This was a Wi-Fi design class session focused on using Sidos design system, with Ferney leading the instruction. The session covered creating building designs from scratch, including adding walls, floors, slopes, and objects like racks and columns. Ferney demonstrated how to use Sidos unique copy-paste functionality with control keys to place objects precisely where needed, and showed the tool’s ability to export designs with different AP models (like Cisco 9120s versus Aruba 735s) while maintaining the same design layout. The class also explored interference visualization features, showing which APs were causing interference on the same channels, and discussed the differences between Sidos approach and other tools like Hamina. The session concluded with a demonstration of warehouse design using floor plans and discussion of object placement and attenuation settings.

This was the 378th session of the Wireless LAN Professionals Wi-Fi Design Class, focused on designing with SIDOS. Ferney demonstrated how to create multifloor building designs with holes in floors, showing the importance of properly defining floors before creating openings. The session covered adding access points using different antenna types, including omni and directional antennas, and explained how to configure channel plans and manage interference between APs. Key features discussed included the mini map visualization for seeing signal bleed between floors and the ability to select and move between different floor plans while keeping access points selected. The class also covered how to set up primary and secondary coverage using access points from the same floor to ensure proper redundancy. The session concluded with a review of the reporting capabilities in SIDOS, generating an PDF report showing AP locations, coverage areas, and interference analysis.

The first portion of this session discussed a Wi-Fi survey performed at BYU Stadium in Utah using Sidos, Hamina, and Ekahau. The survey was physically demanding roughly 13.3 km of walking and about five hours of survey time. The survey path was adapted to the stadium layout, generally moving horizontally across accessible seating rows and then changing levels rather than walking every individual row.

A significant observation from that survey was data reliability. According to the meeting discussion, the Ekahau survey experienced crashes that resulted in lost survey data and required portions to be walked again. Hamina experienced iPad crashes attributed to overheating, but when the app was reopened, the survey resumed from the last recorded point without losing the collected data. Sidos did not lose data during this particular survey.

The session was essentially about building an accurate physical model before doing the predictive Wi-Fi design. It covered floors, walls, windows, doors, attenuation objects, areas of interest, floor openings, vertical propagation and 3D visualization. The strongest technical lesson was that a Wi-Fi design needs to account not just for horizontal coverage but also for RF traveling vertically through floors and especially through open spaces such as atriums and mezzanines.
Hamina was regarded as more polished visually and easier for some building-modeling tasks, particularly complex structures such as stairs and slopes. Sidos, however, had several features especially the multi-floor mini-map visualization and vertical RF propagation views. Even though its design interface was considered less polished than Hamina, the RF visualization capabilities were viewed as extremely useful.

The session focused on using the SIDOS software for Wi-Fi design, specifically on drawing walls, doors, windows, and attenuation objects in a 2D and 3D environment. Ferney demonstrated the process of creating and modifying these elements, highlighting both the strengths and limitations of SIDOS compared to other tools like Hamina. Participants discussed the manual nature of drawing in SIDOS and shared tips for efficiency, such as copying and pasting objects. The session also covered creating multi-floor buildings, aligning floor plans, and visualizing access point coverage and radiation patterns. Technical issues with account access and software features were addressed, and the group explored the software’s capabilities for simulating real world environments.

The session focused on introducing and navigating the SIDOS Wi-Fi design and survey tool, following previous classes on Hamina. Ferney demonstrated how to handle multiple floor plans for complex buildings, such as warehouses with mezzanines, by importing and aligning separate images. The session covered the SIDOS interface, including uploading floor plans, setting scales and heights, and placing access points. Ferney compared SIDOS’s features with Hamina, noting that SIDOS excels in surveys but has a less intuitive design interface. The demonstration included visualizations like coverage and interference, and Ferney showcased the capabilities of the SIDOS Wave survey device. The session ended with a plan to continue exploring SIDOS’s design features in subsequent classes.

In Session 372a of Tesos en Wi-Fi WLANPros Wi-Fi Design, a technical demonstration of 3D predictive modeling and coverage validation was conducted using Hamina Wireless and Sidos. The class showcased advanced designs in multilevel industrial environments such as warehouses with mezzanines and fiber plants featuring over 80 APs as well as sports arenas with sloped seating, alongside real world field survey validations. Throughout these exercises, the instructors evaluated Wi-Fi signal propagation across 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz, RF attenuation through materials like concrete, brick, and metal structures, and audited live metrics including transmit power (14dBm), channel widths (40MHz), and RSSI levels against predictive simulations.