Troubleshooting Interfloor Attenuation in a Hospital | CCIE Wireless Exam

Best Solution for Hospital Location Tracking Problem

Question

A hospital has four Cisco WLCs, a WCS, and an MSE.

All devices are correctly synchronized via the WCS.

You have been called to inspect a location tracking problem.

In some areas, tracked elements are being reported on wrong floors.

After troubleshooting, you find out that the hospital building does not provide enough interfloor attenuation.

What is the best way to solve the problem?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

C.

The problem being faced is that tracked elements are being reported on the wrong floors in some areas of the hospital. After troubleshooting, it is determined that this is due to the lack of interfloor attenuation in the building. Interfloor attenuation refers to the ability of a building to block or attenuate wireless signals between floors. In other words, the wireless signals from one floor are leaking through to other floors, causing the location of tracked elements to be reported incorrectly.

Out of the given options, option A, which suggests assigning a separate WLC to each floor, is not the best solution. While this may work in theory, it is not a practical solution for several reasons. Firstly, it would require additional WLCs, which would increase the cost and complexity of the network. Secondly, it would not necessarily solve the problem, as signals from one floor could still propagate to other floors. Finally, it would make it more difficult to manage and troubleshoot the network, as each WLC would need to be configured and monitored separately.

Option B, which suggests limiting the number of APs on each floor to 10, is also not a good solution. While this may reduce the propagation of signals between floors, it would severely limit the coverage and capacity of the network. This would likely result in poor user experience and could lead to other problems, such as congestion and interference.

Option C, which suggests vertically aligning the APs across floors, is a better solution. This would help to minimize the propagation of signals between floors and improve the accuracy of location tracking. However, it may not be practical in all cases, as it would require the installation of additional APs on each floor and careful alignment to ensure that signals do not leak through to other floors.

Option D, which suggests turning on Cisco Compatible Extensions location measurements on the WLC, is also a good solution. This feature uses information from the wireless network to enhance the accuracy of location tracking. It can help to compensate for the lack of interfloor attenuation and provide more accurate location information. However, it may require additional configuration and tuning to ensure that it is working correctly.

In summary, the best solution to the problem of incorrect location tracking due to the lack of interfloor attenuation in the hospital building would be to either vertically align the APs across floors or turn on Cisco Compatible Extensions location measurements on the WLC. These solutions would help to minimize the propagation of signals between floors and improve the accuracy of location tracking without requiring significant changes to the network architecture.