Looking for recommendation for wireless coverage for elevators and stairways in Hospital

[olavarr69]

Hi Folks,

I'm currently working on a post site survey for a hospital to see what there coverage is like.  They want it to be VOIP and RTLS ready.  I'm looking for ideas or advice, especially in how to cover the elevators and stairways in each floor?  They want this covered so they can seamlessly roam between floors both while walking through stairways and or riding the elevators.  Any advice is appreciated.

I surveyed at -65db minimum for VOIP.  Also, I couldn't get into every room in the edges of the hospital because it was occupied by patients and I was not allowed to go in.  So I have every 3 or so rooms in the other edge survey.  I'm using airmagnet, so I was thinking I could overlay some predictive AP's in the tool over the passive survey to see what if???

Thanks....

[ericgarnel]

Check with the local/state regulations.  Some states prohibit the placement of APs in elevators.

You may be able to place APs in the elevator lobby with hopes of a graceful handoff between floors, but no guarantees.

Stairwells can be covered easily.  Directional antennas and/or strategic AP placement may be desirable here.

This is where social engineering comes into play.

[Leo Laohoo]

Eric, 

I'm getting annoyed at these posts from the "sales" team.  Nearly all responds to posts without understanding the situation.  

[kaaftab]

Do check 3700 APs for  deployment and see the data sheet from the link given

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/3700-series-access-point/data_sheet_c78-729421.html?cachemode=refresh

[ageralde]

Hi olavarr69, for seamless wireless connection, you will need to deploy wireless routers and access points, you may also check Cisco RTLS (http://cs.co/9009i0wH). Can you provide me more details on the hospital set up so that we can check the device that will suit your need? Feel free to message me directly for further assistance on this. Hope to hear from you!:)

Thanks,

Angela (ageralde@cisco.com)

[jmeachum]

I would recommend deploying access points on every other floor right in front of the elevators.  For example floors 2, 4, and 6.

The same can be done with the stairs.  Putting the access points in the stair wells may be against code for your area so you may have to put them at the entrances to the stairs.  Since stair wells don't move you will be able to survey the coverage after placing them to ensure they are doing the job for you.  If you can not put them in the stair wells and you are unable to provide coverage from outside the stair wells then you may need to install antennas in the stair wells with the access points on the other side of the walls.

I hope this helps.

John

[abwahid]

Hi,

Best practice is you deploy omni directional access-point in the stairways on each floor and keep the SSID same of all access-points but configure different non-overlapping channel (1 , 6, 11) for 2.4 GHz on all access-point one by one

This kind of setup will provide you seamless coverage while walking through stairways or riding the elevators.

[Leo Laohoo]

Best practice is you deploy omni directional access-point in the stairways on each floor and keep the SSID same of all access-points but configure different non-overlapping channel (1 , 6, 11) for 2.4 GHz on all access-point one by one.

This kind of setup will provide you seamless coverage while walking through stairways or riding the elevators.

I have no idea where the poster (sad to say, a Cisco staff & probably from Sales) got this hare-brain idea from but I would strongly NOT recommend this approach and is NOT a "best practice" in a corporate/enterprise network environment.  

PS:  For the record, for someone from Sales, I am appalled at your lack of knowledge of Cisco products.  

[olavarr69]

Hey Leo,

I was wondering what your thoughts and or recommendations would be for this?  I too agree that these answers are very Sales focused and it doesn't sound like it's coming for Engineering best practice and or experience.  Any ideas?  I'm thinking placements by the Stair Well doors, on every other floor perhaps?  However, for RTLS, it would be best probably on every floor by the doors, and create an RF group for the stair Wells and tune the radios down to prevent bleed through to other floors?  What are your thoughts?

Thanks...

[Leo Laohoo]

Stairwells, by construction and design, is dense with thick concrete and, in some cases, metal staircases.  

I would not recommend any APs/antennas unless a site survey is done.  802.11b is a no-no for me in a stairwell.  Everything has to be in 802.11a, period.  

Wall mounted or ceilling mounted will be determined by the site survey.  But I tend to deploy wall-mounted and APs with internal antennas.  If I have to deploy one with external antennas, the antennas I would deploy are the rubber duckies.  

[adriansoh83]

Hi olavarr69,

To answer your question in two words... it depends.  It depends on the type of VOIP devices (application bandwidth requirements) and areas of density.  Based on your pre-survey planning, you will require 'so much' bandwidth per device, roam times and this should derive the number of channels you require in your RF channel usage plan.... AND perhaps constrained to specific WIFI authentication approach.

NOTE:

1. Vocera badges are 2.4GHz (802.11bg) only.
2. Cisco 7925G phones are 2.4/5GHz (802.1ag).

My Cisco answer "please refer to Cisco documentation for best practise guidelines" i.e. if you're proposing Cisco 3700 access points then refer to section 'Site Survey Considerations' on this document  http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/technology/apdeploy/7-6/Cisco_Aironet_3700AP.html

With regard to elevators / stairways, please check with building manager on what you can/can't do.  To ensure roaming at x locations, it is advisable to know what type of VOIP devices to further understand roaming capabilities / RF Rx sensitivity etc... 

If all fails, ensure VOIP phones are Cisco then you can leverage CCX.

HTH,

Adrian

*Leo, I'm not Sales :-P