Air Monitor is a useful wireless monitoring feature which is supported in MAX router Firmware 8.1.1 and AP Firmware 3.6.2 and above.
Requirement:
- Device(s) must support the Wi-Fi function.
- Device(s) must be able to access InControl2.
*When enabled, any Wi-Fi AP or Wi-Fi WAN on the device(s) will not operate.
The steps to enable Air Monitor are shown below:
- InControl2 Group Level → Device Management → Action → Enable Air Monitor Mode.
- Let it sit for 10~20 minutes to collect information.
After the data collection period then we can go to InControl2 Device level → Reports → AirProbe Reports - AirMonitor to see the result as below:
In image A, we can select the time (to the minute) and the Wi-Fi frequencies (2.4GHz or 5GHz).
Image B displays the available options for exporting charts.
Image C is a heatmap that displays Wi-Fi utilization.
Image D is a bar chart that displays Wi-Fi utilization.
Additional information, traffic types, and rates about the specific channel is available upon clicking the Channel in the bar chart.
Besides the traffic, we can also see the “Nodes”(devices) in the air too.
Some terms and explanations.
“AP” refers to access points that are providing a wireless network signal.
“Ad hoc” refers to wireless ad hoc networks. These are usually specially designed point-to-point wireless networks.
“Station” refers to Wi-Fi clients who want to access the wireless network.
“Station Probe” refers to Wi-Fi clients trying to find nearby available wireless networks.
“Unknown” refers to any source that is unable to be identified.
Peplink Air Monitor can also detect and evaluate the strength of other SSIDs. Additionally, the Channel and Channel Width functions from Peplink Air Monitor can help you find the best spots to deploy an AP.
