Enhancing Wi-Fi Coverage Through ZigBee Mesh Network of Energy Scan Devices

In this demo we present a solution for detailed coverage assessment and failures recovery in an IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi network deployed in highly dynamical environment (e.g., where signal propagation is impacted by frequent topological changes). Monitoring of the electromagnetic energy received by an Access Point (AP) is performed by multiple battery-powered ZigBee-compliant devices dislocated in the environment. The key is a novel use of the Energy Detection Scan functionality implemented in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. ZigBee devices wirelessly send their readings to a coordinator device which is in turn connected to a workstation. The latter serves as a i) configuration spot of the ZigBee network, ii) concentrator and data processor/visualizer, and iii) actuator. Such coordinating workstation can indeed detect and switch off an AP that is deemed ineffective (due to, e.g., damages or unfavorable propagation conditions), and start up one or more pre-deployed backup APs, so that coverage is preserved and clients can seamlessly keep on performing their activities. Hence, our scheme optimizes the performance of a Wi-Fi network by means of a low-cost, independent and self-maintaining mesh network, while strongly limits human intervention.