View Heatmaps

Populate your maps with real devices, simulated devices, or a combination.

Use this task to view device heat maps to see data about your wireless network coverage, including RSSI, SNR, channels, data rates, and interference.

  1. From Radio, select 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.
  2. From Devices, choose to show heat maps for all devices on a map, only for real devices, or only for simulated devices.
    If you choose to show only real devices, you can also show clients, rogues, meshed, and Ethernet devices.
  3. From Show on Heat Map select the type of heat map.
    For any option besides None, a panel displays the multiple floors icon, a legend to explain the colored areas on the map, and a drop-down list where you can change the power setting. For any active heat map, you can change the signal strength by selecting from a range of -40 dBm to -90 dBm in the dBm.
  4. Select None to clear heat maps.

Heat maps display the following information:

  • RSSI: The RSSI color bar indicates the strength of the signals, with red being the strongest and light blue the weakest. When you raise the signal strength threshold toward -40 dBm, the color bar shows only colors representing signal strength levels strong enough to pick up clients at or above that threshold. When you lower the threshold closer to -90 dBm, the color bar shows more colors, indicating more signal strength levels at which clients can connect. Hover your cursor over the color bar to see the RSSI values represented by colors.
  • SNR Heat Map: SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is the difference between the RSSI and the noise (low-level background radio signals that can interfere with a wireless network) in the RF environment. A high SNR means that the potential for interference is slight. A low SNR means that there is a greater potential for interference. For good wireless performance, the SNR should be at least 25 dB and never lower than 20 dB.
  • Channels Heat Map: ExtremeCloud IQ dynamically assigns channels when you add devices either manually or automatically. Channels are displayed in different colors so that you can easily identify which channel each devices is using. You can adjust the lower end of the RSSI range to change the area of coverage depicted.
    Note

    Note

    Channels and RSSI heat maps both display channel and RSSI values. The difference is in the emphasis that each map places on different types of data. The Channels option also shows RSSI data, but uses a single color per device to make it easier to see which channels are in use in any area. The RSSI option also shows channel data, but uses of different colors to make it easier to distinguish RSSI values.
  • Data Rates Heat Map: Set the minimum data rate that you want the APs to provide. Radio cells are colored to show the estimated data rates that are available at various distances from the AP. The colors cover a range from the minimum data rate to a maximum of 270 Mbps.
    Note

    Note

    Data rates above 54 Mbps are only possible when the radio mode is 802.11n.
    Choose the estimated noise level of the site from -75 to -95 dB in increments of 5 dB to estimate the amount of interference to the RF signal from the APs.
  • Interference: Identify sources of interference from obstructions inside your building, other electronic devices, or from other wireless networks located nearby. There are many causes of interference, such as microwave ovens, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, wireless video cameras, and even fluorescent lights. If your network is experiencing a great deal of interference, you can try relocating devices, changing the power levels, and changing the radio band.
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