THE IMPACT OF RADIO PROPAGATION ENVIRONMENT ON THE WI-FI LINK THROUGHPUT: A CASE STUDY

The effect of radio propagation environment on Wi-Fi link throughput is investigated. We consider four radio propagation environments: (1) line-of-sight (LoS) condition in the basement; (2) line-of-sight blockage (i.e., non LoS) in the crowded office block; (3) effect of floors in a multi-story office building; and (4) effect of single wall separation. Based on the above propagation environments, we conducted four simple experiments, involving Wi-Fi computer links, which were carried out at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) within the School of Computer and Information Sciences office building. We found that the line-of-sight blockage by office walls and corners has a significant effect on the WiFi link throughput in a crowded office environment. Our findings show the feasibility and practicability of deploying indoor wireless local area networks (WLANs) in a crowded office building.

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