised of 1100 and 1200 series access points, was placed at various locations in the hospital.  RF readings were taken at various locations throughout the hospital, using the Surveyor software.

In order to create an adequate operating margin and account for cable loss, the actual antennas that will be used for production were used in the survey.  At the completion of the survey, a detailed report with pictures and coverage maps was provided to the customer.