User guide

Managing Your Canopy Network March 2005
Through Software Release 6.1
Issue 1 Page 285 of 425
Canopy System User Guide
21 GROWING YOUR NETWORK
Keys to successfully growing your network include
◦ monitoring the RF environment.
◦ considering software release compatibility.
◦ redeploying modules appropriately and quickly.
21.1 MONITORING THE RF ENVIRONMENT
Regardless of whether you are maintaining or growing your network, you may encounter
new RF traffic that can interfere with your current or planned equipment. Regularly
measuring over a period of time and logging the RF environment, as you did before you
installed your first equipment in an area, enables you to recognize and react to changes.
21.1.1 Spectrum Analyzer Web Pages
IMPORTANT!
The following sections describe the use of a Canopy module in scan
mode to analyze the RF spectrum. While a module is in the scan mode,
no RF connectivity to that module is possible until either you click
Disable on the Spectrum Analyzer page or 15 minutes elapses since the
module entered the scan mode.
For this reason
◦ do not enable the spectrum analyzer from an RF-connected
module. (No readings will be displayed when the RF connection
is re-established.)
◦ be advised that, if you enable the spectrum analyzer by Ethernet
connection, any current RF connection to that module drops.
You can use any SM or BHS in Release 4.1.n or later, or any AP in Release 6.1 or later,
to see at once the frequency and power level of any detectable signal that is within,
above, or below the frequency band range of the module.
RECOMMENDATION:
Vary the days and times when you analyze the spectrum in an area.
The RF environment can change throughout the day or throughout the
week.
Temporarily deploy an SM or BHS for each frequency band range that you need to
monitor and Access the Spectrum Analyzer web page of the module. (For access from a
PDA, see PDA Access to Canopy Modules on Page 257.) To enter the scan mode and
view readings, click Enable. A Canopy SM/BHS displays the Spectrum Analyzer web
page as either a graphical or a tabular page. The differences between these page types
are shown in Table 45.