One of the features that always catches people’s eye when they see our software is the incredible 3D modeling that comes with it.

Not sure what I mean? Here is the view from the inside of a 3D subway station model done in iBwave Design

As you can see, the iBwave 3D-ness is pretty impressive. 

We often get comments ‘that’s very cool’ or ‘it looks the video game Doom’ – and agreed it definitely is, and it definitely can be. But 3D design is more than cool.

Here are 3 ways designing in 3D can result in a better network design.

#1 Propagation through Floors

It’s important to take into consideration how signals propagates through floors in the network design. Signals from the floor above, and signals from the floor below contribute to the amount of coverage your network will provide. By modeling the venue in 3D, it allows our propagation engines to take into consideration the signals from above and below.

Here’s an example of 3D prediction in iBwave Wi-Fi that is doing just that

#2 3D Radiation Patterns of Antennas

Antennas have 3D radiation patterns so to accurately determine signal strength coming out of an antenna, 3D radiation patterns should be taken into consideration when doing the design and running performance  heat maps.

Here are some views of a 3D antenna patterns within iBwave Wi-Fi

#3 Expedites Bids & Approvals

Fact is, when our customers show their customers what the network will look like in 3D the customer is both ‘wowed’ and more likely to understand what they are looking at and approve the design. Why? Because they can see floor by floor, exactly where access points will be, cabling will be run, and where network equipment like switches, routers, controllers, cabinets, will all be installed within their venue. You can essentially ‘walk’ your customer right through what the network will look like once installed in their venue, how it will perform with 3D heatmaps, and essentially show them it will be worth the cost of going through with the project.This gets even easier because with iBwave, there is a free 3D Viewer for your customers to open designs and look at the network themselves in 3D. By using 3D as a marketing and bid tool, our customers have told us they have seen quicker bid acceptances and quicker design approvals than without it.

Here is what a customer viewing a design in iBwave Viewer sees:

So there you have it 3 reasons why designing wireless networks in 3D is better than not. 

Now just for fun, here are some impressive 3D designs done by our customers, and by us

A Subway’s Wireless  Network

Hotels, Race Track, Cruise Ship and more…

Wirelessly yours, in 3D,

Kelly

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Kelly Burroughs

Solutions Director, Enterprise, iBwave
Kelly Burroughs has worked in the wireless industry over the last 8 years in a variety of roles. Her background in product, marketing, and wireless jokes makes her a triple threat in the industry. When she’s not busy trying to improve the wireless survey & design experience for customers, she can be found writing wireless jokes that make even the most dedicated network engineer smile (or roll their eyes).

Latest posts by Kelly Burroughs (see all)

• A Tour of iBwave Viewer - November 23, 2020
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• What’s New in iBwave Wi-Fi 14.2 - August 25, 2020