Wi-Fi Design, Validation, Troubleshooting and the Future of Networking

In a recent blog, I wrote about the arrival of many third-party design and diagnostic tools that support 6 GHz Wi-Fi. It is a testament to the explosive growth of 6 GHz Wi-Fi that these tools are recently available and support Wi-Fi 6E.

Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 8, and other future generations of Wi-Fi will build on the 6 GHz superhighway that debuted with Wi-Fi 6E. Over the next ten years, I expect all kinds of innovation for new wireless applications that can prosper in 6 GHz. Likewise, I expect a lot of innovation in both WLAN vendor and third-party tools for 6 GHz design, validation, and troubleshooting.

I started to think, "what might we expect in the future for these types of tools?" So, I decided to reach out to an experienced hands-on expert, Karl Benedict.

Karl Benedict, CWNE #395, is a Senior Solutions Architect at Extreme Networks with over twenty years of networking experience with a specialty background in wireless. Karl worked for Aerohive Networks for six years before joining Extreme as part of the corporate acquisition. While there, he developed and ran the Professional Services department, supporting customer projects from network health checks to new designs and troubleshooting.

Here is a quick conversation I had with Karl about the future of Wi-Fi networking tools:

David:

Karl, what is your current role here at Extreme Networks?

Karl:

I have recently assumed a new role with the Extreme “majors team” - which deals with complex and challenging Wi-Fi deployments. This team oversees Wi-Fi networking deployments and analytics at stadiums, arenas, and other very demanding verticals. As a solutions architect, my role is very dynamic, with daily tasks that include creating designs for large and demanding wireless networks as well as troubleshooting on-site or remotely.

David:

So, evidently, WLAN design and validation have been a large part of your past and now current roles. A lot of marketing literature often states that anyone can mount access points anywhere they want in a building. They can then turn on radio resource management (RRM) capabilities and the Wi-Fi environment self-configures, and presto…. radio frequency (RF) magic! This is a leading question, however, is this magic real?

Karl:

Well, you know the answer to that question. The answer is always design and validate. RRM is one available tool that is built into WLAN vendor solutions, but by no means is it RF Magic. That is why we have qualified partners to design and validate any Wi-Fi deployment that will adequately fulfill our customers’ networking requirements and future needs.

Every customer and every building is different. Buildings have different layouts and are made of different materials. The buildings' age might also impact a Wi-Fi deployment's success. Many other variables come into play. So many questions must be answered to ensure that the WLAN meets all the intended mobility, coverage, and capacity needs. What applications are running on the network? What types of Wi-Fi devices will be connecting to the WLAN? Are there any business requirements for voice, video streaming, or location services? How will the wireless integrate into the wired network? Because there is rarely an opportunity for cookie-cutter Wi-Fi deployments, I have built an entire career on design, validation, tweaking, and troubleshooting.

David:

You have been doing this for over 20 years. How did you learn to do this?

Karl:

I had a mentor who taught me the concepts of RF using a lightbulb. I was given a drop light and told to hold the drop light wherever I thought I should mount an access point. My mentor told me to look at the shadows…. that is your propagation; that is what your RF signal will do. He had me make minor changes to the drop light's positioning so that I could see the changes in the shadows. In other words, demonstrate how a micro-adjustment to an AP could also affect the RF environment. Just moving an AP by 12-16 inches can significantly impact the propagation pattern. That is how I learned how to understand RF behavior.

David:

We all know that sports arenas and stadiums are, without a doubt, the most challenging deployment for Wi-Fi. That is why Extreme has a whole team dedicated to Wi-Fi in sports venues as well as very qualified partners. We could spend hours talking about all the challenges. Instead, let’s pivot to other verticals. Other than stadiums, can you tell me the three most difficult verticals to deploy Wi-Fi and other RF technologies?

Karl:

Well, clearly, hospitals and healthcare are extremely high-touch. Manufacturing is just as challenging. Both environments are very dynamic. In the past, we were designed strictly for coverage. Then we moved to WLAN designs based on client density and bandwidth capacity. In other words, RF designs were very static. Now requirements for time-sensitive applications such as voice or video streaming have become commonplace.

Moreover, we need to continually support mobility, which is the core use case for Wi-Fi. As we move into a post-pandemic world, the environments of most wireless networks are constantly changing and are certainly not static. In healthcare, employees and patient monitoring equipment are often on the move. Hospitals also have multiple sources of potential RF interference that affect the Wi-Fi. The same can be said about the dynamic nature of manufacturing. Inventory is shifted. Forklifts are moving, and shelves and become empty or full. Inventory is moved.

And believe it or not, open-air office space is often challenging. Especially now, where we have entered a world of a hybrid workforce. Cubicles, walls, people…. all create a dynamic wireless environment

David:

Okay, you have worked with just about every known Wi-Fi design and troubleshooting on the market. Let’s talk about the future. What would Karl Benedict like to see in these tools to make your job easier and, more importantly, create a consistent quality Wi-Fi user experience for all users and devices? What are your dreams and vision?

Karl:

Well, I have a long laundry list, but I will try and focus on a few. First, I would love a tool that presents a 3-D visualization of the RF propagation environment. Instead of viewing a multi-floor building from a top-down view, I would like to be able to spin that building and look at the RF propagation from any angle. I will tell you, David…. you, myself, and others have joked for years about being able to wear RF goggles where you could see the actual RF propagating. That technology does not exist, but companies have begun experimenting with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality to visualize 3-D radio frequency models. The Montreal-based company, iBwave has used some AR with their Wi-Fi mobile app. Last February, at the 2022 wirelessLAN Professionals conference, a German-based company, WLAN Maufactur, demoed a VR application that provides some of the 3-D visualization of RF that I would love to see become commonplace. I envision using these types of VR applications for design work remotely. Augmented reality would be very useful for on-site troubleshooting.

David:

Well, that is certainly futuristic. I really believe that we are on a cusp of a renaissance of using AR/VR applications in the enterprise. And we will need 6 GHz Wi-Fi to provide the connectivity for these applications. How cool would it be if all the Wi-Fi design and troubleshooting tools also leveraged these technologies? So, what are some other feature wishes for the Wi-Fi tools of the future?

Karl:

Well, I really want the ability to show some dynamics within the tools themselves. Visualize the RF environment with hospital doors closed versus when the hospital doors are open. Something as simple as opening or shutting a door can impact the voice-grade Wi-Fi network. I think will write my own blog about this very scenario and how I troubleshot the situation and created a design to accommodate it. The modeling tools could also offer dynamics based on the number of people in a room at different times of the day. I want to see more “scenario-based” modeling in these tools.

David:

Let me throw you another curveball. For most of the past 20 years, all the Wi-Fi modeling and motoring tools have been from the RF perspective of the access point. But truth be told, the more important perspective should be that of the client device. The most important metric is the Wi-Fi user's quality of experience (QoE). What is your opinion about this?

Karl:

This is a two-part answer. The first part is that I would love to view real-time RF data and model from the client's perspective. This is tough because there are so many different types of Wi-Fi clients. And there are also different client needs and different height levels. For example, maybe I am using RF tags for location services. Some of those tags are attached to equipment two feet from the floor, while other tags are attached to assets that are five feet off the floor. I would love to be able to model the client's height at various locations in a modeling tool. A client roaming perspective in these tools would also be useful.

David:

Well, it seems to me, that to accurately create client-based predictive modeling tools or even visualize the client perspective in real-time, you will need to collect a lot of data from active clients in all environments.

Karl:

That is the second part of my answer. While the current validation tools need to continue to be able to feed data into survey applications, the future really is probably in the hands of the WLAN vendors. Clients need to collect data that is fed into the vendor's cloud management solutions. They need data from clients, not just their APs. The compute could take place in the cloud or could be aided by edge appliances. Vendors need to be able to leverage the APIs of the clients and of the OS, particularly Android-based devices. Client data can also be more primitively collected via device log files. And, of course, software-based agents could also be loaded onto client devices. Collecting this data and using machine learning for modeling holds much potential for the future.

David:

Wi-Fi remains the clear winner in the enterprise for connectivity. But there are other RF technologies. Do the wireless tools of the future also need to diversify?

Karl:

Absolutely, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radios are inside most enterprise APs, and they are used for proximity and location services. Zigbee, Ultra-wideband (UWB), and other RF technologies are becoming more prevalent. IoT will drive broader adoption of these other types of RF. Of course, the promises of Private 5G also await on the horizon. As we move forward, design and validation tools will need to diversify and offer capabilities for all these RF technologies.

David:

Thank you for all your insights, Karl. I have a feeling we will have to bring you back soon for a follow-up interview.