Systems and methods for wireless network site survey systems and methods

• US 20040209617A1
• Filed: 02/06/2004
• Published: 10/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Extreme Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AirDefense Incorporated (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hrastar, Scott E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,522,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

This application is directed to systems and methods for surveying a wireless network site. A wireless network receiver or proxy is contacted. One or more client identifiers are received from the contacted receiver or proxy. Coordinate information is also received from the contacted receiver or proxy. The received client identifiers are correlated with the received coordinate information. RF signal characteristic data is received from the contacted wireless network or proxy. Survey data is stored based on the received client identifiers, coordinate information, and RF signal characteristic data.

Claims

1. A method for surveying a wireless network site, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) contacting a wireless network receiver or a proxy therefor;

(b) receiving one or more client identifiers from the contacted receiver or proxy;

(c) receiving coordinate information from the contacted receiver or proxy;

(d) correlating the received one or more client identifiers with the received coordinate information;

(e) receiving RF signal characteristic data from the contacted wireless network receiver or proxy; and

(f) storing survey data based upon the received one or more client identifiers, the received coordinate information and the received RF signal characteristic data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of contacting the receiver or proxy occurs via a communication channel employing encryption technology, authentication technology or combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of contacting the receiver or proxy comprises the step of transmitting a start signal to the receiver or proxy.

4. The method of claim 3, and further comprising the step of transmitting a stop signal to the contacted receiver or proxy and wherein the step of receiving the RF signal characteristic data occurs after the transmission of the stop signal.

5. The method of claim 4, and further comprising the step of transmitting a request for the RF signal characteristic data to the contacted receiver or proxy.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the transmitted stop signal comprises a request for the RF signal characteristic data.

7. The method of claim 1, and further comprising the step of receiving a survey request from a user or from a computer system and wherein the step of contacting the receiver or proxy occurs in response to the received survey request.

8. The method of claim 1, and further comprising the step of determining whether a site survey is required and wherein the step of contacting the receiver or proxy occurs in response to the determination that a site survey is required.

9. The method of claim 1, and further comprising the step of transmitting a start signal to the receiver or proxy.

10. The method of claim 1, and further comprising the step of repeating steps (a) through (f) for one or more additional wireless receivers or proxies therefor.

11. The method of claim 1, and further comprising the steps of receiving a request for survey data from a requestor and transmitting the stored survey data to the requestor.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacted wireless receiver or proxy therefor is a wireless receiver and wherein the contacted wireless receiver is a wireless network sensor, a wireless network access point or a combined sensor/access point.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacted wireless receiver or proxy therefor is a wireless receiver proxy and wherein the contacted wireless receiver proxy is associated with one or more wireless receivers, one or more wireless receivers proxy or combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more client identifiers, the coordinate information and the RF signal characteristic data received from the contacted wireless receiver proxy are based at least in part upon client identifiers, coordinate information and RF signal characteristic data received by the contacted wireless receiver proxy from wireless receivers or wireless receiver proxies associated with the contacted wireless receiver proxy.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving one or more client identifiers comprises receiving a wireless service set identifier (SSID).

16. The method of claim 1, wherein each received client identifier is a device hardware address.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the received coordinate information comprises one or more pixel positions.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the received coordinate information further comprises a pixel map image of the site that is being surveyed.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the pixel map is a bitmap.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the pixel map represent a floor plan of the physical location.

21. The method of claim 1, and further comprising receiving a pixel map image of the site that is being surveyed.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the received coordinate information comprises one or more pixel positions corresponding to locations in the received pixel map.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the received RF signal characteristic data comprises one or more characteristics selected from the group consisting of signal strength, signal to noise ratio and noise level.

24. The method of claim 1, where in the correlating step comprises linking the received RF signal characteristic data with received coordinate information.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the linking step comprises the step of mapping the received coordinate information to the received one or more client identifiers based upon the RF signal characteristics.

26. One or more computer readable media that store instructions that upon execution by a system processor cause the system processor to perform the method of any of claims 1 through 25.

27. A wireless network site survey system, the system comprising:

(a) a system data store capable of storing a pixel map representing a site to be surveyed, one or more client identifiers, one or more pixel positions and RF signal characteristic data;

(b) a communication interface allowing communication with a wireless network receiver or a proxy therefor; and

(c) a system processor in communication with the system data store and the communication interface, the system processor comprising one or more processing elements programmed or adapted to;

(i) receive one or more MAC addresses corresponding to wireless clients from a wireless network receiver or proxy therefor via the communication interface;

(ii) receive one or more pixel positions from the wireless network receiver or proxy therefor via the communication interface;

(iii) receive RF signal characteristic data from the wireless network receiver or proxy therefor via the communication interface, wherein the RF signal characteristic data comprises one or more characteristics selected from the group consisting of signal strength, signal to noise ratio and noise level;

(iv) associate the received one or more pixel positions with the received RF characteristic data;

(v) map the one or more received MAC addresses to one or more pixel positions based upon the received RF signal characteristic data;

(vi) store the mapped one or more MAC addresses in the system data store; and

(vii) receive a pixel map corresponding to a site that is being surveyed.

28. The system of claim 27, and further comprising a wireless network receiver.

29. The system of claim 28, and further comprising a wireless network proxy for one or more wireless receivers.

30. The system of claim 27, and further comprising a wireless network proxy for one or more wireless receivers.

31. The system of claim 27, wherein the pixel map is received from the system data store.

32. The system of claim 27, wherein the pixel map is received from the wireless network receiver or proxy therefor via the communication interface.

33. A wireless network site survey system, the system comprising:

first means for outputting one or more MAC addresses, coordinate information and one or more RF signal characteristic selected from the group consisting of signal strength, signal to noise ratio and noise level;

storing means for storing a pixel map representing a site to be surveyed, one or more client identifiers, one or more pixel positions and RF signal characteristic data;

receiving means for receiving one or more MAC addresses, coordinate information and one or more RF signal characteristics from the first means;

mapping means for associating the coordinate information with the received one or more RF signal characteristics from the receiving means and mapping the one or more MAC addresses to pixel locations in the pixel map based upon the associated coordinate information and RF signal characteristics; and

output means for outputting the mapped MAC addresses and pixel locations to one or more output devices selected from the group consisting of a monitor, a data file, a printer, an HTML page, and a computer system.