TABLE OF CONTENTS Daniel M. Dobkin
Indoor environments are defined by walls, floors, ceilings, and, where applicable, windows and doors. Inside these constraining structures we find incidental obstacles such as the human occupants. The structural features and interior contents determine the propagation characteristics of indoor environments. Because major features don t change rapidly within a building, it makes some sense to give thought to their effects on propagation, but after thinking is done we shall certainly need to measure. Finally, buildings are occupied by people, often users of electronic equipment that can interfere with wireless local area networks (WLANs).
In view of these observations, we pursue an understanding of the RF side of indoor networks by first examining how buildings are built and the implications for propagation at microwave frequencies. After examining some surveys of signal strength for various sorts of facilities, we consider the properties of common sources of interference and conclude with some examples of tools to assist in setting up indoor coverage networks.
We divide buildings into residential and commercial construction. Within commercial construction, we consider low-, mid-, and high-rise and very large structures.
Buildings are designed to do three things: stand up, serve the needs of their occupants, and burn slowly if at all. All other features of a building are subservient to these key requirements.
The first obligation of a building is to remain standing. This requirement is fulfilled in rather...
