Installation guide

Wi-Fi Location-Based Services—Design and Deployment Considerations

OL-11612-01

Deployment Best Practices

Figure 47 Example of Unequal Azimuth Propagation Patterns

The orientation of the antenna, its gain, and its propagation characteristics are all taken into

consideration when location calculations are performed. If localization is performed assuming the

characteristics of a pre-defined antenna but the antenna physically connected to the access point provides

a somewhat different pattern, the resulting accuracy and precision may be significantly outside stated

performance expectations.

Antenna Orientation

When installing access points with either internal or external antennas, it is critical that both the

placement of the access point as well as the orientation selected for the access point antennas (performed

while positioning the access point on the floor map in WCS, shown in Figure 48) match the actual

physical access point placement and antenna orientation. This is important to ensure accuracy and

precision in both location tracking as well as the display of predictive heat maps. Both of these processes

account for environmental path losses that are calculated using access point location, antenna gains, and

antenna propagation patterns. In the case of directional antennas especially, the antenna gain at each

compass point is not uniform, and close alignment should be achieved between the physical and

graphical antenna orientations used by the location engine.

Figure 48 Antenna Orientation