A LoRaWAN deployment fails most often not because of the sensors \u2014 but because the gateway placement was guessed rather than measured. Signal mapping gives you real RSSI and SNR values at every point in a building before a single sensor is permanently installed, eliminating the risk of dead zones and post-installation rework.<\/p>\n
Signal mapping (also called a site survey or coverage walk) is the process of moving a LoRaWAN field tester through the space you intend to deploy sensors in, recording signal quality at each position. Sensor-Online plots those measurements on a floor plan or map, giving you a visual coverage picture.<\/p>\n
The key metrics collected during a signal mapping walk are:<\/p>\n
The process is straightforward and requires only a LoRaWAN field tester (such as the Glamos Walker or equivalent) and access to Sensor-Online:<\/p>\n
Signal attenuation varies significantly depending on what the radio waves have to pass through. Understanding this helps you predict coverage before the walk:<\/p>\n
Sensor-Online supports overlaying signal measurement data on floor plans and outdoor maps. You can import a building drawing as a background image on the map widget and plot RSSI values as a colour-coded heatmap. This makes it immediately clear to facility managers and installers where coverage is strong (green), marginal (yellow) or insufficient (red).<\/p>\n
The same visualisation can be exported as a PDF or screenshot for project documentation, handover reports or as evidence for a customer that the deployment is correctly engineered.<\/p>\n
Signal conditions in buildings change over time. A signal map done before installation may need updating after:<\/p>\n
For large deployments, an annual coverage audit using Sensor-Online\u2019s historical signal data is an efficient way to catch degradation before it causes missed readings.<\/p>\n
For a typical Swedish apartment building of 1,000\u20133,000 m\u00b2, expect one to three hours for a thorough walk including all floors. A large industrial site may take a full day.<\/p>\n
You can use any LoRaWAN device and read RSSI\/SNR from Sensor-Online, but a dedicated field tester with GPS logging gives much more accurate location-correlated data and speeds up the process significantly.<\/p>\n
For sensors that transmit every 10\u201315 minutes with typical payloads, RSSI values of \u2212100 dBm or better at SF9 or below give a reliable link margin for production use. Values between \u2212100 and \u2212115 dBm are marginal and should be treated as coverage boundary zones.<\/p>\n
Yes. You can upload separate floor plan images for each level and plot signal measurements per floor. This gives you a complete picture of gateway coverage vertically through a multi-storey building.<\/p>\n
Want to plan a LoRaWAN deployment correctly from day one?<\/strong> Explore Sensor-Online\u2019s platform<\/a> or read more in the knowledge base<\/a>.<\/p>\n