J. Basic. Appl. Sci. Res., 3(12)289-298, 2013 © 2013, TextRoad Publication ISSN 2090-4304 Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research www.textroad.com Corresponding Author: Zairi Ismael Rizman, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UiTM Terengganu Malaysia, E-mail: zairi576@tganu.uitm.edu.my Analyzing and Optimizing WiFi Access Point Performance Fadhli Dzul Hilmi Mohd Fauzi 1 , Zairi Ismael Rizman 1 , Mohamad Taib Miskon 1 , Norizan Mohamad 2 , Nur Hafizah Rabi'ah Husin 3 1 Faculty of Electrical Engineering 2 Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences 3 Academy of Language Studies Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Terengganu, 23000 Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia Received: October 20 2013 Accepted: November 22 2013 ABSTRACT A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is a type of Local Area Network (LAN) that uses high frequency radio waves to communicate and transmit data. A reliable WLAN network will satisfy clients' needs and offer the best performance especially in data sharing within the network, where Access Points (AP) is used in the area. Even with the usage of APs, the propagation inside the building will suffer from interference and overlap channel. Hence, it is necessary to identify the quality of the wireless connection and how to improve the communication performance through WLAN by positioning the AP. Therefore, the performance of WiFi AP is optimized. It also analyses the study case of APs network problems and its performance. The scope of work area of the research is within the building, namely Intelek (which means Intellect) of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Terengganu. KEYWORDS: SSID, IEEE 802.11, AP, WLAN, MAC. INTRODUCTION As large scale wireless networks continue to proliferate, a reliable procedure to test the coverage and communication requirements becomes increasingly important. The drastic escalation usage of wireless devices has resulted high density Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that induces many problems into the network. A reliable network has to satisfy the needs of the clients and produce the best performance especially in data transfer within the network, thus access point (AP) is applied. The APs act as a transmitter and receiver in the network to provide a connection for the users to access the Internet. The geometric configuration of Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) APs provides knowledge on the nature of networks such as density, connectivity and interference characteristics. It is then be used for the management of WiFi networks. Regularly, managing and monitoring the APs can assist the network administrator to increase the performance and efficiency in each network. The development of network topologies is based on number of users, AP's name, location, signal and so forth. Before the deployments of the AP, there are some factors need to be considered. APs Wireless Management By introducing the AP in the area, a WLAN is built. The rapid development of WLAN networks based on IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g standards increases the challenges in the network management such as data quality maintenance, signal strength, network data collection and the performance of the WLAN. The WLAN managements need to provide configuration management, performance management (mainly influenced by signal strength and quality), accounting management, real-time monitoring, fault management and security management. APs Observation in Area To detect the AP in the area, a device needs to be used to survey the wireless connection. There are numerous methods to observe the AP in the area. One of the methods is by using Netstumbler [1]. The Netstumbler is an application that allows the user to monitor the Media Access Control (MAC) address, Service Set Identification (SSID), AP channel used and so forth. The application also can verify each AP bandwidth and identify which AP has the strongest bandwidth in the area. This can be used to obtain the locations of the APs. It is not easy to determine the APs to connect to the internet. Based on research in [2], it proposes a system namely Neighbor WiFi Access Point Advertisement System. The system continuously detects and collects information nearby the WiFi APs within its radio detection range. The information is shared between the mobile terminals in proximity with each other, and be advertised to the clients through their personal APs. 289