In-depth analysis of wireless network performance problems

How should we pay attention to the development and growth of wireless technology in the online world? What aspects should we start with in terms of its performance? Here we will give you a deep analysis.

Low-budget Wi-Fi networks are already very popular, but they are not the only wireless network type. In fact, there are dozens of wireless networks from $100 to $ millions if you consider the price. To achieve optimal performance in wireless networks, it is necessary to understand some common problems in Wi-Fi and non-Wi-Fi wireless networks.

Too many devices are involved in wireless network performance analysis.

For wireless networks, the most common problem is that there are usually many wireless devices in a very small range. Before installing wireless equipment, you can easily avoid this problem through a professional site survey. Unfortunately, it seems that most network engineers think that if they can install a Wi-Fi network, the rules are the same for other wireless networks. So they will try to install these devices on their own.

Behind the concept of a spread spectrum network, using multiple channels is actually to increase the available bandwidth as much as possible, and to increase its security. In a DS-11 network, because each DS-11 device uses multiple channels, to avoid mutual interference at these frequencies, only three wireless networks can be formed.

However, DS-11 is not the only technology subject to such restrictions. You may have heard of this wireless network technology called FHSS (Frequency-hopping spread spectrum-Frequency hopping spread spectrum. FHSS is a spread spectrum technique that is very similar to DS-11, and its operating frequency ranges from 2.4 GHz to 2.483 GHz. In this range, a total of 79 channels and 78 different frequency hopping sequences can be used. Even if there are so many available channels, this type of network is still limited to only 15.

Visualized distance network for Wireless Network Performance Analysis

One of the most common wireless networks is Line-of-sight networks ). The visible distance network can transmit data between two points using either radio signals or laser. As the name suggests, the technology of visual distance requires that there must be no obstacle between the sender and the receiver to be visible to each other.

For a network with a visible distance, the problem is that most people have not considered this scattering phenomenon. I have seen many people look out the window, and if they can see the target, they will think that they have a very clear visual distance network. However, as the signal spreads, the signal strength is weakening. If you want to receive all the signals, it is very important that the receiving antenna should have a clear and visible distance network to receive all the incoming signals, not just some signals. The region containing the signal is called the fresnel zone ).

Improper equipment for Wireless Network Performance Analysis

Another cause of wireless network problems is the use of inappropriate equipment. Before that, I once said that there are dozens of different wireless networks. One reason why there are so many different types of networks is that different installations have different requirements. Such things, such as expected bandwidth, climate, distance, and obstacles, work in the demands of equipment. If you choose the wrong preparation, your network will not be fully running.

The most common type of antenna is the parabolic cylindrical Reflector Antenna (parabolic dish ). This antenna looks like a satellite dish, which is often used in a wireless network with a visual distance. In most cases, although the network signal strength using this antenna cannot penetrate the obstacle, it can perform long-distance communication. A variant of this antenna is the grid parabolic antenna (parabolic grid ). The working principle of a grid parabolic antenna is similar to that of a parabolic cylindrical reflector, but this antenna is more suitable for multi-wind environments.

Antenna connection problems in Wireless Network Performance Analysis

However, another common problem is the antenna connection. The intensity of wireless signals was the strongest before the receiver was removed. However, there is a cylindrical connector between the antenna cable and the receiver, and there is another cylindrical connector between the antenna and the antenna cable. This cylindrical connector will greatly weaken the signal strength, of course, the antenna cable and even the antenna itself will weaken the signal strength.

Your installation goal should be to reduce the signal loss. For this purpose, do not use a cylindrical connector when absolutely necessary, and the length of the antenna cable should be as short as possible. Here, I also need to point out that using an amplifier is usually a very bad idea. Because the amplifier not only amplified the signal, but also amplified the noise. More importantly, the method of using an amplifier usually requires you to use more cylindrical connectors and longer cables than directly connecting an antenna, therefore, this will gradually reduce the signal quality. Even if signal distortion is not a problem, a magnified signal is often beyond the range of signal strength that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) can manage.

Wi-Fi Performance Analysis

Because Wi-Fi networks are very popular now, I would like to spend some time discussing the common performance problems in Wi-Fi networks. Although there are some long-distance Wi-Fi network implementations, the Wi-Fi network was initially designed for indoor network solutions. Therefore, the network performance problems in the indoor environment will be emphasized here.

The reason for this is that the wireless NIC is designed like this: it roaming from one access point to another, and then locking in the access point with the strongest signal. If there are multiple access points in an environment and there are more than two signal strengths that can be compared, NIC will switch back and forth between different access points. This will greatly reduce the network performance.

Locking a NIC to a specific access point can accomplish the following three things:

First, it eliminates switching between access points.

Second, it increases security because if the NIC is not authorized to use an access point, no NIC will access the access point.

Third, it can prevent too many access points.

The last common problem in wireless NIC is multipath. The best way to describe this problem is to compare it with TV. You may have used rabbit ear or air antenna to watch TV. When using a cylindrical antenna, there may be a phantom overlap on the screen Main Screen of some channels. This ghosting image is called a multi-path.