Texas A&M at Qatar Wireless Coverage Map
PI: Dr Hussein Alnuweiri, Dr Hossam Fattah
Wireless Technologies, such as WiFi and cellular phones, have become popular in nowadays normal life. Site survey data such as laying out a wireless coverage map (a.k.a signal strength map) for the different wireless technologies and different wireless operators is a very useful utility for planning equipment placement, increasing reliability, improving performance, reducing cost, trouble shooting, and for enhancing user experience for certain applications such as Internet video conferencing.
When installing multiple Access Points (AP’s) or Base Stations (BS’s), care must be taken to insure that adequate radio coverage will be provided throughout the service area. Experience shows that the layouts based on signal strength maps result in much better coverage and better cost savings compare to just using commercial “rules of thumb” calculations. Coverage maps involve extensive measurements and careful analysis of radio propagation issues when the service area is large, where the placement of APs can result either in excessive interference or the presence of “dead zones” with no coverage.
The Texas A&M Engineering Building at Qatar is one of the largest and most advanced facilities for engineering education and research in the world. The building offers scenic architecture, spacious areas dedicated to supporting research and learning, state-of-the-art technology, and advanced research labs. Unfortunately, the building lacks a wireless coverage map which is important, not only for planning and better user connectivity, but also for health, safety, and environmental issues.
In the proposed project, 2D and 3D WiFi coverage maps of the TAMUQ building including both the inside and outside surrounding area will be generated. The coverage map can show the coverage of each WiFi AP by itself, the coverage of subsets of APs, and the coverage of all APs at the same time. If viewed as a 2D Map, the map of each floor will be shown with the different signal strength (colors). If viewed as a 3D map, the TAMUQ building can be viewed in all three directions, zooming, and rotating it to view signal strength in all directions, exposing AP coverage “volume” on one floors, and across floors.
