Thank you for joining us on another great episode. The topic of episode 39 is when and how to use spectrum analysis.
Spectrum analysis is a crucial part of wireless site surveys and for troubleshooting. When performing spectrum analysis as part of a wireless site survey, an engineer can determine which areas contain sources of interference that can greatly degrade the performance of a wireless network.
Some interference is non-802.11 traffic. Wireless NICs within devices cannot demodulate these signals. If a transmission occurs with interference present, the frames are corrupted.
It’s important to know the different kinds of interferences that can exist.

* Sporadic (happens only at specific times). An example is bluetooth
* Constant (the interference is there all the time). Example: Wireless Video Camera
— Both can be disruptive to the Wi-Fi if the duty cycle is high
— There is also the width of the interference to validate.
* Do not forget to watch out for interference from other Wi-Fi networks (even yours…)
* Duty cycle
* ACI

Links and Resources

* David Coleman, WLPC 2016, Wi-Fi Troubleshooting
* Metageek Chanalyzer
* Spectrum XT
* Ekahau
* Tamograph