Mobile Unified Communications Featured Article

iBwave, an in-building wireless software company, has unveiled a new affordable mobile app that makes it easy for users to capture building information and basic network information essential for indoor radio planning.

According to the company, the new app is designed to turn a smartphone into a tool for collecting building information during site surveys. The iBwave mobile is a flexible and affordable smartphone application, complimentary to iBwave Design and iBwave Field software that's easy to install, easy to use and makes sharing information a snap, for designing better in-building wireless networks.

Every building has a picture of the floor plan deployed next to the elevator and professionals who carry on site survey can take a picture of this plan with their smartphone itself or use the camera to take pictures of corridors, equipment rooms - essentially any part of the building interior, and associate them to specific locations on the floor plan.

The app will allow users to draw directly on these pictures to denote placement of equipments or add voice notes about building information from third parties, such as building restrictions described by building owners and electricians using the recording feature of the mobile. Users can also use push pins to add notes that contain text, pictures, audio and even video, organized chronologically to track annotation history. Push pins and associated notes have a specific geo-location on the floor plan.

RF professionals need not travel to a site to gather information because with iBwave mobile anyone who is capable of utilizing a mobile app can do it.

RF engineers can simply transfer the data collected on the mobile to their systems and from there they can replay the route covered on the floor plan to see network information, understand the existing coverage, and determine how the wireless network could be upgraded.

"iBwave mobile is so simple to use that anyone equipped with the application can collect building information, resulting in practical and cost-saving benefits," said Mario Bouchard, president and CEO of iBwave. "For instance, an engineer in Boston can virtually visualize the building space from a file sent by a field technician located in L.A., without having to travel to the location, saving time and travel costs. Wireless operators can also save costs off their response time to customer network complaints since network information can be easily provided by their sales representative on the road."