Solutions to RF Interference and Barriers
These days, finding an environment with no RF interference or
noise is nearly impossible. Only if you are setting up an office in
a secluded redwood grove can you count on RF interference to
be a non-issue. Even then, the redwood trees might just be
among those fitted with high-gain cellular antennas, an all-too-
common occurrence today. Regardless, you should expect to
deal with some level of signal interference in your deployment.
A
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Placing Access Points
C
B
Location A – Rogue access points or wireless test lab
•
Problem – Wireless product test labs and other (non-
malicious) rogue access points are problems in many Wi-Fi
deployments. Even if the access points in question are
using different SSID nomenclature, channel overlapping is
almost sure to be a bandwidth buster for legitimate users.
•
Solution – Either eliminate all rogue access points, or
force their owners to use a set channel that does not
overlap with your distributed wireless solution. For
dedicated wireless test labs, or areas that must be
secluded from RF noise, convert that specific area into a
Faraday cage, blocking a significant amount of wireless
signals from entering or leaving the room.
Note:
The Faraday cage was developed by 19th century
inventor Michael Faraday. It demonstrates that a room
built of a conductive material will shield its contents
from electric or static electric currents. This effect also
exists for wireless radio transmissions, although to a
lesser extent.