Optimization of Campus Wide WLAN

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1 Optimization of Campus Wide WLAN Ketan Rathod 1, Rambabu Vatti 2, Mandar Nandre 3 1 Student, 2 Professor, 3 Student, Dept. of Electronics Engineering, Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, India Ketan.rathod15@vit.edu, Rambabu.vatti@vit.edu, Mandar.nandre15@vit.edu Abstract: Now a days WLAN in used most colleges and workplaces. This paper describes the measurements, analysis and optimization of the Wi-Fi signal strength and measurements in college campus. The basic idea was to present how the signals were measured, analysed and conclusion was based on that analysis. The paper shows how an ordinary smart phone device along with a couple of applications and built-in Wi-Fi antenna can be used for such measurement purposes. Several measurements w e r e t a k e n showing the influence of all factors on the strength of the Wi-Fi signal and on the download and upload speed. We also mapped the access points in our campus using google maps and also their range and strength and how we can optimize signal strength by changing the position of access points so that entire campus will have internet access. Routers used in campus were of cisco technologies. Many research papers have been published on optimizing signal strength, but has not been extensively investigated. Keywords: WLAN,, Antenna, Optimization, Smartphone, Access Points, Routers. I. INTRODUCTION A. The IEEE 2.11 WLAN Standard The IEEE 2.11 standard provides various WLAN architectures and topologies for WLAN design. Overview of different available IEEE 2.11 standards: Standard Name Standardizati on date Modulation technique 2.11 a Januar y OFD M 2.11b 2.11g Decemb er 1999 DSSS, CCK June 3 DSSSCC K, OFDM RF band 5 GHz 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz Channel Bandwidth MHz MHz MHz 2.11 n June 9 DSSS, CCK, OFDM 2.4 or 5 GHz or MHz The Wi-Fi is a wireless local area network (WLAN) which is preferred to be used in local premises. The number of wireless local area network (WLAN) hotspots is increasing rapidly year by year; due to the simplicity in installation, operation, low price, and efficient mobility offered by the technology. With increasing use of Wi-Fi networks, researchers are encouraged to do study the performance and issues in the area of WLAN [1]. The purposes of using WLAN networks are wireless connection of computers into a network and providing mobility of computers [2]. A wireless local area network (WLAN) system is a system that includes the distribution system (DS), access points (APs), and portal entities.[3] Access points and the mobile clients are two major components of any Wi-Fi system. A major principle of WLAN communication is, network data is transmitted as modulated electromagnetic waves. A WLAN system contains APs and portals in addition to the distribution systems [4]. The strength of Wi-Fi signal depends on its distance from the router, and quality of the device. Wireless communications networks are implemented and controlled using radio communication [5]. In this paper the radio waves propagation will be investigated using the Wireless LAN 2.11b operating at frequency of 2.4 GHz. The paper involves the analysis of signal strength of access points of Wi-Fi installed in selected building for experiments. And also the effect of materials (glass, wood, and brick) on Wi-Fi signals in these buildings will be studied [6]. Bluetooth devices and WLAN are operating simultaneously and very closely, it could cause interference and degrade the performance of both devices [7],[8]. Furthermore, if the distance between Bluetooth devices and WLAN devices is less than 2 meters, the throughput will degrade significantly [9-11]. The goal of this research is to examine Wi-Fi network and involves the measurement and analysis of signal strength in various buildings selected for experiment. II. THE SIGNAL STRENGTH CALCULATION PROCEDURE The calculation of signal strength is done as follows : Received Power (db) = Transmitted Power (db) Power Losses in Medium (db) Path loss is given as: Loss=P t / P r = (4 π) 2 D 2 / G t G r λ2 Where, P t = Transmitted power P r = Received power G t = Gain of the transmitter G r : Gain of the receiver λ: Wavelength of the transmission (m) d: Distance between the transmitter and the receiver (m) In db scale it is equal to Loss = log4π + logd 1logG t 1logG r logλ [6] The fundamental components on which WLAN is composed of, are access points (AP) and the mobile 1

In Wireless LAN, in order to make a network infrastructure APs are positioned at different place all over a building and also if needed in outdoors as well.

2 clients (MC), typically a laptop or a PDA with a WLAN card. While for wired network communications, Ethernet cables are laid down all over the building and subsequently different buildings are linked to each other by using fibre optics. In Wireless LAN, in order to make a network infrastructure APs are positioned at different place all over a building and also if needed in outdoors as well. Then mobile clients communicate with one another by first communicating to the access points, then to the outer world. A major principle of WLAN communication is that, network data is transmitted as modulated electromagnetic waves using antenna. III. RELATED WORK Lot of research has been done already on Wi-Fi strength analysis in recent years as Wi-FI has become one of the most important thing in daily life. The main goal of researchers is to develop a Wi-Fi system which is less affected by all the parameters and which can give you larger coverage and better constant strength. The Wi-Fi Mapping Project was taken in Long Island University (LIU) from 1 to 11. The main aim of this project was plotting maps showing the availability and strength of Wi-Fi signal across LIU campus[12]. Ahsan Sohail and his team have also mapped Wi-Fi signal at the Centre of Geographic Sciences, in Lawrence town, Nova Scotia, Canada in 6[13]. Authors in [14], have measured the wi-fi signal strength in a campus and analysed the performance of the WLAN. In [15], concept of identification and mapping of wi-fi dead zones has been presented. The interference of WiFi and other networks operating in the same frequency band have been elaborated. Authors in [16] presented the cooperative coexistence of the Wi-Fi and the IEEE based Wireless personal area networks IV. 1. Tools Available: APPROACH There are many tools available, which can measure Wi- Fi signal strength. Few such tools are presented in the table1 Table 1: Wi-Fi Measurement Tools S. No. Name of the Tool Windows or Android 1 Network Master-Speed Test Android 2 Speed Test and WiFi Maps Android 4 Wi-Fi Monitor Android 5 Internet Speed Meter Lite Android 6 4G Speed Test & Meter Android 7 My WiFi: Free Speed Test Android 8 Meteror Android 9 SpeedTest Android 1 WiFi Mobile Network Speed Android We have selected Wi-FI Monitor to Monitor Wi-Fi signal strength. The App has 4 screens: Connection Window: shows the signal strength of the currently connected Wi-Fi network. Fig. 1. Screenshot of Wi-Fi Monitor App Channels: shows the signal strength of channels in a graphical format. Fig. 2. Screenshot of Wi-Fi Monitor App (Channel Window) all nearby 2

Networks Tab: Gives information of all the detected networks like : name, mac address, frequency, channel, encryption type andsignal strength. Fig. 3.

4 main buildings and some prominent places where the crowd is more and we can install Aps. There are various tools available for measurement of signal strength and heat mapping of the signal.

3 Networks Tab: Gives information of all the detected networks like : name, mac address, frequency, channel, encryption type andsignal strength. Fig. 3. Screenshot of Wifi Monitor Speed Window: Contains information regarding the download speed and upload speed the networkyou are connected to. 4 main buildings and some prominent places where the crowd is more and we can install Aps. There are various tools available for measurement of signal strength and heat mapping of the signal. The tool we have used for analysis purpose is Wi-Fi MONITOR. We noted down the signal strength at various spots in dbm and also in percentage. For mapping purpose, we used google maps and paint application. Initially we went all the rooms of college and calculated the signal strength in each. Later we observed that the signal strength did not vary much for two three consecutive classes, so we grouped the three class under one class as it would have been waste of space. We also mapped the position of all the access points on our campus. Some important location where good Wi-Fi strength is required and the current strength is as follows V. RESULT Table 2. at Some Important Locations Places (in %) (in -dbm) Remarks Reading Hall Poor Lawn 69 7 Average Central Library 81 6 Good Nescafe Poor Fruit Centre Poor Ground(centre) 55 Good Canteen 6 77 Average NPB/CC 6 77 Average Parking Good Table 3. s in Different Rooms Building No. Floor No. (in %) (in dbm) Remarks Fig. 4. Download & Upload Speed VS Time Bar Graph 2. Methodoloy: Our aim was to find out the signal strength of chosen Wi-Fi signal at various points in our college campus and to find a solution to cover the entire campus under that Wi-Fi network. Basically our campus comprises of & Dead 2 Near 1218) 3 (Near 1322) 4 (Near 1413) Workshop s 2 (Near 24) 1 52 Good 1 54 Good 66 7 Average 7 66 Average Poor

(-dbm) (-dbm) (-dbm) International Journal of Electrical Electronics & Computer Science Engineering 3 4 Near Mech office 44 Poor 314 64 71 Average 5 3 127 Poor Whole - - Dead VI.

4 (-dbm) (-dbm) (-dbm) International Journal of Electrical Electronics & Computer Science Engineering 3 4 Near Mech office 44 Poor Average Poor Whole - - Dead VI. RESULT ANALYSIS We calculated the signal strength which is required to access net easily, and we found out that it should be less than -6dB. We plotted the graph of actual signal strength measured and the strength which is required on each floor of all Building Stength vs Places Experimental required Fig. 7. Vs Floors in 1st Building Stength vs Floors (2nd Building) Fig. 5. Mapping of Quality on Campus Map Experimental required Fig. 8. Vs Floors in 2nd Building 1 6 Stength vs Floors (3rd Building) Fig. 6. Mapping of Quality on Campus Map Where, Red Colour- Denotes Dead Zones. Green Colour- Denotes Good Zones. Blue Colour- Denotes Average Zones. Experimental required Fig. 9. Vs Floors in 3rd Building 4

(-dbm) International Journal of Electrical Electronics & Computer Science Engineering Stength vs Floors (4th Building) 1 1 1 6 1 9 87 7 6 6 6 6 6 Fig. 1. Vs Floors in 4th Building VII.

5 (-dbm) International Journal of Electrical Electronics & Computer Science Engineering Stength vs Floors (4th Building) Fig. 1. Vs Floors in 4th Building VII. Experimental 5 DISCUSSION required From t h e a b o v e g r a p h s i n f i g. 7 t o f i g. 1, we can clearly see that the signal strength in most of the cases is poor or not sufficient to have internet access, in order to improve the signal strength throughout the campus we need to place routers in proper places so that all the campus get minimum of-6db signal strength. we observed that as we move away from access point the signal strength goes on decreasing. The routers on our campus are generally installed on the first floor of each building, so we were able to get good strength on first floor, moderate on second and ground floor and weakest on fourth floor. This issue can be resolved by proper placements of access points. Fig. 11. Access Points on campus The range of the router used is around 1m. So after managing the dead zones all we need to do is place routers in such a way that all the dead zones are covered and they will have good signal strength. So by placing the routers on the location as shown in Figure12 we can optimize the internet connectivity in college campus. Fig. 12. New Location of Access Points VIII. FUTURE SCOPE We haven t studied the RSS technique which is useful in Ap placement, so our next goal will be to study RSS and try to implement it our project. Another major issue considering Wi-Fi networks is the security. We need to increase the security of our network. Hence in further research we can work on security and also better technique for deployment of APs which covers entire area. As heat mapping gives you accurate idea of various strong and weak field spots, for mapping purpose we can use better software available in the market in our further study. IX. REFERENCES [1] F. Ye, H. Yang and B. Sikdar, "Enhancing MAC Coordination to Boost Spatial Reuse in IEEE2.11 Ad Hoc Networks," presented at IEEE International Conference on Communications, 6, pp [2] Radovan M. Računalnemreže. Digital Pointtiskara, 1. [3] I. Soldo and K. Malarić, Wi-Fi Parameter Measurements and Analysis, 9th International Conference, Smolenice, Slovakia, 13. [4] IEEE Std Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications. [5] Basavarai P. et all. IP in Wireless Networks. Prentice Hall, 3. [6] Mark, J. W. and Zhuang, W. Wireless Communication and Networking. Upper Saddle River, NJ7458: Pearson Education, Inc. 3 [7] Rambabu Vatti, Arun Gaikwad, Variable Rate and Adaptive Traffic Tuning Technique to improve Throughput of IEEE based Wireless Networks, SRATE- International Journal of Research in Application Technologies, Vol.6, Issue.1, pp.15-.june 16.

6 [8] Rambabu.A. Vatti, Dr.A. N. Gaikwad, Throughput Improvement of Wireless Sensor Networks using Collision Control Approach, Ad Hoc &Sensor Wireless Networks, vol.6, No.2,pp.1-5, Dec 16. [9] Guillaumede la Roche, AndrésAlay?n - Glazunov, Ben Allen, LTE-Advanced and Next Generation Wireless Networks: Channel Modelling and Propagation, John Wiley & Sons, Sep 17, 12 pp. 69. [1] I. Howitt, "Bluetooth performance in the presence of 2.11b WLAN, "IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol.51, no. 6, pp , 2. [11] N. Golmie, R. E. V. Dyck, A. Soltanian, A. Tonnerre, and O. Rébala,"Interference evaluation of Bluetooth and IEEE 2.11b systems,"wireless Networks, vol. 9, no. 3, pp , 3. [12] YanfuZhou, Using GIS to Map the WiFi, University of Nebraska Lincoln, City Campus, Dec 1,12 [13] Ahsan Sohail Analysis and measurement of Wi- Fi s over the campus of the university of Lawrence town MSc Thesis report, University of Lawrence town, 7. [14] Rambabu A. Vatti, Arun N. Gaikwad, Throughput Improvement of Randomly Deployed Wireless Personal Area Networks, 13 International Conference on Applied Computing, Computer Science, and Computer Engineering, Published by Elsevier B.V.pp [15] Rambvau A. Vatti, Arun N. Gaikwad, Frame Converter for cooperative coexistence between IEEE Wireless Sensor Networks and Wi- Fi, Springer Link - Proceedings of 3 rd International Conference on Advanced Computing, Networking and Informatics, vol.44, pp

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