An important factor to take into consideration when you are choosing your system and installation locations is the presence of other RF transmitters. This is particularly important in industrial and metropolitan areas but should always be taken into consideration with any installation. One of the first things that you should do before you purchase your wireless system is to conduct an inspection of the installation site(s) for other RF transmitters. When choosing the locations to install the radios, it is important to ensure that they are not being placed next to any high-power RF transmitters. One commonly overlooked source of interference in the 2.4 GHz ISM band is the conventional microwave oven. It is important that the 2.4 GHz radios be mounted as far from microwave ovens as possible. If that is not feasible, you may need to consider using a 5.8 GHz system or shielding the microwave oven externally. If you have selected a location without any other visible RF radios, you probably will not have any problems caused by interference. However, it is always best to test the system at the site before you permanently install it to avoid complications. If there are visible RF radios at your installation site, you should perform one of the following checks to help ensure that you do not experience complications during installation. 1. Spectrum Analyzer: If you have access to a spectrum analyzer, you can use it to perform a site survey, which can provide you with accurate information about the frequencies and power levels of RF radios at your site. This is only recommended for customers who have experience with RF and have test equipment that is readily available. 2. Testing RSSI via radio software: The other approach will be to take a receiver to the installation site. You will want to use the same type of system and antenna that you are planning to use for that application. When you are on site, power the system up with the antenna attached. Run the included software, such as Wave Wireless SPEEDSignal to test for RSSI. It is important to check RSSI with the transmitter turned off and on since you are trying to check for an existing signal that may interfere with yours. If there is to much RSSI indicated, you will want to try to locate the source and isolate the receiver from it as much as possible. If at all possible, the complete system should be tested in place before it is installed wherever there is a chance of interference. |