Introduction
A Site survey kit is required to do an AP on a Stick site survey, which simulates the RF footprint at a given location. The information gathered during a site survey confirms desired operations and helps during the WLAN deployment and troubleshooting in a RF environment.
The idea to build a custom site survey was to make it portable and lightweight so that it’s easy to move around with it during a site survey at the customer site. It will be easy to carry/pack during flights and would not have to be shipped separately, which is convenient and cost-saving.
Hardware Requirement
Below is the list of Hardware I used for this setup.
- Wooden Shelf (2feet x 4feet)
- WiFi Stand (to mount AP)
- Wheels (2 Inch)
- PVC Pipe and Base
- Paint Pole
- Paint pole to ¼ -20 adaptor –Custom made
- Battery
- Power Injector
Making the Kit
Cut a piece of wooden Shelf to 2 feet by 4 Feet
Next, Drill the holes in the 2×4 board to attach the 4 2 inch Wheels (360 revolving) to make it mobile.
I sued 1 inch Nuts to attach the wheels to the base as shown below
PVC Pipe will be needed to hold the Paint Pole – I used a 2 inch thick pipe with a PVC base which was drilled to attach it to the wooden shelf as shown below.
Used Fly nuts to fix the PVC pipe on 2×4 Base so that it can be installed and uninstalled with ease.
To Mount AP best option I found was WiFi Stand. This is a Bracket with a T Bar which will mount all the AP’s, but the connector is ¼-20
¼-20 to Paint pole adaptor (custom)
Got a PVC cap which is 1 ½ inch in length drilled a hole and attached a ¼ 1 inch screw and a small screw to secure the paint pole.
Put some electrical tape on the paint pole threads for grip. This adaptor sits on the paint pole very nicely and can be secured using the screw.
Now the WiFi Stand sits on this perfectly
Any AP can be mounted on the Wifi stand as it has a T-Bar and all AP manufactures have a bracket to mount AP’s to T-Bars.
To Power the AP I use a Lithium Battery with a Cigarette lighter connector and a Power injector
Portable and Light weight
The main advantage of using this kit was Portability and lightness. Travel is much easy with this kit as it fits in any medium-size suitcase, It weighs about 3.5 Kgs which is much less than the existing kits which are close to 20 Kgs.