By Harry Drewett - Head of Technical (Wireless)
Recently, I was performing some wireless surveys at a large agricultural college in the middle of the countryside. Over the past century, this site has evolved from a working farm to an educational institution so there were several buildings for which a floor plan did not exist. No floor plan usually means no survey or rather, no pretty survey report and “heatmap” visualisations (manual RF measurements are just about the only output available).
Luckily, Ekahau introduced the “Just Go' survey mode on their Ekahau connect wireless survey app last year (2024). This mode uses the built-in cameras and LiDAR scanner on compatible Apple devices (iPhone/iPad Pro models) with Apple’s RoomPlan API technology to create a floor plan on the go while you are performing a regular passive or active wireless survey and capturing the 802.11 beacons, performing RTT tests, etc., with the RF measurement tool (Ekahau Sidekick 2 in this instance).
🔄 Methodology
Armed with this knowledge, I fired up the “Just Go” mode and began my survey walk around the first of many buildings. I found it pretty easy to adapt to using this mode. The only significant difference to a regular continuous survey or stop-and-go survey is that you are required to point the device’s camera and LiDAR scanner at the walls of the area you are surveying while you move throughout it, to allow the RoomPlan API to capture these boundaries and build the floor plan.
While completing my survey walk, I could see the LiDAR scanner capturing the walls of the rooms in real time, giving me a good indication of how the floor plan would look. As each wall is scanned it is highlighted in green, letting you know to move on to the next area. After walking the boundary and capturing the walls, I was then able to proceed with my regular survey methodology and make multiple passes of the room to capture the RF and ensure the accuracy of the survey.
➡️ Output
After completing the survey, the resulting output gave me a pretty decent looking floor plan of the surveyed area. The LiDAR and RoomPlan tech picked up the boundary walls of the area really well, and any obstructions in the room such as cabinets, doors, etc. were also represented where possible.
Example of floor plan generated in Ekahau Survey App by RoomPlan & LiDAR scanner.
The Ekahau survey routes, APs detected and heatmap visualisations for RSSI, SNR, CINR, etc. are overlayed on the generated floorplan within the survey project file. The Ekahau AI Pro desktop app can then be used to complete further RF analysis of the area via the survey inspection tool, and/or complete a WLAN design using the predictive modelling tool. Thanks to the LiDAR scanner, the floor plan is also scaled accurately so there is no need to calibrate it using a measure like you would in a traditional wireless survey.
Example of survey output showing measured survey routes and detected APs.
Example of survey output showing measured received signal strength (RSSI) on 5 GHz band.
Example of survey output showing measured signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on 5 GHz band.
📶 Conclusion
The Ekahau “Just Go” survey mode enabled me to complete a wireless survey with minimal hassle at a site without any provided floor plans. In years gone by, manual measurements or an inaccurate floor plan would have been used, resulting in a time-consuming survey process and a sub-optimal WLAN survey report. As an added bonus, the generated floor plans are of a good enough quality that they could possibly be used as the basis of an official building plan by the end user!
💬 Have you ever found yourself doing a survey without a floor plan? I’d love to hear how you handled it, or if you’ve tried 'Just Go', how did it work out for you?
Let us know in the comments below 👇