Forum

Guys, I am going to design a spectrum analysis tool which will be integrated in a commercial product. I have do my homework on products from Cisco, Aruba, Airmagnet, Metageek as reference. I'd like to listen to your comments on these product if you have had hands on them.

From time to time, I was questioned by collegues and myself the most important value SA brings to the customers, to be honest, I haven't find a real catching reason that convince myself except the fact that marketing person kept complaining it as a gap feature. I really wanna listen to the ITers who have the real experience of SA about its usage.

Just my two cents worth:

Make it dedicated to Wi-Fi or at least wi-Fi Frequency ranges. Their are just too many controls/options/etc on a big expensive unit (thinking Agilent here).

Be able to de-lineate channels easily. For 2.4 GHz range, show all the channels, 1-14, not just 1-13.

Find a reasonable definition for Duty cycle, and include it as a feature (see the MetaGeeks site for their discussion on this topic).

And while I'm at it, I have to put in a good word for MetaGeek and their Chanalyzers. They are a great company, with great products that are backed with first rate support. I bought one of their units recently (2.4 GHz) and couldn't be happier.

There are multiple advantages to using a spectrum analyzer, but one of them concerns the fact that the human eye is incapable of seeing RF signals. This fact makes it difficult to determine information regarding interference from other sources ( for example, from other Wi-Fi networks close by, or from microwave ovens ). A spectrum analyzer can give us a visible picture showing interference. This information can help us determine which channel or channels are being most affected. We can see if the interference is ?jumping around?, or is stationary. We can see how the power level of the interfering signal compares with the actual Wi-Fi signal that is being interfered with, etc. There are a host of other advantages. A lot of useful information can be gleaned from the CWAP book.

Spectrum analyzers are useful during site surveys, as well as during normal operation and when troubleshooting.

Dave

When you say "integrating into a commercial product", do you mean in an access point or as a standalone SA? Use case is key here.

Marcus

what I would like is software that could subtract 802.11 channels from the display. not filter out RF; generate an inverse signal and add to the display through a diff amp. so if you have interference you could get a better idea of the spectrum of the interfering signal by tidying up the display.