Unique Usability
Many vendors market spectrum analyzers that require expert skill levels. Standalone analyzers from companies like Anritsu, Agilent Technologies and Avcom of Virginia don't always detect WLAN interference and have a relatively steep learning curve. More recent offerings, such as Berkeley Varitronics Systems' BumbleBee, Cognio's Spectrum Expert for WiFi and MetaGeek's Wi-Spy, use the laptop PC or Pocket PC platforms with specialized hardware adapters. The newer products are more portable and less expensive than the standalone devices, with easier user interfaces. Although Spectrum Expert has some similarities to BumbleBee and Wi-Spy, Cognio's product represents a distinct evolution in WLAN spectrum analyzers. Spectrum Expert boils down its raw view of the spectrum into clear visuals and alerts.
The 2.4-GHz interference emanating from most microwave ovens perfectly showcases the differences between the Cognio and MetaGeek products. As the screen captures show (see page 18), both products paint a similar "Swept Spectograph" picture, but Cognio's view is far more accurate, a result of the product's finer-resolution bandwidth. In addition, Spectrum Expert for WiFi will automatically analyze the microwave's signal pattern, providing detailed metrics such as power, duty cycle and even what 802.11b/g channels the interference conflicts with--a feature noticeably absent from competing products.
Although Cognio is the sole developer of Spectrum Expert, the same application is available for the same price through Cognio's OEM partnerships, under the guise of AirMagnet's Spectrum Analyzer, WildPacket's OmniSpectrum and Fluke Network's AnalyzeAir. Cognio says future OEM versions will offer integration with each company's other WLAN analysis products. Only AirMagnet has begun that process, with its Survey and distributed Enterprise product lines. Although the integration of Cognio's spectrum analysis smarts into AirMagnet's Survey adds value by letting administrators gather coverage, performance and interference measurements in a single sweep. In addition, as integration costs drop, future collaboration between infrastructure manufacturers and Cognio could lead to WLANs that can detect, classify and even locate interference sources the way rogue access points are dealt with today.
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