A project to visualize WiFi signal strength throughout a building using Python data visualization tools.
This project maps WiFi signal strength (measured in dBm) across a building floorplan to identify areas with strong and weak connectivity. The visualization helps identify signal dead zones and optimal router placement. I was curious about how moving my computer setup away or towards the router could impact my speeds. Instead of the easy route of just moving to a couple spots throughout the house to get a couple data points, I went a little overkill and mapped the whole floor by taking measurements at every 3'x3' plot.
The building layout was manually encoded as a 2D matrix with specific numeric values representing:
- Open spaces (996)
- Doors (997)
- Interior walls (998)
- Exterior walls (999)
- Outside areas (1000)
- Stairs (1002)
Signal strength was measured in dBm (decibel-milliwatts) at various points throughout the building:
- Lower negative values (e.g., -40 dBm) indicate stronger signals
- Higher negative values (e.g., -80 dBm) indicate weaker signals
- Data points were collected manually using a WiFi analyzer app - this took forever and I never want to do it again but I was curious
- Created a base floorplan matrix to represent the building structure
- Populated signal strength data in corresponding locations
- Applied a diverging color map (red-yellow-green) where:
- Green areas indicate stronger signal
- Red areas indicate weaker signal
- Overlaid structural elements (walls, doors, stairs) on the heatmap
- Added annotations showing exact dBm readings at each measurement point
- Signal strength patterns throughout the building
- How building features like walls impact signal propagation