New service by Eltex: AirTune

AirTune is a software module that operates within the wireless network controller. Functionality has become one of the key areas of development of the new SoftWLC Wi-Fi controller version 1.17, which is already available for testing and updating.

It's no secret that almost any mass event (sports competitions, conferences, concerts, etc.) must have Wi-Fi network. Often, with a large concentration of users, there is a degradation of service due to the «noise» of the radio airwaves and large interference. This problem can be solved by radio planning: load balancing among access points, frequency channel allocation, configuration of Wi-Fi access points output power. Since the radio environment changes regularly for different reasons (user movement, emergence of «competitive» access points and routers, etc.), regular monitoring of the wireless network and reconfiguration of parameters are required. The AirTune service has been developed specially for the automation of these processes.

During the operation the access points collect information about the state of the radio environment at a particular time by command from the service (using Action, Probe Request, Probe Response service packages). Based on the analysis of the collected information, AirTune optimizes the parameters for each access point, which ensures uniform coverage and reduces interference.

Used optimization algorithms: 

• Dynamic Channel Assignment (DCA) is an algorithm for automatic distribution of frequency channels of each access point in the network to exclude interference among them. 
• Transmit Power Control (TPC) is a transmitter power management algorithm to ensure optimal network coverage and minimize «conflict» areas where the client is in a zone of reliable reception of several neighboring access points.
•  Load Balancing is an algorithm for automatic distribution of client devices among access points. In case of overload, the service defines an optimal access point to connect the client and offers to connect to it. 

SoftWLC Wi-Fi network controller allows you to view the current distribution of network access points by frequency channels using histograms, as well as stores the history of all changes for the last 3 months in reports on the AirTune service by TPC and DCA algorithms. This data helps to analyze when the next optimization was performed and what parameters were optimized for each access point.