Network Communications News (NCN) April 2017 | Page 23

WIRELESS NETWORKS
W h e n E ka h a u wa s
d eve l o p i n g t h e s o f t wa re , g re at
c o n s i d e rat i o n wa s p u t i nto
t h e re p o r t i n g f u n ct i o n a l i t y , a s
re s e a rc h s h owe d re p o r t i n g to
b e a ge n e ra l b u rd e n , w h i c h
E ka h a u h a s ove rc o m e . W i t h t h e
c u s to m e r i n m i n d t h e s of t wa re
p rov i d e s a u s e r f r i e n d l y , e a s y
to u n d e r s ta n d re p o r t w i t h v i s u a l
h e at m a p s , s u g ge s t i n g i t s ow n
a c c e s s p o i nt re c o m m e n d at i o n s .
T h i s re p o r t , w h i c h c a n b e f u l l y
b ra n d e d , i s c o m p l ete l y e d i ta b l e
s h o u l d t h e o p e rato r w i s h to
ove r r i d e a n y i n fo r m at i o n .
Ekaha u Site Sur vey (E SS )
i s cu r rentl y us ed univer s a l l y
by I T profes s ion a l s a nd a gil e
enou gh to be deplo yed a c ro s s
all bu i lding types a nd s ize s ,
whet her exis tin g premis e s o r
new build pro j ects . The d ive r s it y
of t he sof twa re ca me into it s
ow n recentl y at The Hel s ink i
Ex hi bi t io n a n d Convent io n C e nt re
whi c h i s the l a rges t co nve nt io n
ce ntre in Fin l a nd, with 58,0 0 0 m 2
of ex hi bitio n s pa ce, 53 m e et ing
fac i li t i es a nd a broa d range of
conferen ce s er vices .
Each year the events held in
the convention centre attract on
average 9,400 exhibitors and more
than 1.1 million exhibition visitors.
The Helsinki Convention Centre
decided to upgrade its Wi-Fi
network as the existing wireless
installation was no longer able to
meet the requirements of today’s
network demands.
The centre’s new Wi-Fi
installation required meeting
the connectivity demands
of thousands of users
simultaneously carrying devices,
ranging from mobile devices to
high end laptops, so the site’s
Wi-Fi network must have enough
capacity and intelligence to
support real time applications
and exhibitors’ streaming video
presentations in addition to the
more typical network traffic
generated by visitors.
The two biggest halls could
have up to 10,000 concurrent
WLAN devices within a single
coverage area, emphasising the
importance of minimal cochannel
inter ference and the utilisation of
highest possible data rates. As
each exhibition is different from
an RF perspective, the convention
centre has to be able to fine
tune the Wi-Fi network easily
without being forced to make any
extensive network changes.
‘Designing
for capacity
is much more
in-depth than
designing for
coverage.’
The 3D Wi-Fi Network Planner
in the Ekahau Site Survey software
was used for predictive planning
and pre-deployment site surveys,
testing different configurations at
the planned AP locations. Multiple
validation surveys were executed
using the software during different
events to achieve optimal network
configurations.
During and after the
completion of the Helsinki
Convention Centre’s WLAN
installation, Ekahau Wi-Fi tools
proved to be instrumental in
planning and testing the network
performance. Enabling mobile
clients to quickly connect to the
strongest access point, which is
something that is easily verified
with Ekahau Site Survey.
If you would like to find out
how Ekahau Wi-Fi Site Survey
can be used for your upcoming
projects, you can contact
Ekahau’s UK Premier Partner,
Square 1 Products, on 01925 530
111 or email simon.cummings@
square1products.com.
April 2017 | 23