Researchers Identify Wi-Fi Dead Zones Cheaply

schliz writes "A new technique developed by HP Labs and Rice University could lower the cost of identifying 'dead zones' in large wireless networks. The technique '[combines] wireless signal models with publicly-available information about basic topography, street locations, and land use.' This enables Wi-Fi architects to test and refine their layouts cheaply before a network is deployed by focusing measurement efforts on areas that potentially could be dead zones. The technique requires only about one-fifth as many measurements as a grid sampling strategy."

Comments

This is nothing new

[Sir_Dill]

My company has been using topographic and ground clutter data for years to calculate signal propagation. Is this news because they want to use the process for a different frequency range?

The software is called Decibel Planner

All the data we use is publicly available(although not free and definitely NOT cheap).