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Vendor: Berkley Varitronics Systems (BVS)
Product: Swarm
Verdict: Complete, well-integrated set of apps
BVS's Swarm (most of their product names have an insect theme) is actually a set of applications that implement a fairly complete site survey tool. The first, Projector, imports and scales floor plans, and also places walls, windows, doors and access points, among other radio and passive objects, in the model.
The next piece, Collector, runs on the Yellowjacket handheld PC we reviewed during the spectrum analyzer test. Collector, as its name implies, grabs data for later analysis, and GPS information is recorded for outdoor scans. Specific channels can be selected as desired; fewer results in better performance. Finally, data is crunched by Analyzer, which runs on a Windows-based PC.
Like all of the site survey tools we reviewed, Analyzer is project-oriented, and floor plans from Projector and the analysis of data from Collector are displayed in one pane while control selections are made in another. Analyzer can provide RSSI for channel, media access control address and SSID, with further consequential coverage analysis and reliability analysis, which is the likelihood of receiving a signal at a particular threshold value. Results can be presented in a tabular report form if desired.
Perhaps the best feature of Swarm is that it is part of an integrated hardware/software, indoor/outdoor solution, packaged in a convenient (and small) Windows Mobile device with associated PC analysis software. Installers looking for a pre-integrated solution will find particular appeal here.
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