Channel Planning

Hamina includes an automatic channel planner, which runs whenever any adjustments are made to the predictive model, such as adding walls or moving access points.

The channel planner attempts to minimize or remove co-channel interference, using any available channels allowed in the Channel Settings window.

Opening the Channel Settings

To open the Channel & Network Settings, click the Channel Settings button in the upper right of the viewport.

In the Channel & Network Settings, there are tabs for configuring:

• Wi-Fi

• 4G/5G

• Zigbee

• EnOcean

• Ultra-Wideband

After making configuration changes, click the Save button at the bottom to save the changes. Clicking Cancel or the X (close) button in the upper right will discard all changes.

Wi-Fi

In the Wi-Fi tab are these options:

• Simulated AP auto-channel assignment - Automatically assigns channels to access point radios whenever the predictive model in the Simulation view changes. To lock the channel plan, disable this setting.

• Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC) - In the Simulation view, enables querying the Wi-Fi Alliance AFC database to determine the max transmit power for each channel. For details, see Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC).

• Surveyed AP auto-channel assignment - Automatically assigns channels to access point radios in the Survey view. For details, see Surveyed AP Channel Assignment.

Below the options is a table of allowed channels and band-specific settings for 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz.

Removing Channels

In 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz, it is possible to remove channels from the channel plan. It is very common to remove channels from the 5 GHz channel plan, due to factors such as:

• Neighboring networks already using channels

• Lack of client device support on certain channels (for example, some clients do not support channel 144)

• Lack of access point support on certain channels

• Non-Wi-Fi technologies operating in the same frequency space as some Wi-Fi channels

Remove channels from the channel plan but unchecking them, and clicking Save. Clicking the X button in the upper right of the window will discard the changes.

When mousing over a frequency band (such as UNII-2C), a Deselect all link will appear, which will remove all of the channels in the band, and switch to Select all if you need to add all of the channels from the band back.

Simulated AP Auto-Channel Assignment

Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC)

Hamina Network Planner Plus integrates with the Wi-Fi Alliance AFC database, so you can query the database during the design phase to see which channels and transmit powers you can use.

Pre-requisites

• You must have a Hamina Network Planner Plus subscription.

• The project country must be set to United States.

• The location must contain at least two valid GPS Coordinate markers, located in the United States.

• In the Channel & Network Settings, the Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC) setting must be enabled.

• An SP (Standard Power) access point must be placed on the map.

Setting up Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC)

1. Set the project country to United States.

2. Using Google Maps, find a precise landmark or location on the map that you can use as a reference point.

3. Right-click the precise landmark or location, and click on the latitude and longitude in the menu tor copy it to your clipboard.

4. In Hamina Network Planner Plus, select the Coordinates tool (which is grouped together with the Scale tool) in the toolbar.

5. Precisely place the Coordinate marker in Hamina in the same location as the reference point on the map.

6. With either Ctrl + V or Command + V, paste the coordinates from Google Maps into the Coordinate marker.

7. Repeat the process a second time in another location on the map.

8. Place a standard power access point on the map.

9. The AFC button will appear new the view controls in the upper right.

Surveyed AP Channel Assignment

Hamina Network Planner can run an automatic channel plan on a surveyed network. This can be used to evaluate the performance of your wireless vendor's radio resource management system, or to generate a channel plan for wireless systems that don't support automatic channel planning.

Enabling Surveyed AP auto-channel assignment is a reversible, non-destructive change. You'll still be able to see what channels surveyed access point radios were using at the time of the survey, and you can revert by disabling Surveyed AP auto-channel assignment at any time.

1

Evaluate Interference

1. Click the Expand button in the Legend, and enable the Interference heatmap.

   

2. Select your SSID (or SSIDs, if you have multiple) in the SSID list.

3. Optionally, visit the Global settings and choose between My network and All networks:

   1. My network - Shows interference between your access points, ignoring everything else. This is useful to see how optimized your network is internally.

   2. All networks - Shows interference between your access points, and access points that belong to neighboring networks. This is useful to see how much interference your access points will receive in total. Note: The choice between My network and All networks has no effect on the automatic channel plan.

2

Enabled Surveyed AP Channel Assignment

1. Click on the Channel & Network Settings button in the top right.

   

2. Enable Surveyed AP auto-channel assignment.

   

3. Click the Save button at the bottom of the Channel & Network Settings window.

4. View the results in the Interference heatmap.

3

View AP Radio Details

1. Activate the Edit tool, and select an access point.

2. In the Edit Access Point pane, you can see what channel the AP had during the survey, and what channel was assigned by the channel planner.

   

4

Export the Channel Plan

If your Wi-Fi infrastructure does not support automatic channel planning, it's possible to export the channel plan as a .CSV for processing and implementation in your infrastructure.

1. Click the Reporting menu in the upper right, and select Create a new report.

2. Under Type, select Survey. Name the report and click the Create button.

3. In the Report Editor, select the AP List page.

4. Click the Copy to Clipboard button.

   

5. Paste the clipboard into a text editor or spreadsheet application.

6. The original channels will be in parenthesis, and the new channels will not. From here, you can save the file as a .CSV, and take it to a Large Language Model (LLM) such as Claude or ChatGPT, and get assistance in translating the .CSV format into something that your Wi-Fi infrastructure can import as a channel plan.