Chanalyzer Pro Training
Chanalyzer Pro has three main panes: Navigation, Overview, and Details.
Navigation Pane
The Navigation pane contains controls for browsing a Wi-Spy recording.
Recording Navigator
A recording (or session) in Chanalyzer Pro can contain multiple captures changes in the Wi-Spy or hardware configurations. The user can alternate between the 2.4GHz band and 5GHz band without creating additional and unecessary files. (The user can also narrow in on a channel for detailed troubleshooting and have it be part of the recording playback.) The recording will also contain all narrow band troubleshooting done during the session.
Timespan Controls
The Timespan controls in the navigation pane allow the user to adjust the length of time they are viewing in the Overview and Details panes. Changing the time frame allows the user to narrow in on anomalies and moments in time when the WLAN performed poorly.
Playback Waterfall
The Playback waterfall displays ALL data in the Wi-Spy session with visual indicators to show the section of time being displayed in the Overview and Details section. The playback buttons are used to play, pause, jump back, and fast forward… to jump to an arbitrary position in the session the user can double-click anywhere in the waterfall to move the playhead to that point in time.
Overview Pane
The overview pane contains the Waterfall and Density views and provides an overview of the current time span.
Waterfall
The Waterfall View graphs amplitude over time for each frequency in the band. The colors represent power levels in the spectrum with dark blue as low; bright red as higher amplitude levels—much like a doppler radar weather map. This view indicates the instances where wireless devices like cordless phones or microwaves may have changed the spectrum. This is an enhanced version of the highlighted green section in the waterfall navigation pane.
Density
This views gives the traditional real-time spectrum view with a density map of the most used points in th. The current, average, and max are 1 pixel lines drawn to show the current amplitude of all signals, the average amplitude for all signals in the timespan and the max. These can be toggled on and off by clicking the buttons above.
The Density View maps and displays how often a frequency/amplitude point is being used. The less trafficked frequency ranges will appear more transparent. The colors represent amplitude height with reds indicating higher signals and darker blues lower power levels. An important feature of this view is that it picks up device-specific signatures which enables analysis of what types of electronics are emitting RF energy in the area.
Details Pane
The details pane contains a number of tabs with more in-depth information about Wi-Fi networks and their channels. You can quickly alternate between tabs by pressing CTRL + TAB.
Networks Graph
The Networks Graph represents the Wi-Fi signal strength over time using data collected from the computer’s Wi-Fi card. The signal strength represents the amplitude levels of transmit beacons received by the card. Drops in signal strength indicate poor signal coverage, and can be referenced against the spectrum data views (Waterfall and Density) to determine if interference is at fault.
Networks Table
The Networks Table is a list of the Wi-Fi access points that are within range of the computer’s wireless card. The names (or SSIDs) of the APs are given along with signal strength (RSSI), channel, Mac address and other identifiers. This table is used good for getting a snapshot of what Wi-Fi networks are in the area as well as correlating RF activity as shown in the spectrum views to known Wi-Fi networks.
Device Finder
The Device finder is a signal strength over time graph similar to the Networks Graph, but it shows the signal strength of the selected frequency range. Specify the frequency range by using the mouse button to highlight a MHz range in the Density View. that has been chosen in the Density view (click and drag in density view to see this).
Channels Table
The Channels Table grades each Wi-Fi channel based on the RF activity within its given frequencies and time range selected in the navigation pane. This table is primarily used in pre-deployment of new wireless devices because it considers all RF noise occurring within Wi-Fi channels whether it is Wi-Fi or non-Wi-Fi.
The Channel Grade is a weight for each freq/amp point based on how close it is to the center of the channel and its amplitude.
The duty cycle is a relative score to help determine if a channel is usable or not. It measures how much RF activity is occurring in the channel within the channels frequencies and the specified time range in the navigation pane and is weighted so that signals near the center of the channel have a greater effect on the duty cycle score.
The average is a measurement of the average power within the channel frequency range. The max value is the highest amplitude point captured within the Wi-Fi channel frequency range.
Time Frame
Chanalyzer Pro displays data based on a range of time that you specify in the navigation pane. The density view is very dependent on time length because it calculates how often each point is being populated within the specified time range. Otherwise intermittent sources would slowly fade into averages and you will never know how bad it was when it occurred.
Waterfall Navigation
The area in the waterfall highlighted in green represents what you are seeing in the overview pane. The Playback waterfall displays ALL data in the Wi-Spy session with visual indicators to show the section of time being displayed in the Overview and Details section.
Changing the Time Span
You can adjust the length of time using the time span controls, which increase or decrease the length of time you are viewing. You can also click the time frame handle to manually adjust the viewing length. The playback buttons are used to play, pause, jump back, and fast forward.
Density Preview
Hover over any grayed out area to see a small density preview. To jump to an arbitrary position in the session the user can double-click anywhere in the waterfall to move the playhead to that point in time, the overview pane will quickly adjust to the new time frame. This is useful to “zoom” into anomalies and moments in time when the WLAN performed poorly.
Density View
We’ve combined the Topographic and Planar views of Chanalyzer 3 into a single view.
The Topographic or Density View shows how often each frequency/amplitude point is measured within a specified time range. Devices that transmit more frequently will appear brighter. The density view helps track the patterns different wireless devices make in the spectrum which help to identify potential sources of interference in the spectrum.
The changes in color represent the changes in amplitude – blue being low and red being high power levels. These colors match the same data displayed in the waterfall view.
The current, average, and max are 1 pixel lines drawn to show the current amplitude of all signals, the average amplitude for all signals in the time span and the max. These can be toggled on and off by clicking the checkboxes above.
Check or uncheck to toggle on/off the following view options.
Current
This button displays the most current RF activity within the timeframe of the Navigation Pane.
Average
The Average reflects the average power on the frequency. By translating each reading to power and taking an average of it Chanalyzer can provide a more accurate measurement on each frequency.
Max
The maximum power received for each frequency in the given time frame.
Networks
This will draw the SSIDs that have been selected in the Networks table.
Transmitters
This will show the automatic device identification.
Waterfall View
The Waterfall View graphs amplitude over time for each frequency in the band. The colors represent power levels in the spectrum with dark blue as low and bright red as higher amplitude levels—much like a doppler radar weather map. This view will best indicates the instances where wireless devices like cordless phones or microwaves may have changed the spectrum. This is an enhanced version of the highlighted green section in the waterfall navigation pane. These colors will be be equally represented in the density view.
This view is great for identifying devices that may jump channels sporadically such as a cordless phone. you can also watch the colors
Recordings
Chanalyzer Pro automatically stores all Wi-Spy and Wi-Fi data from the moment it was initialized.
Chanalyzer Pro uses a new file format (.wsx) and will not be able to open older Wi-Spy recordings with a “.wsr” extension.
To save a recording click “file” in the top left and then click save.
Recording Navigation
A recording can have multiple captures. Any hardware configurations will be saved as a capture within the recording. To view a specific capture within a recording, open the file and then select the capture in the drop down above the navigation pane.
Recording Playback functions similar to a media player. The time range is displayed vertically, and the timespan determines what displays in the overview pane.
Reports
To enable Report builder click “View” in the main menu and then “Report Builder” You can also toggle the report builder sidebar by pressing CTRL+R.
The report builder is fully customizable. It allows the user to create snapshots of any section of the capture and put it in the report. By using the waterfall graph in the navigation frame, quickly jump to the point where the microwave turned on and add a density view snapshot to show the customer how bad the interference was at the time it initiated. Also add a network strength graph to show the loss of Wi-Fi signal when the microwave turned on.
One of the key features of Chanalyzer Pro Report builder is the ability to add multiple blocks of any view. Add a block for each room in the house, or simply choose to highlight the problem areas you noticed.
You can change the text of any block, and add empty text blocks of your own. Chanalyzer will export the report in an html or pdf file.
Report Options
To add the title, site info, and prepared by click the pencil on the Report Header block.
This is where you will designate the location where Chanalyzer Pro should export the Channel Reports.
Each block added to the report has several options. You can enable them by clicking the little arrow in top right of each block in the Report Builder frame.
Grab the current timeframe
By clicking this button it will update the block to the current view in the overview pain.
Edit Report Block Options
This allows you to change the default values of the block. You can modify the text and adjust the image size exported as well. Click the pencil in the block. Then click the disk icon to save your changes as the new default.
Move up/down
Grab the block and drag it to the location you prefer.
Customizing the Report Template
Modify the file below:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MetaGeek\Chanalyzer Pro Beta\Report\Style.css
Once you have made the changes, Chanalyzer Pro will automatically use the style.css file to generate all reports.
Device Finder
Track down unknown transmitters by using the Device Finder. In the density view click and highlight the area you would like to monitor. You can either choose “zoom” or “device finder”
When you choose “Device Finder” the range you selected will remain highlighted. The device finder graphs a rolling average of the frequency range for the past 10 sweeps
Network Graph
To use the network graph, make sure a WZC compatible wireless card is installed in the computer running Chanalyzer Pro.
This display option graphs the RSSI over time of WLAN SSIDs in the specified frequency range. Choose the SSIDs you would like to monitor in the Network Table.
Tip: Watch the signal strength graph for any points in time where the signal dropped. Look at the spectrum to see what the RF activity looked like for that point in time as this can often indicate Wi-Fi interference.
Network Table
The Network Table requires a WZC compatible wireless card.
The displays allows you to sort the table by whatever column you wish. It will help you monitor the access points you care about.
SSID
Service Set Identifier. Wi-Fi radios generally use a SSID to distinguish themselves among other Wi-Fi transmitters.
RSSI
Received Signal Strength Indicator. How signals are measured by the wireless NIC. Traditionally the wireless NIC assigns the RSSI an integer value to be converted to dBm.
MAC Address
Media Access Control address is a unique identifier for a network device.
Privacy
The type of security/encryption the Wi-Fi transmitter is using.
Time
This is the most recent time the access point was seen by your wireless NIC.
Vendor
Access points are assigned a vendor based on the MAC address used.
Channels Table
The Channels Table grades each Wi-Fi channel based on the RF activity within its given time span. This table is primarily used in pre-deployment of new wireless devices because it considers all RF noise occurring within Wi-Fi channels whether it is Wi-Fi or non-Wi-Fi.
The Sparklines represent the overall activity for the channel frequency range and gives a limited rolling history of the amplitude levels.
Channel Grade
The Channel Grade is a weight for each freq/amp point based on how close it is to the center of the channel and its amplitude.
Duty Cycle
The duty cycle is a relative score to help determine if a channel is usable or not. It measures how much RF activity is occurring in the channel within the channels frequencies and the specified time range in the navigation pane and is weighted so that signals near the center of the channel have a greater effect on the duty cycle score.
Average
For each channel range (for example, Wi-Fi Channel 1, 2401-2423MHz), Chanalyzer calculates the average power within that channel frequency range.
Max
This value is the highest amplitude point within the Wi-Fi channel frequency range.