Introduction | What to use when | How we did it | Slideshow | Test archive
Company: Psiber
Product: RF3D WiFiPlanner
Verdict: Covers the basics, low cost
It's easy to import building floor plans in .jpg, .bmp, or .png format into RF3D WiFiPlanner, and, similarly, it's easy to correct for rotation or skewing and to align floors on top of each other. One then defines the properties of floors and ceilings, supporting (typically, load-bearing) and other walls, place access points in the model, and observe the result of simulated 3D radio-wave propagation.
As antenna orientation can affect the results, this information can also be specified in the model. In addition to modeling field strength (including both power and SNR) and interference, network load and viewing resulting estimated data rates, it's also possible to estimate reliability in the event of access point failure, although automated failover reconfiguration is available in most enterprise-class WLAN system products today.
Calculation resolution can be adjusted to match one's available processor performance (or degree of patience), and network load can also be simulated as well. While not as robust as some more expensive competitors, RF3D WiFiPlanner covers the essentials – and a bit more - quite well.
A less-capable "Lite" version with a 10-access-point limit is also available. Psiber has announced a 2.0 release that will include a number of enhancements, including support for 802.11n, access points with multiple radios, and channel utilization by frequency, along with many others.
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