Mapping a Wi-Fi Network? 31
NivekEnterprises asks: "At my school where I am an Electrical Engineering major A Wi-Fi network has been set up, and is running in several buildings. Since the coverage extends outside several of my friends and I are trying to map the signal strength. Basically we are going to take a map of campus and walk around with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop, marking as best we can. Is there an easier way to do this? Has anyone else done something similar and is willing to share some their insights?"
Post the location and the SSID (Score:4, Funny)
Forget the map (Score:5, Funny)
Forget the map. What you need to do is find a way to get an analog signal strength reading (either with a device designed for the job, or hacking something on a laptop to (say) pipe a running digital signal strength value out the dsp to the earphone jack) and run it into an op-amp setup that will 1) give you decent current and 2) give you an inverted signal as well. Run these two signals to two actuators. Hook the inverted one to a can of red spray paint,and the un-inverted one to a can of blue spray pant.
Do this with the power off.
Go outside, make sure the cans are facing away from you, power up, and walk around.
From then on, the parts of campus with a blue tinge will be the ones with good signal, and the red areas will be the ones to avoid. Easy rule to learn, and no maps to deal with.
-- MarkusQ
P.S. You may need to go over some parts of campus (esp. plants, artwork, etc. that may be strongly coloured) with a coat of gray primer first. I suggest you just play around with it till you get something usable.