WiFi Coverage

Place access points and mesh, model multi-wall RF coverage/interference/throughput, plan channels and export per band.

The WiFi engine solves a real radio-propagation model from your access points and walls. See the feature overview; this is the how-to.

It’s a modelled estimate, not a measurement, typically ±6–10 dB. Real coverage also depends on furniture, occupancy, reflections and antenna orientation. Validate critical areas with an on-site survey. Every export carries this disclaimer (you can reword it, or untick Print accuracy disclaimer, in the engine settings).

Add the engine

Add the WiFi Coverage engine. Your region follows the app’s Settings region and locks the channels and EIRP limits. In the engine settings, pick an environment preset, open plan, typical office, dense office, residential or warehouse, which sets how quickly signal falls off; you can also set the target signal level (default −67 dBm) and the channel width there.

Equipment catalogue

Place devices from the rail:

• Access points, indoor ceiling (omni), wall-plate (directional), outdoor (directional, 2.4/5 GHz), high-density (5/6 GHz), desktop router.
• Mesh, mesh router (the wired root) and mesh node (satellite).
• Extenders.
• Client reference points, non-radiating markers that report the modelled signal at a spot (“will my desk get coverage?”).

Each type ships sensible RF defaults you can override per device. An AP dropped within 25 cm of a wall auto-mounts to it. Device symbols and captions are drawn at plan scale, so they zoom with the drawing and print at the same size you see in the editor.

Heat-map: three modes

The heat-map shows when you open the editor; the eye chip hides or shows it (view-only, the PDF always renders it). Choose a band (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz) and a mode:

The map paints weak → strong (violet → red). Walls attenuate by their material build-up, closed doors and windows attenuate, and open doors are gaps. Higher bands lose more through walls (5 and 6 GHz attenuate more than 2.4 GHz), and rays hitting a wall at an angle lose more (longer path through the material).

The solve runs when something changes, devices, the room, the band or the mode, not on every pan, so the editor stays responsive.

On-canvas legend & live readout

While the heat-map is shown, a compact legend overlay sits in the corner of the canvas. It carries a Mode · Band header (for example “Coverage · 5 GHz”), a weak → strong colour strip, and low/high tick labels read straight from the live solved values. Alongside it a coverage read-out summarises the current solve, the percentage of floor at or above your target signal (default −67 dBm), the mean signal in dBm, and any channel conflicts.

Tuning a device

Tap a device to select it in place; double-tap centres it and opens its editor. Deleting one always asks first, and stays undoable. Select an AP to set:

• Enabled bands, Transmit power and Antenna gain (EIRP is clamped to the regional limit).
• Antenna pattern, omnidirectional or directional, with beamwidth and azimuth.
• Channel per band, Auto (set by the planner) or explicit.
• Wall mount, label and mounting height.

A client reference point instead shows the modelled best-server RSSI and throughput at its location.

Channel planning & mesh

• Plan channels, auto-assigns non-overlapping channels (2.4 GHz uses the 1/6/11 reuse set; 5/6 GHz are chunked to the channel width) and reports co-channel conflicts.
• Mesh check, builds a tree from the root(s), preferring 5 GHz backhaul, and grades each link good (≥ −65 dBm), marginal, weak or orphan, warning on missing roots, orphans, weak links and deep hop chains. The mesh status chip is tappable, expanding to show each warning and a per-node breakdown (node name, link grade, backhaul signal in dBm and hop count).

Plan layers

The Layers chip holds per-drawing toggles for Measurements, Doors, Windows, Room names and Furniture, and they apply to both the live canvas and the exported PDF. Furniture starts off on a coverage plan (built-in fixtures stay drawn for context); hiding doors keeps the opening in the wall. A Text size stepper (8–48 pt) sets the room-name size app-wide.

Compliance & export

The region sets the regulatory framework that caps power and channels:

Export a multi-page PDF, one landscape page per active band, rendering the selected mode with a matching legend, a coverage summary (% above target, mean/min dBm, peak Mbps, mean SINR), the weakest rooms, the device key, the channel summary, a scale bar and north point, the regional compliance statement and the accuracy disclaimer. Those two statements each print while their Print toggle is on, and both are editable in the engine settings (“Reset to default” restores the standard wording). Add a branding logo there too (from Photo Library or Files) and it prints bottom-right.

Each page automatically frames the rooms, every device and that band’s coverage field, so an AP outside the building, or signal spilling past it, isn’t clipped, and your Layers choices carry through to the print.

Exporting the PDF uses one export credit, or is included with full access. A free sample export carries a light watermark so you can check the layout first.

Fade the base plan

The engine settings open with a Canvas → Plan opacity slider. Drag it down to fade the static floor plan in the editor so your access points and the heat-map stand out; it starts at 90%. It only changes how the plan looks while you work - the drawing itself and the exported PDF are unchanged - and the choice is shared across every overlay engine and remembered between sessions.

Next

• CCTV & Security guide
• Network & IT guide