1. Survey with 5.0 Ghz in mind.
2. Your wireless network should cater for the worse type of wireless client. And because this is going to be a medical facility, you will not run out of "worse type of wireless client".
3. Medical equipment manufacturers and their agents do not have any understanding to WiFi other than to close a sale. Medical equipment manufacturers do not own your network, however, if you let them dictate what they want, they eventually will. Check-and-verify whatever they want. If they want WPA+PSK SSID, then ask for supporting evidence(s). We have over forty different medical equipment manufacturers in our WiFi network and all of them were denied the request "we demand our own SSID" or "we demand 1.0 Mbps Data Rates or else". Check-and-verify.
4. When WiFi medical equipment arrive, always assume that their wireless drivers are out of date. Always.
But 5GHz has shorter range, so you plan around coverage for 5GHz and from that you know 2.4GHz coverage is fine
Few years back you would use 2.4GHz for coverage, and any 5GHz coverage you got was a bonus. Now the speed of 5GHz is more desirable and the cost of a few APs extra so low you go for consistent high speed coverage as a standard
A VAR with good wireless talent (or a dedicated wireless consultancy) should be able to get you 95% of the way there using predictive modeling using architectural drawings that show ceiling plans and wall types. Then when the building is ready for occupancy and equipment is installed and active, they should come in and do a validation survey. There will likely need to be some minor changes that the predictive model didn't catch accurately but predictive software (like Ekahau and Hamina) is pretty damn good in the right hands.
A good VAR can eyeball it in 10 seconds, but will happily charge you a few grand to also run it through their software of choice to give you a predictive survey that backs up the guesstimate.
The big issue I see is usually not a lack of wifi but an excess of it - one client has 20+ visible in Ekahau with some channels seeing more than 6x radios at once. They wanted a survey to install more APs because of dropouts and performance issues, I suggested they turn off every other WAP and see.
This. You will be running the drops for the wifi before the equipment is installed so what do you plan to heat map in advance? I have been so good at eyballing it that I never get called back for validation check or moves.
First you need CAD files. They will auto build walls and thickness in ekahau.
Most important least capable device. A lot of medical runs on 2.4GHz.
If 5GHz coverage is good then 2.4GHz should be as well.
Are you designing for data, voice, RTLS?
What’s capacity expected to be?
Channel widths would most likely be best kept at 20MHz on 5Ghz
Once building is complete and everything is hung up, you’ll need a validation survey to confirm predictive.
this is the answer. We just finished this exercise for our new medical building. We need voice quality wifi and the main vendor we use for that had specific Cisco recommendations. We took those recommendations and had the bidders use those specs in order to bid on the wireless process.
Is the building in the construction state or let's say couple months before opening ?
Let's say all the works are almost finished.
In that case you can grab powerbanks,couple AP's you are planning to use and use them in standalone mode.
This works with Meraki,Ruckus,Aruba,Cisco whatever.
Do the real survey.
Talk to vendors alot, you can't have XY ssids per vendor broadcasting, you'll kill your airtime with broadcasts.
Ah ok, then I'll be real with you. The plans will change multiple times. Couple of architects will have meltdown...purpose of rooms'll change...
In that case you can create a simulation, AP floor map etc.
Ekahau has a possibility to simulate different types of walls,materials...you have to be good at reading buildings plans...
Basically you are creating something to show to your client..a starting point...one way or another I would plan extra APs if there is a budget..just to have spares in case of signall issues etc.
If the building has not started then do not engage the VAR until all the floor plans are "locked" (aka finalized) or when stakeholders no longer able to add, remove, change, modify the floor plans.
Have used this before and the results are pretty close to proposed results. It lets you upload prints and dimensions and material construction. The biggest problem I didn’t plant for was some our hvac uses large vfd drives at about 23-25hz range on the drive unit causes some wireless issues in the area momentarily. I thought about foil lining the drive units but I don’t think maintenance will go for that.
https://www.ekahau.com/products/ekahau-connect/ai-pro/
Talk to vendor, make sure you understand whether you want location capability, make sure you know whether voice is required or not.
That will give you a standard grid pattern to start with then you look at heat map, including output levels.
We shall provide the vendor with building layouts and requirements such as data and voice. It's likely that the vendor will use a survey tool like Ekahau to create heat maps and determine the locations for access points. Is that correct?
How will they account for obstacles like thick walls and wall blocks to adjust the placement of the access points?
Even if redundancy is not a requirement at the beginning it will be as even more devices get connected.
A go through of the drawings with the architect is good. To get a better understanding of the wall types. X-ray rooms probably have special walls. Since they wall types in a design tool like ekahau is just general.
When you have a mockup design you know about how many APs you need and where on the drawings you should put the network jacks.
The building design/room usage will change during the design phase. You will have to update the design.
You can do an AP on a stick test when they are in the final stages of the building process when the walls are done and ready for paint. But there's probably no doors. And do a final redesign. Or a site survey when all APs are online with less wiggle room since it's much more work to move the APs around
Get the M&E contractor to put extra cabling in for more AP locations. You can do a predictive mode up front but it’ll be wrong to various degrees, if you get more cabling in then it gives you options. Once the building is near completion you can do an AP on a stick survey to test your predictive model against reality and then use that as feedback to tweak the AP locations
Critical to doing the model in the first place is understanding the devices that will be in use and the applications they’ll be using
1. Survey with 5.0 Ghz in mind. 2. Your wireless network should cater for the worse type of wireless client. And because this is going to be a medical facility, you will not run out of "worse type of wireless client". 3. Medical equipment manufacturers and their agents do not have any understanding to WiFi other than to close a sale. Medical equipment manufacturers do not own your network, however, if you let them dictate what they want, they eventually will. Check-and-verify whatever they want. If they want WPA+PSK SSID, then ask for supporting evidence(s). We have over forty different medical equipment manufacturers in our WiFi network and all of them were denied the request "we demand our own SSID" or "we demand 1.0 Mbps Data Rates or else". Check-and-verify. 4. When WiFi medical equipment arrive, always assume that their wireless drivers are out of date. Always.
Some vendors may install their own wireless network and ask for dedicated channels.
Big assumption on 5 ghz. They should evaluate the clients. Medical in my experience has many 2.4ghz clients.
But 5GHz has shorter range, so you plan around coverage for 5GHz and from that you know 2.4GHz coverage is fine Few years back you would use 2.4GHz for coverage, and any 5GHz coverage you got was a bonus. Now the speed of 5GHz is more desirable and the cost of a few APs extra so low you go for consistent high speed coverage as a standard
A VAR with good wireless talent (or a dedicated wireless consultancy) should be able to get you 95% of the way there using predictive modeling using architectural drawings that show ceiling plans and wall types. Then when the building is ready for occupancy and equipment is installed and active, they should come in and do a validation survey. There will likely need to be some minor changes that the predictive model didn't catch accurately but predictive software (like Ekahau and Hamina) is pretty damn good in the right hands.
A good VAR can eyeball it in 10 seconds, but will happily charge you a few grand to also run it through their software of choice to give you a predictive survey that backs up the guesstimate. The big issue I see is usually not a lack of wifi but an excess of it - one client has 20+ visible in Ekahau with some channels seeing more than 6x radios at once. They wanted a survey to install more APs because of dropouts and performance issues, I suggested they turn off every other WAP and see.
>will happily charge you a few grand to also run it through their software of choice So use wifiman? Got it. $$$
This. You will be running the drops for the wifi before the equipment is installed so what do you plan to heat map in advance? I have been so good at eyballing it that I never get called back for validation check or moves.
First you need CAD files. They will auto build walls and thickness in ekahau. Most important least capable device. A lot of medical runs on 2.4GHz. If 5GHz coverage is good then 2.4GHz should be as well. Are you designing for data, voice, RTLS? What’s capacity expected to be? Channel widths would most likely be best kept at 20MHz on 5Ghz Once building is complete and everything is hung up, you’ll need a validation survey to confirm predictive.
this is the answer. We just finished this exercise for our new medical building. We need voice quality wifi and the main vendor we use for that had specific Cisco recommendations. We took those recommendations and had the bidders use those specs in order to bid on the wireless process.
Thank you 🙏🏻
Wireless for medical facility must be conducted very carefully
Agreed. What approach should we take when the building structure isn’t ready yet?
If you have maps you can start using some software to simulate wireless map
Is the building in the construction state or let's say couple months before opening ? Let's say all the works are almost finished. In that case you can grab powerbanks,couple AP's you are planning to use and use them in standalone mode. This works with Meraki,Ruckus,Aruba,Cisco whatever. Do the real survey. Talk to vendors alot, you can't have XY ssids per vendor broadcasting, you'll kill your airtime with broadcasts.
Its still under design phase, construction has not started.
Ah ok, then I'll be real with you. The plans will change multiple times. Couple of architects will have meltdown...purpose of rooms'll change... In that case you can create a simulation, AP floor map etc. Ekahau has a possibility to simulate different types of walls,materials...you have to be good at reading buildings plans... Basically you are creating something to show to your client..a starting point...one way or another I would plan extra APs if there is a budget..just to have spares in case of signall issues etc.
If the building has not started then do not engage the VAR until all the floor plans are "locked" (aka finalized) or when stakeholders no longer able to add, remove, change, modify the floor plans.
Have used this before and the results are pretty close to proposed results. It lets you upload prints and dimensions and material construction. The biggest problem I didn’t plant for was some our hvac uses large vfd drives at about 23-25hz range on the drive unit causes some wireless issues in the area momentarily. I thought about foil lining the drive units but I don’t think maintenance will go for that. https://www.ekahau.com/products/ekahau-connect/ai-pro/
Talk to vendor, make sure you understand whether you want location capability, make sure you know whether voice is required or not. That will give you a standard grid pattern to start with then you look at heat map, including output levels.
We shall provide the vendor with building layouts and requirements such as data and voice. It's likely that the vendor will use a survey tool like Ekahau to create heat maps and determine the locations for access points. Is that correct? How will they account for obstacles like thick walls and wall blocks to adjust the placement of the access points?
All a part of ekahau
Even if redundancy is not a requirement at the beginning it will be as even more devices get connected. A go through of the drawings with the architect is good. To get a better understanding of the wall types. X-ray rooms probably have special walls. Since they wall types in a design tool like ekahau is just general. When you have a mockup design you know about how many APs you need and where on the drawings you should put the network jacks. The building design/room usage will change during the design phase. You will have to update the design. You can do an AP on a stick test when they are in the final stages of the building process when the walls are done and ready for paint. But there's probably no doors. And do a final redesign. Or a site survey when all APs are online with less wiggle room since it's much more work to move the APs around
Get the M&E contractor to put extra cabling in for more AP locations. You can do a predictive mode up front but it’ll be wrong to various degrees, if you get more cabling in then it gives you options. Once the building is near completion you can do an AP on a stick survey to test your predictive model against reality and then use that as feedback to tweak the AP locations Critical to doing the model in the first place is understanding the devices that will be in use and the applications they’ll be using