Silex technology WM-100 Operating instructions

How to use the WM-100 and Wave
Navigator for troubleshoong

Contents
Contents........................................................................................................................................................2
0. Pre-requision...........................................................................................................................................3
1. How to use data for WLAN troubleshoong.............................................................................................4
1.1 Wireless radio signal issue ..................................................................................................................4
1.2 Wi-Fi link associaon issue .................................................................................................................5
2. Data monitored by the WM-100 and Wave Navigator .............................................................................6
2.1 Floor Wireless Condions ...................................................................................................................6
2.1.1 Wireless anomaly – resoluon informaon.................................................................................6
2.1.2 Wireless Usage.............................................................................................................................7
2.1.3 Wireless monitoring: Radio wave intensity..................................................................................8
2.2 Wireless Monitoring............................................................................................................................9
2.2.1 Floor informaon .........................................................................................................................9
2.2.2 Survey.........................................................................................................................................10
2.2.3 Radio wave intensity ..................................................................................................................12
2.2.4 Spectrum informaon................................................................................................................12
2.3 Measurement data analysis..............................................................................................................15
2.4 Report ...............................................................................................................................................16
2.4.1 Warning history..........................................................................................................................16
2.4.2 Bandwidth informaon..............................................................................................................17
2.4.3 Radio wave intensity ..................................................................................................................17
2.5 Record ...............................................................................................................................................19
3. How to capture the wireless packet........................................................................................................21
3.1 Wireless packet capturing with the WM-100 and the Wave Navigator............................................21
3.2 Open the captured le......................................................................................................................26
About Silex Technology America, Inc. .........................................................................................................27

0. Pre-requision
This document is to explain
•data monitored by the WM-100 and Wave Navigator, and
•How to use the data
Refer to “How to install the WM-100 and Wave Navigator” (“Installaon Guide”) document for the
installaon process of the system. The Installaon Guide is to connect the WM-100 to a computer
directly, as below.
（ ）
（ ）
（ ）
Firewall seng
、 、 、
、 、 、 、
LAN

1. How to use data for WLAN troubleshoong
1.1 Wireless radio signal issue
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Start
Resolved?
Is a device acve? → 2.2.1
or Device list
Check bandwidth utilization
→ 2.4.2
High?
Possible causes：Interference from other Wi-Fi devices
⚫Check if same radio channel is used by APs placed closely
⚫
Check if there is unmanaged device is introduced or if too
many devices are operating in the same band.
⚫Check if too many stations are connected in the same AP.
Check radio signal strength
→ 2.4.3
Strong signal
(over -60dBm)
Possible cause：Interference from other radio devices
⚫2.2.4 Check if there is non-WLAN frame signal source
Weaker from
multiple devices
Activate the device.
Possible cause：Obstacle around the devices, or the AP
⚫2.4.3
Check if there is a sudden drop in the signal strength from
mulple devices placed nearby.
Possible cause：
Radio signal issue with the device
(damaged antenna or an obstacle)
⚫2.4.3
Check if only specic device shows a
sudden drop in the signal strength

1.2 Wi-Fi link associaon issue
If there is no issue idened but the Wi-Fi link is not established between an access point and a staon,
it may encounter a Wi-Fi authencaon issue. In this case, wireless packets capturing is the powerful
tool to idenfy a packet level issue.
The WM-100 can be used as the packet capture tool and it transfers the data to the Wave Navigator. It
can also store the captured data into an USB drive.
Secon 3 explains how to capture the wireless packet with the WM-100 and the Wave Navigator.
WM-100 standalone
WM-100
・
Wave Navigator

2. Data monitored by the WM-100 and Wave Navigator
2.1 Floor Wireless Condions
The “Floor Wireless Condions” page is a dashboard showing useful informaon indicang the status of
managed wireless devices such as Wi-Fi access points and staons.
2.1.1 Wireless anomaly – resoluon informaon
This page secon shows the history of alarms in your wireless environment. There are four warning
condions, as shown in the table below:
No.
Warning type
Contents
Wording
Measures
1
Increased
bandwidth rate
Bandwidth rate
is rising
Bandwidth rate
of %(channel) is increasing
Review your channel
settings if necessary
2
Increased error
frame rate
Error frame
rate is rising
Error frame rate
of %(channel) is increasing
Review your channel
settings if necessary
3
Increased resend
frame rate
Resend frame
rate is rising
Resend frame rate
of %(channel) is increasing
Review your channel
settings if necessary
4
Reduced signal
strength
The signal
strength of the
device is low
The signal strength
of %(machine) is low
Review the antenna
status of the device if
necessary

2.1.2 Wireless Usage
This page secon shows the registered devices’ signal strength in their operang channel measured by
the WM-100. If you nd that mulple access points placed nearby operate in the same channel, you may
want to change the operang channel of some of them.
You can choose from 2.4GHz, 5GHz W52/W53, 5GHz W56 or 5GHz W58 to display as below.

2.1.3 Wireless monitoring: Radio wave intensity
This page secon shows the heatmap of the radio signal strength from the registered devices in your
environment. The heatmap and channel informaon help check if the Wi-Fi access points are properly
installed to cover the enre oor.
You can monitor the heatmap of 2.4GHz, 5GHz W52/W53, 5GHz W56 or 5GHz W58 radio band.

2.2 Wireless Monitoring
The recent wireless status can be checked on the “Wireless monitoring” page. There are two ways to get
to this page.
1. “Wireless monitoring” link on the top of the “Floor wireless condions” page
2. “Floor List” > “Wireless monitoring” of your oor to check
2.2.1 Floor informaon
The “Floor informaon” tab provides the device list and its locaon on your oor. You can review your
seng to see if all devices are correctly registered. If other devices need to be added, you can go to the
device registraon page by clicking “Seng edit” on the top of the page.
When the mouse cursor points to a specic device on the oor map, the icon blinks if the Wi-Fi
communicaon is acve. It does not blink if there is no Wi-Fi trac with the device.

2.2.2 Survey
The “Survey” tab shows the bandwidth ulizaon and the wireless data frame status (normal frame rate,
error frame rate, and resend frame rate) of the channels being monitored by a selected WM-100.
Once “Survey Informaon” of a WM-100 is clicked, a chart and a graph are shown. These show
informaon on the selected radio band.

The “Detail” buon guides you to more detailed survey informaon. The “Bandwidth informaon” tab
shows the bandwidth rate, the number of devices, and the frame status (rate and count). The bandwidth
informaon guides to adjust the radio channel usage to improve the Wi-Fi communicaon quality.
The “Device informaon” tab shows the access points operang in each frequency. It shows the signal
strength detected by the WM-100 and the number of staon devices. This informaon helps recognize
any unintenonal access points that may cause the unintenonal radio emission causing the
interference.

2.2.3 Radio wave intensity
The “Radio wave intensity” tab shows the heatmap of the radio signal strength from the registered
devices in your environment. The heatmap and channel informaon help check if the Wi-Fi access points
are properly installed to cover the enre oor.
You can monitor the heatmap of 2.4GHz, 5GHz W52/W53, 5GHz W56 or 5GHz W58 radio band.
2.2.4 Spectrum informaon
The “Spectrum informaon” tab shows the radio signal intensity in the selected radio band. Please
ensure the WM-100’s seng to collect spectrum informaon in a specic band. The WM-100 is
congured to collect a 2.4GHz spectrum by default, as shown in the picture below.

Aer you click the “Spectrum analysis”, the spectrum informaon appears. You will know which channel
emits the strong signal around the selected WM-100 and how oen such a signal is detected.
“Wireless LAN frame removal” buon is to remove the radio spectrum related to the Wi-Fi
communicaons. It indicates a radio emission source near the WM-100 that can act as the noise to cause
interference.

The “Details” buon guides you to the page below. It shows the addional informaon of the radio
signal level in the frequency band over me. (In the case of this picture, past 10 minutes data is shown.)
If a noise source emits an unintenonal signal in the frequency band, such a signal can be captured and
displayed in this chart.
The “Frame removal” tab shows the same chart without the radio signal related to the WLAN frame,
non-Wi-Fi radio signal. You will know if there is a noise source that can aect the WLAN quality.

2.3 Measurement data analysis
The site survey result, registered during the setup (Refer to secon 6.3 in “How_to_install_wm-
100_wavenavigator”), is shown in the “Measurement data analysis” page. There are two ways to get to
this page.
1. “Measurement data analysis” link on the top of the “Floor wireless condions” page
2. “Floor List” > “Measurement data analysis” of your oor to check
The analysis data consists of the data set described in secons 2.2.2, 2.2.3, and 2.2.4.

2.4 Report
The Wave Navigator generates a couple of me charts showing your oor's wireless environment status.
The reports can be accessed from “Report > Floor List > Display” as below.
2.4.1 Warning history
The “Warning history” tab shows the warnings triggered during the period set through “Select date and
me.” A specic channel can be selected from the pull-down menu. The informaon provides some
ideas, such as which channels see more potenal issues, what issues will happen more likely etc.

2.4.2 Bandwidth informaon
The “Bandwidth informaon” tab shows the me chart of following data:
1. Bandwidth ulizaon
2. Error frame rate
3. Retry frame rate
A specic channel can be selected from the pull-down menu. The informaon helps check how the Wi-Fi
environment on the oor changes over me. It can help troubleshoot occasional errors, adjust a WLAN
environment such as installing addional access points for load balancing, channel adjustment, etc.
2.4.3 Radio wave intensity
The “Radio wave intensity” tab shows the me chart of the signal strength of registered devices. The
informaon helps check some unintenonal situaons, such as downme of the registered access points
or staons, decrease in the radio signal strength caused by a newly installed obstacle around the access
point, move of a staon device, etc.

2.5 Record
The list of recorded data can be found in two ways:
1. “Data Display” > “Survey Device List” > “Details”

2. “Data Display” > “Wiireless Data List”
Once the data is found, click “Display”. The survey informaon will appear.
wireless LAN survey data spectrum data