VisiWave Site Survey SO Quick Start Guide

Welcome to VisiWave Site Survey. Here you will learn the basic steps required for performing a site survey using VisiWave Site Survey. We will go over the data collection application and the reporting application. We'll use the laptop version of the data collection application in this example, but the Pocket PC version is similar.

We assume you have already installed both the data collection application ("VisiWave Site Survey") and the reporting application ("VisiWave Site Survey Report"). If you haven't, please go to http://www.visiwave.com and click on the Download link. Then follow the instructions for downloading and installing the product.

From the Windows Start menu, click on All Programs and then VisiWave Site Survey. Here you will see menu items for launching the two VisiWave applications, a link to the User's Guide in PDF format, a link to VisiWave's website, a link to uninstall VisiWave, and a link to this guide.

For instructions that go beyond this quick start guide, click on the User's Guide menu item to view the full product manual.

To launch the data collection application, click on the VisiWave Site Survey menu item.

To launch the reporting application, click on the VisiWave Site Survey Report menu item.

During the evaluation period, you will occasionally be reminded that you are using a version designed just for evaluating the product. Click on OK to get past this dialog. If you purchased the product, you won't see this message.

You are first presented with a dialog box asking you for the survey map of the site you are going to survey. Under Survey Map Image File, select your own GIF, JPEG, PNG, or BMP survey map image file or just use the sample one shipped with the product (typically found in C:\Program Files\VisiWave Site Survey\Samples\SampleFloorplan.gif). Then click on OK.

Next you will see a window asking you to set the scale of the survey map. The Scale value represents the width of a pixel in the survey map image in either feet or meters. If you don't know this, you can leave it as 1.0. The dimensions displayed while collecting data and in reports won't be accurate, but the graphs will still be correct.

Click on OK to display the survey map and begin performing a site survey.

You should now see the survey map displayed in the window. It's now time to start collecting data. The first step is to select a capture mode. Do this by clicking on the push-pin icon that selects the Point-by-Point capture mode. This means that every time you click on the survey map image, wireless data is captured and associated with the location where you clicked.

For this example, you don't have to physically move your laptop between clicks if you don't want to, but in a real survey you would walk around while clicking on the screen.

Add a data point by clicking on the survey map with your mouse. You may get a message describing which wireless characteristics are being recorded. Read this and then dismiss the message. Add several more data points. Each data point is represented by a small dot. A dark colored dot means the signal strength is strong. A red dot means no wireless signal was found.

If you get an error when you try to add a data point that says no wireless adapter was found, then either you don't have a supported wireless adapter, or maybe VisiWave isn't selecting the wireless adapter you want. First, bring up the Options dialog under the File menu. A list of your computer's wireless adapters should appear under Wireless Adapter. If you have more than one adapter, make sure the one you want to use is selected. If this list is empty, VisiWave couldn't find a supported wireless adapter. You should download the free utility CheckAdapter from VisiWave's website. Run this tool and send the results to VisiWave. VisiWave will try to assist you.

The status bar along the bottom of the window has several values listed in it. Some values only appear for a few seconds after you add a data point. The value in the second box from the right lists the signal strength (in dB) and the signal-to-noise ratio (in dBm). The third box from the right lists the number of data points collected so far. Either one or two points are added each time you add a data point.

You will probably want to try out the Continuous data capture mode as well. This works well for adding many data points at once while walking along a straight line in your survey space.

Once you've collected your survey data, you need to use the report and analysis application to view the results. You do this by launching VisiWave Site Survey Report from the Windows Start menu. Just like the data collection application, a dialog box first appears telling you that you are running the evaluation version. Click on OK to get to the program. If you purchased the product, you won't see this message.

To quickly see the capabilities of VisiWave Site Survey Report, you can load the sample report template that ships with the product. Select Open from the File menu. Then load the sample report template file shipped with the product (typically found in C:\Program Files\VisiWave Site Survey\Samples\ReportTemplate.vwr).

In the upper left corner of the Window is a list of all the report items included in the report. Scroll down until you see the one named "Signal Strength (Networked Access Points)" with a graph icon next to it. Click on that item. You will see the 2D contour graph appear in the lower half of the window and a list of that item's properties appear in the upper right section of the window. Click through some of the other items to view the different data views.

You can easily create your own report using the survey file created earlier. Just select New from the File menu. If you are asked to save the current report file, you can say "No" to discard your changes to the sample report file. You will then see an almost empty report file. The only item is the Global Properties item. Under that, enter the name of your survey file next to Survey File and the name of your survey map image file next to Survey Map Image. You can use the sample files supplied if you'd like.

Next, you can insert a new report item by right clicking underneath Global Properties and selecting Graph and then 2D Contour Graph found under the Insert sub-menu.

A contour graph appears in the lower half of the window. The contour color regions are overlaid on top of your survey map. Feel free to change any of the parameters and then press the Refresh button to view the changes.