Videos of presentations from the WLAN Professionals Conference that occurred Feb. 10-12th in Austin, TX have now been posted by Keith Parsons and the Prime Image Media team. The conference was chalk-full of great content, both technical and business focused, by some of the best experts in the industry!
I had the honor of presenting a session titled "Going Beyond RF Coverage: Designing for Capacity." The topic is about how to define, measure, and plan for capacity needs for ALL wireless networks (not just high-density environments - for which no commonly accepted definition even exits). I provided a bit of background on why I decided to give my presentation on this topic in my previous blog "Mind the Gap in Your WLAN Design" and you can download the full presentation and related material.
Check it out!
WLAN Pros Summit 2014 | Andrew Von Nagy Beyond RF Coverage 1 from Keith R. Parsons on Vimeo.
Be sure to check out all of the great presentations from the event on the WLAN Pros website and Keith's Vimeo channel!
Cheers,
Andrew
Showing posts with label capacity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capacity. Show all posts
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Mind The Gap in Your WLAN Design
Over the past few years I've had the opportunity to travel for work, a lot. I'm always navigating airports large and small, and trekking out and about around urban areas finding my way from airport to hotel to meeting venue or just plain exploring the local scene in my free time. I've got a bit of an "adventure seeker" flair as well, so sometimes I just head out on my own without a map, guide, or itinerary just to soak up the local culture and find the backroads that really embody the travel destination that I find myself in.
In urban areas, this invariably involves navigating the local railway or subway system. In many places all the signs are posted in both the local language as well as English, but I always try to force myself to gather the meaning of the signs without resorting to reading the English version. One sign that is almost universal among these train systems is the warning to "Mind The Gap" between the railcar and the platform. With trains barreling down the tracks at significant speeds, railway architects need to leave a buffer of space to ensure the cars don't hit the platform.
It occurs to me that with greater velocity or momentum comes the need for more flexibility in design at the sacrifice of a small amount of precision. However, there is a fine balance to this design that must be maintained. Make the gap too large and passengers are at greater risk of injury. Make the gap too small and the rail design is too inflexible, causing damages and the system ends up breaking down quickly requiring replacement.
This serves as a fairly good analogy, in my estimation, for the wireless LAN industry. The WLAN market is like the railway car, picking up velocity and traveling at a fairly fast speed down the tracks. No one can deny the pace of change in the WLAN world, where users are adopting Wi-Fi mobile devices in record-breaking numbers, the Internet of Things (IoT) is on the horizon, and businesses are finding that Wi-Fi can actually enable new services and insights that help them differentiate. Users, meanwhile, are standing on the platforms trying to hop onto this fast-moving train, all-the-while expecting an effortless and satisfactory experience that they have been accustomed to for the past decade. WLAN administrators are caught in the middle, trying to design these systems to be flexible enough to accommodate the increased velocity and change in the industry while trying to minimize the "gap" between the railway car (WLAN services) and the platform (Users). A tough job indeed!
If WLAN administrators have any hope of succeeding in minimizing the gap, they need to place proper focus on understanding market direction and be armed with the proper tools and resources to effectively design a solution that not only meets the current needs but future needs as well. With every new advancement that comes along, the industry is challenged to identify and develop tools that enable administrators to effectively design the WLAN system based on these new capabilities and changes user demand. If the gap widens too far (product advancements or user demands outpace the ability for administrators to effectively design the WLAN) then users are at risk of falling through and suffering a poor user experience and dissatisfaction.
Therefore, a constant ebb and flow exists in the industry where the gap widens as advancements are made and user demands change, only to shrink as the technology matures, deployment experiences reveal what works and what doesn't, and administrators gain the resources to design and plan for the new requirements.
One of the major "gaps" that has arisen over the course of the last several years is the overwhelming increase in demand for Wi-Fi capacity but the lack of quality resources and tools for network administrators to design for capacity requirements. Instead, WLAN admins are forced to twist RF coverage design tools into what they need using crude rule-of-thumb estimates on the number of APs per square meter / feet based on an ambiguous (at best) concept of the network type they are planning for such as data, voice, or location-services.
I say enough is enough! We need:
I'll be speaking about WLAN capacity planning and presenting a methodology and approach that can be used for every WLAN, big or small, at the Wireless LAN Professionals Conference next week in Austin, TX. If you're attending, please join me on Wednesday, Feb. 12th at 9am CST in Ballroom B of the Hilton Austin Airport Hotel. If you are unable to attend, a recorded video of the presentation will be made available after the event.
Cheers,
Andrew
In urban areas, this invariably involves navigating the local railway or subway system. In many places all the signs are posted in both the local language as well as English, but I always try to force myself to gather the meaning of the signs without resorting to reading the English version. One sign that is almost universal among these train systems is the warning to "Mind The Gap" between the railcar and the platform. With trains barreling down the tracks at significant speeds, railway architects need to leave a buffer of space to ensure the cars don't hit the platform.
It occurs to me that with greater velocity or momentum comes the need for more flexibility in design at the sacrifice of a small amount of precision. However, there is a fine balance to this design that must be maintained. Make the gap too large and passengers are at greater risk of injury. Make the gap too small and the rail design is too inflexible, causing damages and the system ends up breaking down quickly requiring replacement.
This serves as a fairly good analogy, in my estimation, for the wireless LAN industry. The WLAN market is like the railway car, picking up velocity and traveling at a fairly fast speed down the tracks. No one can deny the pace of change in the WLAN world, where users are adopting Wi-Fi mobile devices in record-breaking numbers, the Internet of Things (IoT) is on the horizon, and businesses are finding that Wi-Fi can actually enable new services and insights that help them differentiate. Users, meanwhile, are standing on the platforms trying to hop onto this fast-moving train, all-the-while expecting an effortless and satisfactory experience that they have been accustomed to for the past decade. WLAN administrators are caught in the middle, trying to design these systems to be flexible enough to accommodate the increased velocity and change in the industry while trying to minimize the "gap" between the railway car (WLAN services) and the platform (Users). A tough job indeed!
Therefore, a constant ebb and flow exists in the industry where the gap widens as advancements are made and user demands change, only to shrink as the technology matures, deployment experiences reveal what works and what doesn't, and administrators gain the resources to design and plan for the new requirements.
One of the major "gaps" that has arisen over the course of the last several years is the overwhelming increase in demand for Wi-Fi capacity but the lack of quality resources and tools for network administrators to design for capacity requirements. Instead, WLAN admins are forced to twist RF coverage design tools into what they need using crude rule-of-thumb estimates on the number of APs per square meter / feet based on an ambiguous (at best) concept of the network type they are planning for such as data, voice, or location-services.
I say enough is enough! We need:
- Solid Understanding - Administrators need to understand what factors determine capacity in a WLAN, including AP and client capabilities, applications in use on the network, and the unique mix of devices on their network.
- Holistic Planning - Administrators need to fill the gaps in the WLAN design process to adequately perform capacity forecasting. This includes proper research and requirements gathering as well as integration of capacity planning alongside RF coverage planning.
- Design Approach - Administrators need an approach to WLAN capacity planning is purpose-built for the job. Relying on RF coverage tools, not designed to account for user density, device capabilities, and application demands is simply not good enough.
- Quality Resources - Administrators need quality tools and resources that are built specifically to aid in the task of WLAN capacity planning. The lack of quality WLAN capacity planning tools in the industry is glaringly apparent.
 |
| Do you have gaps in your WLAN design process? |
I'll be speaking about WLAN capacity planning and presenting a methodology and approach that can be used for every WLAN, big or small, at the Wireless LAN Professionals Conference next week in Austin, TX. If you're attending, please join me on Wednesday, Feb. 12th at 9am CST in Ballroom B of the Hilton Austin Airport Hotel. If you are unable to attend, a recorded video of the presentation will be made available after the event.
Cheers,
Andrew
Monday, March 18, 2013
Video Blog: High-Density Wi-Fi Design Part 1 - Forecasting AP Capacity
In my previous post, Design your WLAN for High Capacity, I outlined the increasing demands being placed on modern enterprise WLANs caused by the growth in the number of Wi-Fi connected devices, the proliferation of mobile devices and BYOD, and the increasing reliance on the WLAN as the primary network for users in the enterprise. As described in the Aerohive High-Density Wi-Fi Design and Configuration Guide, the key to supporting this increased demand is to design the WLAN for capacity rather than simply coverage.
The first step in designing a WLAN to meet capacity demands is to perform adequate requirements gathering. This starts with a proper understanding of client device capabilities. Because RF is a shared environment, the capacity is determined by the capabilities of the AP infrastructure and the client devices, application bandwidth requirements, and the resulting airtime utilization that results from their unique combination.
In this first of three videos on high-density Wi-Fi design, I describe how these variables interact and can be used to derive a preliminary forecast of the required AP capacity to support the intended network load. I also walk through a few examples to highlight how to apply this method to both homogenous and heterogeneous client environments.
The resulting AP capacity forecast is a starting point to aid the RF design and site survey process. The value in deriving the AP capacity forecast is to ensure that capacity needs are properly accounted for in the site survey process. For example, even though one AP may provide adequate coverage in a university lecture hall, several more APs may be required for capacity. Historically, RF site surveys have only focused on providing adequate RF coverage for the physical area, which may provide sufficient signal in all desired locations but lack AP and channel capacity to successfully support the client and application load.
Once you’ve watched the examples in the video, walk through a few of your own scenarios using the requirements gathering worksheets in the appendix of the Aerohive High-Density Wi-Fi Design and Configuration Guide.
Stay tuned for the remaining two videos in this series, where I’ll cover key RF design and network configuration principles for high-density networks.
Cheers,
Andrew
Full Disclosure - This video was created in cooperation with Aerohive Networks, my current employer.
The first step in designing a WLAN to meet capacity demands is to perform adequate requirements gathering. This starts with a proper understanding of client device capabilities. Because RF is a shared environment, the capacity is determined by the capabilities of the AP infrastructure and the client devices, application bandwidth requirements, and the resulting airtime utilization that results from their unique combination.
In this first of three videos on high-density Wi-Fi design, I describe how these variables interact and can be used to derive a preliminary forecast of the required AP capacity to support the intended network load. I also walk through a few examples to highlight how to apply this method to both homogenous and heterogeneous client environments.
The resulting AP capacity forecast is a starting point to aid the RF design and site survey process. The value in deriving the AP capacity forecast is to ensure that capacity needs are properly accounted for in the site survey process. For example, even though one AP may provide adequate coverage in a university lecture hall, several more APs may be required for capacity. Historically, RF site surveys have only focused on providing adequate RF coverage for the physical area, which may provide sufficient signal in all desired locations but lack AP and channel capacity to successfully support the client and application load.
Once you’ve watched the examples in the video, walk through a few of your own scenarios using the requirements gathering worksheets in the appendix of the Aerohive High-Density Wi-Fi Design and Configuration Guide.
Stay tuned for the remaining two videos in this series, where I’ll cover key RF design and network configuration principles for high-density networks.
Read the Entire High-Density Wi-Fi Design Series:
Cheers,
Andrew
Full Disclosure - This video was created in cooperation with Aerohive Networks, my current employer.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wi-Fi May Get A Capacity Boost, Thanks to the FCC
Have you heard the news? Wi-Fi stands to be the glorious recipient of much more capacity. However, this is not set in stone; far from it. It depends on spectrum policy decisions the FCC is weighing right now, with the help of Congress and the NTIA (a federal agency that advises the President on telecommunications and information policy issues) .
If Wi-Fi is the lucky recipient of more unlicensed spectrum, what would it look like?
What does this mean for Wi-Fi networks?
It's worth noting that the European Commission is considering a similar course of promoting unlicensed spectrum policy [Full PDF, EESC Opinion Feb 2013].
This rulemaking is no small matter. The FCC spectrum policy defined over the course of 2013 will influence Wi-Fi network design and performance for the next decade (or more)! Just take a look at how the initial FCC rulemaking allowing unlicensed spectrum use in 1985 has influenced wireless networks to date, over a quarter-century later.
Here's to hoping 2013 brings a new infusion of unlicensed spectrum for the masses!
Cheers,
Andrew
If Wi-Fi is the lucky recipient of more unlicensed spectrum, what would it look like?
 |
| Proposed New 5 GHz Wi-Fi Channels |
- More channels, and MUCH more capacity! When we exclude channels 120, 124, and 128 which can't be used due to TDWR restrictions, we get:
- 20 MHz - 12 additional channels, 54% more than we have today (22 channels) = 34 total channels!
- 40 MHz - 6 additional channels, 60% more than we have today (10 channels) = 16 total channels!
- 80 MHz - 3 additional channels, 60% more than we have today (5 channels) = 8 total channels!
- 160 MHz - 2 additional channels, 200% more than we have today (1 channel) = 3 total channels!
- Realistic use of 80 MHz and 160 MHz channel width in multi-AP enterprise environments. As I previously stated, the sparse amount of channels available at 80 MHz and 160 MHz channel widths make them impractical for use in enterprise environments due to inadequate channel spacing and co-channel interference. With this additional spectral capacity, sufficient channels will be available to allow the use of 80 MHz channels in most environments, and 160 MHz channel use in many office environments. The only likely holdout where these larger channel widths would not be appropriate are in very high density deployments. (Further reading: The Impact of 802.11ac Gigabit Wi-Fi on Enterprise WLANs).
- Feb 2012 - Congress passed the Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2012, which includes stipulations to investigate the use of 195 MHz of additional 5 GHz spectrum for unlicensed use, among other frequency bands.
- Jul 2012 - The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released a report supporting immediate methods to begin realizing the full potential of federal held spectrum to spur economic growth, largely through spectrum sharing techniques.
- Jan 2013 - FCC Chairman Genachowski announced the effort to open more spectrum for unlicensed use at CES. (Further reading: Spectrum: The Gift that Gives You Faster 802.11ac).
- Jan 2013 - NTIA released their initial study on spectrum sharing in these 5 GHz bands with existing primary users, mostly federal radar systems, and the risk of interference. (Further reading: NTIA weighs in on FCC's 195 MHz spectrum announcement).
- Feb 2013 - The FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is due on 20-Feb and will outline the proposed spectrum policy. It will detail what bands are allowed for unlicensed use and what spectrum sharing and interference mitigation techniques are required to protect existing primary users. This NPRM will be crucial to understanding how much capacity Wi-Fi will gain, whether or not existing equipment will be compatible with a firmware upgrade, if new hardware is required, and the technical requirements that will dictate the feasible timeline for implementation and use.
Update - The FCC released the 5 GHz NPRM as expected on Feb 20th. Matthew Gast over at Aerohive Networks provided a good analysis of the NPRM. It looks like further in-depth study on the spectrum sharing and interference mitigation techniques will take until late 2014, and we could possibly get approval to use the new spectrum by early 2015.
It's worth noting that the European Commission is considering a similar course of promoting unlicensed spectrum policy [Full PDF, EESC Opinion Feb 2013].
This rulemaking is no small matter. The FCC spectrum policy defined over the course of 2013 will influence Wi-Fi network design and performance for the next decade (or more)! Just take a look at how the initial FCC rulemaking allowing unlicensed spectrum use in 1985 has influenced wireless networks to date, over a quarter-century later.
Here's to hoping 2013 brings a new infusion of unlicensed spectrum for the masses!
Cheers,
Andrew
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)