Big plans for us next week, we are off to Washington D.C to one of the Wi-Fi industry’s largest conferences, Wi-Fi NOW in Washington D.C. Have you ever been to one? I was at the London show back in September and it was a really great way to meet new industry leaders, and learn all about all what is happening out there in the world of Wi-Fi. And while I won’t be there at this one next week, there are a few people from iBwave going and we would love to meet up with anyone else attending.
So, where can you find us at the venue?
We’ll be hanging out at booth #18 with our 3D Wi-Fi network planning and design software iBwave Wi-Fi on display – be sure to drop by and say Hi. And just in case, also just for fun because I like to 3D model everything I can, I did a quick 3D model of the venue (and Kim, one of our attendees) to show you exactly where we will be.
What are we doing there?
We’re there to meet new people, learn about what is happening in the Wi-Fi industry and of course, to talk about our Wi-Fi network design software iBwave Wi-Fi. But we’re also there to participate and share our thoughts and experience from being in the wireless industry for almost 15 years now – so watch for our VP of Products, Benoit Fleury , participating in the debate “High-Density, New Standards, & Performance” on the second day of the conference. If you are there, be sure to grab a seat!
Who should you look for if you want to meet with us?
We’ve got three iBwavers there – here they are and what the look like so you can easily find them.
Benoit Fleury, VP Product Line ManagementMekki Bennis, Rockstar Sales Engineer
Kim Shaar Perra, Channel Marketing Manager
(note: she will probably not have the flowers while there but she will have those fancy screen cleaners to give away if you drop by!)
Want to setup a meeting with us in advance?
Sure, we’re happy to do that – shoot Kim an email at kim.shaarperra@ibwave.com and we can setup a time to chat.
Afterward, we got a few comments from attendees saying they didn’t realize that not all prediction models have the same accuracy, or that even the most complex of prediction models can have some measurement of error.
So in the follow-up to that great talk, and to spread the propagation word further (somehow that seems like a pun?), here’s a simplified breakdown of the different algorithms that Vladan covered, and can be found in our wireless network design software, and what they mean.
COST 231
The COST 231 model is a common direct path model used to simulate the performance of an indoor wireless network.
Example venue types it works best for?
Typically COST 231 is best used in non-complex venues where you know the material penetration loss.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Cons
Fast Calculation
Only direct path is accounted for; no reflected or diffracted paths
Good signal accuracy prediction when used with CAD files
Heat map shows unnatural looking ‘shadows’
The more complex the venue, the less accurate the prediction
What does it look like?
Here is an example of COST 231 in an office environment:
VPLE (VARIABLE PATH LOSS EQUATION)
VPLE is an iBwave patented direct path model that can be used to run prediction with user-defined RF propagation environments (in iBwave this is mostly used on our site survey mobile apps to simulate performance on-site during a survey).
User-defined RF environments can be:
Semi-open (ex: warehouse)
Light (ex: shopping center)
Medium (ex: office)
Dense (ex: hotel)
Very dense (ex: hospital)
The benefit of VPLE is that it can be used directly on images and enables fast calculations and network performance simulations.
Can accurately predict signal in complex 3D venues
In iBwave software, we have ‘Fast Ray Tracing’ which strikes a balance between the intensive computing time and the accuracy of the prediction.
What does it look like?
Here is Fast Ray Tracing in an office environment:
A COMPARISON OF ALL THREE MODELS FOR AN NHL ARENA
You’ve seen the propagation for each of the three methods for an office environment, now let’s take a look at the results for an NHL arena:
COST 231
VPLE
FAST RAY TRACING
HOW TO USE EACH OF THE METHODS IN iBwave?
Using iBwave Wi-Fi as an example, you can select which propagation method you will use depending on the venue you are designing for.
To select the prediction method, simply go to the ‘Prediction’ panel, select the Properties icon and go under the ‘Specific’ tab to select the Propagation model.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Vladan, our Director of Research, recently did a great talk that goes into more depth about each of these methods, including case studies at the recent WLPC show in Phoenix, Arizona.
Earlier this month we were in Toronto for our annual North American User Group. As always we had an action packed day planned with a panel discussion, interactive sessions, presentations and case studies. To top it all off, we lined up special sneak peeks into what’s coming in 2016 complete with live demos.
View of Toronto Waterfront and CN Tower
The day started with a panel discussion on “The Latest In-Building Trends and Innovations” which set the tone for the event by encouraging high quality discussions that lead to the exchange of some great ideas.
High power panel discussion
We strongly feel that the best part about an event like this is the face to face interaction with our experienced users who are enthusiastic about sharing their expertise and knowledge to help us improve our product portfolio.
Teams at work during the Wi-Fi game
Being the in-building wireless industry reference, we pride ourselves in keeping up with latest trends and making sure our customers have the right tools to master new technologies. That is why when our users asked for stronger and better Wi-Fi capabilities we pulled our resources together to deliver our first ever Wi-Fi only tool – our new cloud-connected Wi-Fi solution, iBwave Wi-Fi Mobile (Releasing January 2016)
iBwave Wi-Fi preview
At the User Group, the much awaited preview of iBwave Wi-Fi Mobile, grabbed people’s attention and generated excitement. Attendees were treated to a live demo of iBwave Wi-Fi Mobile and everyone got to experience the power of the app first hand by participating in the Wi-Fi Design-a-thon game and the best part is, they had a lot of fun doing it. They were also really excited to hear about our upcoming release of iBwave 7.0 for iBwave Design, Mobile and Unity.
Winning team proudly displays their Wi-Fi T-shirts
To us, this event highlighted new industry trends and a need for the indoor wireless community to collaborate with each other. It also gave us some great feedback on improving future events to better meet the needs of our end users. As we start preparing for the new year, we welcome your comments and ideas to help us improve. So keep in touch and let us know what you want to see in next year’s user group.
