NETSCOUT’ AirMagnet Survey is the industry’s only WLAN deployment solution that enables users to measure as well as assess true end-user experience of a WLAN network using an 802.11ac adapter. AirMagnet Survey goes beyond just verifying RF coverage by plotting actual end user network performance in terms of throughput and PHY data rates, taking MIMO and other environmental situations/network configurations into account. AirMagnet Survey clearly shows the coverage of specific 802.11ac parameters that boost performance such as higher MCS schemes and wider channels (20/40/80/160 MHz coverage maps), and where interference and legacy components may impact 802.11ac performance.

Unlike other solutions that rely only on passively collected data such as signal strength, AirMagnet Survey allows users to perform active/Iperf surveys to ensure a superior site survey. During an active/Iperf survey, AirMagnet Survey associates to an AP to test the real quality of the connection. This allows surveyors to see how real world clients will perform at specific locations in terms of WLAN throughput, connection speed, retry rates, and packet losses. This is critical for technology standards such as 802.11n and 802.11ac, where the only way to provide a true representation of the network performance is to perform this “real-world” survey, taking into account multipath, configuration of the devices and the environmental conditions.

AirMagnet Survey automatically displays survey results on a map of your location, providing unlimited options for visual analysis.

Coverage and performance heat maps – measure and visualize heatmaps for signal, noise, signal/noise, WLAN throughput, PHY data rates, retry rates, and packet losses at every location on the floor.

Backup AP heat maps – visualize coverage and performance of your backup APs in case of missing or down primary APs.

Comprehensive technology specific – measure and visualize heat maps for the latest 802.11n and 802.11ac standards:

• 802.11n: operating mode coverage map, MCS rate transmit/receive coverage map and channel width (20 MHz/40 Mhz) coverage map.
• 802.11ac: operating mode coverage map, MCS rate transmit/receive coverage map and the channel width (20 MHz/40 Mhz/80 MHz/160 MHz) coverage map and channel overlap heatmap.

AirMagnet Survey’s simultaneous multiple surveying capability, that leverages multiple adapters plugged into the same PC, provides users with the industry’s best solution to emulate real-world client behavior (using active and Iperf surveys) and at the same time reduce site surveying time, effort and cost by half, as the users can walk the floor once to collect all of the data. For example, users can perform active surveys and passive surveys simultaneously or across multiple spectrum bands, such as a 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz survey.

Wi-Fi environments are very dynamic so to guarantee the best performance for the user, it is important to be able to verify changes in coverage and performance in the network. AirMagnet Survey’s Diff View feature allows side by side visualizing of differences between two separate surveys. This helps to show how a site’s wireless environment has changed over time. This view is also a great option for our system integrator customers to drive repeat business of validating the coverage and performance of the network on an ongoing basis. Likewise, users can use this feature to quickly compare AirMagnet Planner results with actual site survey results. This information then can be used to fine-tune the db losses for the building and environmental conditions within Planner for more accurate planning.

With AirMagnet Survey, users can simulate “What-if” scenarios to prevent or minimize costly repeat survey walks. After a survey, users can simulate a variety of changes to the network and preview the impacts. This includes changing AP transmit power, channel, SSID settings or the addition of environmental noise. Users can also simulate moving APs to new locations and preview the effect of adding additional APs. AirMagnet Survey power users with an automated channel plan for APs that avoids interference and over allocation.

To ensure the highest level of security in a WLAN, AirMagnet Survey designs the network to minimize RF spillage outside the corporate building. This spillage should be kept to a minimum, unless service is to be provided in the parking lot or an outside area. With AirMagnet Survey, users can also locate unauthorized or performance intensive stations detected during a survey on the floor map.

AirMagnet Survey includes the industry’s most advanced 802.11ac surveys (incl. 3x3 support up to 1300Mbps) that take into account the realworld impact of multi-path encountered at each individual location to actively test both uplink and downlink performance of the 11ac network. AirMagnet Survey PRO includes built-in coverage maps that are specific to 802.11ac networks, such as Operating Mode coverage map, MCS Rate Transmit/Receive coverage map and the Channel Width coverage map.

AirMagnet Survey addresses challenges faced by network installers and IT staff while deploying VoWLAN networks, and powers them with a built-in voice readiness verification system (includes pre-configured support for Cisco 792X phones and Vocera badges, plus the option to add profiles for other vendors) that allows users to ensure that their network design is in-line with the recommendations of the phone vendor, and also allows them to perform real-world voice surveys. With the industry’s first voice survey capability, users can validate and plot the phone call quality, capacity and other voice specific parameters at every location on a floor map, to help identify and minimize issues that may be causing low call quality.

Before making any design and deployment decisions, it is important to account for RF interference from non-Wi-Fi devices. In most cases users have to tune their channel planning around these intentional or unintentional radiators. Users who own AirMagnet Spectrum XT can collect both Wi-Fi and spectrum analysis data in a single survey or walkthrough. With this integration, users can visualize the RF energy at any location and identify and display the presence of non-802.11 devices interfering with the WLAN. Users also have the ability to visualize the average power level in the RF spectrum for each channel at any given point on the map. Note: AirMagnet Survey PRO must be installed on the same machine as the users’ spectrum application.

AirMagnet Survey users can look at multiple floors of a single building to see if AP signals are bleeding to adjacent floors. This gives users the ability to design their network to reuse services of a single AP across multiple floors in order to lower equipment and deployment costs.

The AirWISE® engine lets users set WLAN design/application requirements including signal coverage, WLAN throughput, PHY data rates, 802.11n specific parameters, etc. for their network and immediately identify any problem areas. Users are then alerted to the areas on the floor map that meet or do not meet the requirement, enabling them to take the necessary action to solve the coverage, performance or capacity problems. The capacity planning section allows surveyors to account for the number of end users the WLAN will need to support during the design and deployment phase. AirWISE also includes pre-configured profiles for verifying the WLAN deployment's readiness for a variety of vendor applications, including Location Services for Cisco and VoWLAN for Cisco & Vocera based on real-world survey data or WLAN modeling data. Users can also create their own profiles and share it with others.

AirMagnet Survey PRO includes a completely integrated reporting module that can instantly create custom outputs of site surveys and simulations. Additionally, customized templates provide users with flexibility, in terms of creating reports that vary based on project requirements. Users can choose to include/exclude sections, add in their notes, customize their logos, headers and footers, along with many other customizable options. Reports can be output in over 15 formats including PDF, XML, HTML, Excel and Word. AirMagnet Survey also includes reporting templates in the following languages: German, French, Arabic and Russian built inside the application, along with the capability of allowing users to create templates in any other language.

With the combination of GPS support, and integration with Google Earth, Microsoft® MapPoint and Microsoft® Bing Maps, AirMagnet Survey PRO provides a clear path to fast, fully automated outdoor surveys. Users can leverage their NMEA compliant GPS device to automatically collect outdoor wireless data. the results can be analyzed in the AirMagnet Survey user interface or exported into Google Earth for a zoomed in view to any street within the city.

AirMagnet Planner is built into AirMagnet Survey PRO, providing a single, seamless application with the industry's most complete approach to wireless LAN design, deployment and ongoing optimization for 802.11a/b/g/n/ac networks. With this integrated solution, AirMagnet Planner can be used to accurately design WLANs by modeling building construction materials/obstructions and 802.11 APs and visualizing coverage across multiple floors, then validating the results with real-world data in AirMagnet Survey PRO.