There are many things we do within their software to maximize prediction accuracy and optimize the design of networks – 3D modeling, inclined surfaces, body loss modeling, etc – but one of the less talked about yet more powerful ways to maximize prediction results is by using the ‘Prediction Calibration’ feature in the software.
What does it do?
Simply put, with prediction calibration, you can use your survey measurements to calibrate the prediction results of your design.
Why do we have this?
Because no matter how accurately you model your venues with the right materials, you don’t always know what is behind the materials (think steal beams behind drywall for example), or what else is impacting the signal attenuation in a particular space. By using real data to calibrate the prediction algorithm in the software, you will end up with the most realistic prediction results.
Let’s look at the potential difference it can make.
Prediction Results with No Calibration
This floorplan is a basic small/medium sized office space – survey has been done to collect the measurements, and the 3 AP design has been completed.
Looking at the RSSI heatmap, and probing a specific area of the floor you can see the following signal strength predictions for 2.4GHz/5GHz.
RSSI Prediction Value (dBm)
2.4GHz
-55.72
5 GHz
-69.21
And when you run the compliance report showing the prediction results against the design requirements for each band, you can see that neither 2.4GHz or 5GHz requirements are met.
Prediction Results with Calibration
After setting up the calibration model using the measurement data collected during the site survey, the prediction results change and show the following values:
RSSI Value (dBm)
2.4GHz
-49.19
5 GHz
-58.00
And re-running the compliance report, you can see that each band now meets it’s KPI design requirements.
Comparing Before and After Calibration
To look at the overall difference prediction calibration can make, let’s compare results of with and without calibration applied to the design:
Without Calibration (dBm)
With Calibration (dBm)
Delta
2.4GHz
-55.72
-49.19
-6.53
5 GHz
-69.21
-58.00
-11.21
As you can see, the difference can make a meaningful difference, especially when you consider that prior to calibration the design was not meeting their KPI requirements for either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands. In this case, with no calibration, the designer may have made unnecessary design adjustments or added more equipment when was not necessary, adding more cost to the design. When using real measurements from the venue to calibrate prediction, you can achieve more realistic prediction results as well.
iBwave’s Components Database is the Largest Database in the Wireless Industry Today
With over 28,000 components and materials and growing daily.
Those who design wireless networks with iBwave know that it’s pure gold to be able to easily find the parts and materials you need from the online database of components, where the majority of wireless network components that exist, available there. But the value of the database is not only about the number of components and the simplicity of using them within the network designs – there is more to its glory!
The iBwave Components Database also allows you to create your own parts and materials, customize existing ones, limit parts availability to approved ones only, and since it exists separate from the design software – is updated regularly as new parts are available, or as our customers add new parts are added via our support team.
Sounds good, eh? Let’s go through all the above mentioned in a bit more detail.
How do we keep the database up-to-date?
The database of components is updated on a regular basis when either one of two things happens:
an OEM issues a new part and lets us know to add it to the database
a customer calls our customer support team and asks us to add a particular part they need
Because the updating of the database is not dependent on the update of the software itself, we can update the database on an on-going and on-demand basis – resulting in one of the most extensive and fastest growing databases of components out there.
Who are the OEMs in our database?
Given the large number of parts we have – Access Points, Routers, Switches, DAS Antennas, Small Cells, Cabling, etc. – it would be too long of a list to name them all here! For the sake of giving a general picture, among the OEMs with the majority of parts, you find Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Aruba, Ruckus, Extreme Networks, Huawei Technologies, Xirrus, AccelTex, Tessco Technologies, among many others large and small.
How are the parts added?
To update our database with the component specifications we use VEX files. The manufacturer either produces them or our customer support designs those upon a manufacturers’ request. The VEX file is uploaded to our system and shared with all iBwave Components Database users through the cloud.
Note! VEX is not an abbreviation or acronym; it does not stand for anything. It is a proprietary, iBwave specific file format we use to import or export parts into/from the iBwave Database Editor in iBwave software.
The scale of our database is vast. In this graphic, you can see an approximate split onto some of the most common types of components, like antennas, amplifiers, cables, controllers, routers, switches, adapters, attenuators & access points. ↓
The choice is big and, yes, you can find almost anything you need directly in the database search. But what if you need something that is not there? As the network reliability depends significantly on the accuracy of the environment and components prediction, there will probably be moments when you need to adjust things. At iBwave we understand that very well, so we made it easy for you to modify parts and materials or even add your own.
Adding your own parts and materials or modify the existing ones
It only takes you a few steps to add, modify or duplicate custom parts you need for your design.
The cherry on top is that once you have that exact network part that you need, you can make it a default for your feature designs and not have to worry about searching for it each time.
The tweaked parts and materials we’ll be seen in your designs instantly, but won’t be shared on our online Components Database automatically. If you want to share the parts you have created with the rest of the database, you would need to reach out to us and we’ll gladly pre-approve and upload the VEX file online for you.
Getting in touch with our support is super easy! Here is how you can do it:
While the database itself is over 29,000 parts, for companies who only design with specific vendor components, companies can limit what parts their design teams use for their projects by marking that part as an ‘Approved’ one. This way, the view of available parts to design with can be filtered to only those pre-approved parts. For many of our customers, this decreases the risk of using the incorrect parts of a project and simplifies the overall design phase.
What type of information can be set for parts and materials?
Let’s take a look at a specific material, like concrete and a part, like an antenna to see what kind of information is kept about each part and what can be edited to fit your project purposes.
Material – Concrete
An easy way to see all types of concrete (or any other type of part) we have in the database is to filter out by using the Category field. In this case, we filter Category: Material > Subcategory: Concrete in the iBwave Database Editor.
Then, you can go into the specific material you can change various details of the material in > Properties. Among many properties, you can tweak the electrical and mechanical assets, choose the color and the style of the material trace on the floor plan.
You can as well choose the texture and view your material in 3D.
Applying a different filter, you can narrow down the list of parts to just Access Points. Let’s take, for instance, Aerohive access point. Go to Category: Signal Source> Subcategory: Access Point > Manufacturer: Aerohive.
In the properties of the Access Point, you can edit the cost, construction cost, part ID and inventory number which eventually will help you to generate an accurate bill of materials and cost details report for the project.
For antennas, you can also view the 3D antenna pattern from within the details of the component.
What does the value of database come down to?
Accurate prediction results
An accurate bill of materials and an accurate cost details report
Accurate Prediction Results
Even the smallest of modeling errors can lead to a large RF cost and performance issues, and that includes using an incorrect material. With iBwave’s extensive database of materials, the risk of inaccurate prediction results are significantly minimized. We’ve even got snow!
Accurate Bill of Materials and Cost Details Reports
With your venue modeled and network designed from the database of components, you are now set to produce a bill of materials to hand over to your customer. As scary as it sounds, this part is going to be a breeze when using iBwave, and you have two options: an Equipment List with no costs, or Costing Report that includes the total estimated cost of your equipment. Moreover, perhaps the best part for those you, who are used to taking that information and placing it into another format? With iBwave you can choose to export your reports in many different formats including PDF, XPS, PowerPoint, HTML, Excel, Docx, JPEG, SVG, XML and more.
There we go, now you know about all the useful things the iBwave Components Database can bring you, including limiting available parts for your team, accurate prediction results ensured by a vast choice of materials and accurate bill of materials and costing report system.
Let us know if there are any other topics you’d like to be cover in this blog!
Forever on a quest to improve the accuracy of network predictions in our software, we recently released a new feature called “Body Loss Modeling.” With Body Loss Modeling, you can now account for the attenuation caused by bodies packed into a tight space together in your design – most useful for high-density venues like stadiums, arenas, or conference centers.
In this blog, I use the design of a basketball arena to examine the impact the body loss modeling feature can have on the prediction results of a network design.
I do that by isolating a small section of the arena seating, placing an Access Point and then looking at the results of both the Signal Strength and SNR heatmaps under two scenarios:
No Body Loss Modeling
With Body Loss Modeling
At the end, I’ll summarize the comparison and discuss the potential impact of the results.
Here is the basketball arena I am using, and the specific seating area looked at in this blog.?
Results: No Body Loss Modeling
Keeping the prediction zone identified as a regular prediction area, I ran the Signal Strength and SNR heatmaps for the 5GHZ band and then used the “Probe” tool to zone in a very specific seating area in the bottom right hand side of the prediction zone (circled).
Here are the results.
Signal Strength Heatmap Results
58.85 dBM {Inclined Surface Area}
58.95 dBM {Horizontal Surface Area}
And zoomed in… ?
SNR Heatmap Results
29.55 dB (Inclined)
29.75 dB (Horizontal)
And zoomed in …?
Results: With Body Loss Modeling
Next, I assigned the same prediction area as a ‘Body Loss Zone’ and then re-ran the Signal Strength and SNR heatmap prediction results. To identify a body loss zone in iBwave Wi-Fi or iBwave Design, you have to first configure the ‘Body Loss Zone’ (unless you just want to use the default), and then assign your prediction area as that particular body loss zone.
Here is the configuration I set up and called ‘Arena Seating’ ?
And here is how I assigned the prediction area as the body loss zone I configured above. ?
With the prediction area now identified as a ‘body loss’ zone, the prediction engine will factor in attenuation caused by tightly packed bodies within that seating area.
Here are the results ?
Signal Strength Heatmap
Incline Surface: 68.20 dBm
Horizontal Surface: 67.88 dBm
SNR Heatmap
Incline Surface: 21.28 dB
Horizontal Surface: 21.44 dB
Comparing Results
To easily compare the prediction results with and without body loss factored in, I put the results into a table.
No Body Loss
With Body Loss
The Difference
Signal Strength
58.85 dBm
68.20 dBm
-9.35 dB
SNR
29.55 dB
21.28 dB
-8.27 dB
Looking at the table, you can start to see the potential impact that modeling bodies in high-density environments can have on the accuracy of prediction results – and thus on the potential performance of the network post-installation.
In this case, before I modeled body loss into the design, the signal strength is predicted to perform pretty decently with a 58.85 dBM signal strength. With the attenuation due to bodies factored in, the signal strength loses almost 10 dB, which pushes it towards a much less desirable signal strength and could significantly impact the user experience when it comes to critical applications like video streaming or VoWiFi.
Looking at the SNR heatmap, a similar story is supported, even emphasized – before body loss is considered, the SNR sits at a pretty acceptable level of 29.55 dB. After body loss is factored in, the SNR level drops to 21.28 dB – making it even more likely that those critical apps will work as expected for the user.
For the network engineer designing the network, this means she or he needs to factor in that while prediction results without body loss factored in can show acceptable performance results, it could be misleading in high-density venues – which can lead to undesirable and costly consequences later on.
When prediction during the design phase is not accurate, it can lead to more site visits post-install, and possibly re-design work which is all more downtime and cost for the property owner.
How do you factor in body loss into your wireless designs? Let me know in the comments below.
Wirelessly yours,
Kelly
Interested in learning more about iBwave Wi-Fi? Read more about it here, or try out a 15 day free trial.
