Wi-Fi AP Planner.
Indicative count from area-and-density arithmetic — this is not an RF survey and does not replace one. A predictive heatmap (Ekahau / Hamina) on the architectural drawing, then a Day-2 validation walk, govern the final AP schedule.
· Coverage preview · hex-packed cell layout
3 APs / floor
3 APs across 1 floor — coverage-governed — Indicative count from area-and-density arithmetic — this is not an RF survey and does not replace one. A predictive heatmap (Ekahau / Hamina) on the architectural drawing, then a Day-2 validation walk, govern the final AP schedule. Coverage and density are both computed and the higher governs; here it is coverage. Effective per-AP radius lands at 10.9 m after mixed (drywall + brick) attenuation.
Air plan · Wi-Fi 6E (6 GHz)
3 APs across 1 floor — coverage-governed
Indicative count from area-and-density arithmetic — this is not an RF survey and does not replace one. A predictive heatmap (Ekahau / Hamina) on the architectural drawing, then a Day-2 validation walk, govern the final AP schedule. Coverage and density are both computed and the higher governs; here it is coverage. Effective per-AP radius lands at 10.9 m after mixed (drywall + brick) attenuation.
Indicative AP count
3
3 per floor × 1 · coverage: 800 m² ÷ 309 m² cell
Effective AP radius
10.9 m
309 m² per AP (hex-packed)
Concurrent clients
48
Derived from the medium density profile at 6 per 100 m² — not a figure you entered
PoE budget (with headroom)
98 W
IEEE 802.3at (PoE+)
- By coverage alone3 APs / floor
- By density alone1 APs / floor
- Switch ports needed4
- Channel pool6 GHz — allocation not finalised in India
Assumptions driving this recommendation↓ expand
- AP standard
- Wi-Fi 6E (6 GHz)
- Open-air radius
- 14 m
- Material derating
- × 0.78
- Ceiling derating
- n/a
- Cell-overlap model
- Hex-packed · ~2.6 r² per cell
- Client density
- 6 / 100 m²
- Client count
- 48 per floor — DERIVED from area × density
- Clients per AP
- 60 concurrent
- PoE per AP
- 25 W
- PoE headroom
- 30%
- Channel pool
- 6 GHz — allocation not finalised in India
Engineering caveats
- Comfortable: 3 APs per floor against the 6 GHz channel plan, which India has not finalised — no reuse pressure.
Operationally sensible ecosystem
Brands grouped by engineering role — not random logos.
Wi-Fi access
High-density Wi-Fi 6E / Wi-Fi 7
- HPE Aruba 530Wi-Fi 6E for enterprises
- Cisco Catalyst 9120Wi-Fi 6E with controller
Network backbone
Core switching + routing + firewall
- HPE Aruba 6100L2 managed PoE+ for mid-market
- Cisco Catalyst 1300L2 managed PoE+ alternative
- FortiGateMid-market UTM firewall
Indicative AP count — production designs follow a predictive Wi-Fi heatmap (Ekahau / Hamina) overlaid on the architectural drawing and a post-install validation survey. Material radius factors are calibrated against Cisco / Aruba propagation guides; site-specific surveys govern the final AP schedule.
A planning link that reopens this exact configuration — not a quote.
Those figures travel with you, labelled as carried and editable there. The PoE wattage shown above stays here: it already carries this tool’s 30% headroom and the PoE Budget tool adds its own, so that tool starts instead from the per-AP draw in its own device table for the family carried.
Coverage vs density — the higher governs
At 1,200 m² of auditorium behind mixed (drywall + brick) partitions, on the very high density profile — 336 concurrent clients, which is the most the density profiles derive at that area, though a measured count can be entered instead — coverage alone asks for 4 APs. Capacity asks for 9 at Wi-Fi 6, 6 at Wi-Fi 6E, 4 at Wi-Fi 7, because each generation carries more clients per radio while the coverage cell stays the same. The plan takes the larger of the two, so the standard you choose moves the AP count without moving the cell. None of those figures is a survey result: they are area-and-density arithmetic, and a predictive heatmap on the architectural drawing is what turns them into an AP schedule.
6 GHz behaves differently
Wi-Fi 6E and 7 unlock 6 GHz channels, but 6 GHz attenuates worse through brick and concrete than 5 GHz. Mixed deployments win on open plates and lose on partitioned offices.
Mount low, mount many
Auditoriums and arenas mount APs to seat-back rails or under-seat — not the ceiling — because high client counts at low elevation overwhelm ceiling APs. The radius math still applies; the mount point changes.
Hand the plan to a survey tool
Brief-stage AP counts establish the first budget, switch-port count and riser plan. The next step is always a predictive heatmap on the actual architectural drawing and a Day-2 walk-survey with a 4×4 MIMO laptop.
Check a named access point against a named switchoptional
The answer above sizes access-point COUNT from area and density. Name an access point and a switch the repository holds published figures for, and the pair is checked against those manufacturers’ own figures — including whether the access point runs in a reduced mode on the class the switch provides, and whether the link caps what it can carry.
A capability check, not a compatibility test — no manufacturer has tested these products together and published the result. No coverage radius, client capacity or throughput figure is implied by anything here.
Pricing · written estimate after review
Need a price for this scope?
Share your drawings, BOQ or project brief on WhatsApp/call +91 88110 34444 or email info@technoguru.in for a written estimate after review. Pricing depends on drawings, site conditions, system scope, brand selection, cabling stage, integration depth, commissioning, logistics, GST, approvals and support expectations — so we prepare it per project after a technical review rather than publishing standard rates.
Budget the PoE for these APsIT · Networking · Wi-Fi 6 / 6E / 7
Wi-Fi coverage is a function of standard, ceiling, walls and density. The planner walks each axis, hex-packs the coverage and names which constraint — coverage or density — produced the count.
- Standards
- 6 · 6E · 7
- Materials
- 5 profiles
- Cell model
- Hex-packed
- Final schedule
- RF survey
· Engineering advisory · Wi-Fi AP Planner
What the AP count predicts about the network.
The recommended AP count is the brief-stage budget. The deployment requires the predictive survey, the validation walk and the day-two operational discipline below.
01 · Deployment observations
Deployment observations
The observations3 notes — engineering detail behind this section
- The planner's AP count is the larger of coverage-driven and density-driven — for typical offices the two converge; for auditoriums, stadia and large classrooms density is decisively the binding constraint and the AP count climbs steeply with concurrent client volume.
- Ceiling-mounted omni antennas above 4.5 m progressively under-perform as ceiling height grows; above 8 m the design pattern shifts to directional sector antennas or strut-mounted APs, not larger omni density.
- The 6 GHz channel pool (Wi-Fi 6E / 7) is the headroom that lets dense deployments avoid channel-contention spirals at high client count — Wi-Fi 6-only deployments hit the 5 GHz channel-reuse wall earlier than the AP count suggests.
02 · Environmental considerations
Environmental considerations
Read the environmental considerations3 notes — engineering detail behind this section
- Wall and partition material is the single largest variable in real-world coverage — drywall costs ~3 dB per partition, brick 8–12 dB, reinforced concrete 15–25 dB. The planner's published mean is a baseline; the predictive survey adjusts against the actual building.
- Glass partitions, especially low-E glass, reflect and absorb 5 GHz more than the catalogue suggests — modern office fit-outs with full-height glass partitions need denser AP placement than the open-floor calculation predicts.
- Outdoor coverage zones (campus walkways, parking, perimeter) need IP-rated APs with directional antennas; indoor-rated APs in semi-outdoor mounts fail at the first monsoon.
03 · Commissioning discipline
Commissioning discipline
Read the commissioning discipline3 notes — engineering detail behind this section
- Predictive survey on the architectural drawing replaces the planner's hex-pack with placement against actual partitions, riser locations and ceiling fixtures — the predictive output is what the cable plant should be sized against.
- Day-two validation walk with a measurement device confirms the modelled performance against the actual installation; the documented walk is the test of whether the deployment meets brief.
- BSS coloring, DFS and band-steering are commissioning-stage decisions, not catalogue defaults — the channel plan is documented per floor against the AP count and the channel pool available in the deployment's market.
04 · Operational notes
Operational notes
Read the operational notes2 notes — engineering detail behind this section
- AP firmware and controller-software lifecycle is on the AMC calendar — high-density deployments are sensitive to driver-side regressions in client roaming behaviour after major releases.
- PoE+ budget at the access switch is the second-order constraint. This planner designs against 25 W for a Wi-Fi 6E AP and 32 W for Wi-Fi 7 — an expected draw at the device, not a datasheet maximum, and the same figures the PoE Budget tool uses. The switch's PoE budget at full AP count is the test of whether the cable-plant sizing is honest.
05 · Expansion readiness
Expansion readiness
Read the expansion readiness2 notes — engineering detail behind this section
- A 25% AP-count headroom against the projected client-density curve gives the deployment a 3–5 year horizon before the next densification pass; structured-cabling drops should be pulled to the same headroom so additional APs do not need new pulls.
- The 6 GHz channel pool is the expansion lever for dense deployments — Wi-Fi 6E or 7 specifications give the deployment room to add density without channel-contention spirals.
Sizing the switch side next? Carry the AP count into the PoE Budget Calculator to check the PoE class and switch power budget the plan implies.
Verification status: Conditional engineering model — assumptions stated · Independently reference-tested · reviewed 2026-08-30
· Engineering notes
How to read this tool’s output
Stage 2 (survey) or stage 3 (design). Use during network architecture to converge on AP count before predictive heatmap.
The assumptions, limits and reference architectures behind this
What an engineer should know
The assumptions behind the numbers this tool produces.
- Sizes Wi-Fi access points from floor area, ceiling height, wall material and client-density profile — hex-packed coverage with material-derated radius.
- Outputs APs per floor, total switch ports, PoE budget at the chosen IEEE class, and channel-reuse pressure across the 5 GHz / 6 GHz pool.
- Coverage and density are checked separately; the higher of the two governs the AP count.
When this tool is the right one
The project moments and room types this is built for.
- Hotel guest-floor + lobby + banquet AP sizing.
- Office-floor predictive AP count for a refresh / new build.
- Healthcare ward AP density for clinical mobility devices.
- Auditorium / banquet very-high-density planning.
What changes the answer in practice
Field conditions that move the result away from the planning figure.
- Ceiling height above 4.5 m derates effective radius by 4% per metre; above 8 m, strut-mount or sector antennas beat ceiling omni.
- Hex-packed cell layout assumes ~2.6 r² usable area per cell — accounts for overlap zones needed for handoff.
- Channel-pool pressure becomes a real concern once the AP count per floor approaches the usable channel pool — nine non-overlapping 20 MHz channels at 5 GHz under G.S.R. 1048(E), and a 6 GHz pool India has not finalised.
Defensible starting architectures
Vendor-neutral reference points, not a recommendation to buy — the right answer is the one that survives your site survey.
- Wi-Fi 6E controller-managed (Cisco Catalyst, HPE Aruba CX, Juniper Mist) for most enterprise deployments.
- Wi-Fi 7 with MLO for very-high-density (auditorium, classroom) and AV-over-IP backbone use.
- Sector antennas or strut-mount APs for ceilings above 8 m or atrium-style volumes.
Common mistakes
Failure patterns we see on real projects.
- Sizing on coverage alone — auditoriums and arenas are density-driven and routinely under-spec'd 3–5× by coverage-only sizing.
- Ignoring material attenuation — concrete walls cut the effective radius nearly in half vs glass / drywall.
- Picking Wi-Fi 6E in a brick-walled property — 6 GHz loses roughly 1-5 dB more than 5 GHz per wall, and the deltas compound across partitions.
How this lands against adjacent systems
What else has to be agreed before this output is safe to build to.
- Pairs with the PoE Budget Calculator to validate the switch-side power plan.
- Pairs with the Network Calculator for the full year-three switch and port count.
What this tool does not do
Deliberate limits — where the estimate stops and design begins.
- Brief-stage AP counts establish the first budget, switch-port count and riser plan — final design still needs Ekahau / Hamina predictive survey and a Day-2 walk-validation.
- Channel plan recommendation is reuse-pressure advice only — automatic channel selection (ACS) and DFS handle the actual assignment.
Where this tool fits
The building types this output is calibrated for — and, where we have said so, the ones it is not.
Not the tool to reach for
The standards and technologies this touches
Reference pages for the protocols, standards and systems behind this tool’s output.
· Why air planning matters
At 1,200 m² of auditorium behind mixed (drywall + brick) partitions, on the very high density profile — 336 concurrent clients, which is the most the density profiles derive at that area, though a measured count can be entered instead — coverage alone asks for 4 APs. Capacity asks for 9 at Wi-Fi 6, 6 at Wi-Fi 6E, 4 at Wi-Fi 7, because each generation carries more clients per radio while the coverage cell stays the same. The plan takes the larger of the two, so the standard you choose moves the AP count without moving the cell. None of those figures is a survey result: they are area-and-density arithmetic, and a predictive heatmap on the architectural drawing is what turns them into an AP schedule.
· Frequently asked
Wi-Fi AP Planner —
what people ask first.
What's the difference between coverage-driven and density-driven sizing?
Coverage-driven sizing asks 'how many APs to wash signal across the floor.' Density-driven sizing asks 'how many APs so no radio carries more associated clients than vendor high-density guides plan for' — an association-count heuristic in the range Cisco, Aruba and Meraki publish for high-client-density design, not an airtime or throughput model. Where the two answers cross over depends on the coverage cell, so the planner computes it rather than quoting one figure: at its shipped default (Wi-Fi 6E through mixed partitions, 3 m ceiling) density only starts to govern above about 19 clients per 100 m², and across the full standard × material grid the crossover runs from about 8 to about 71. The plan picks the larger of the two so neither breaks.
Why does material change the radius so much?
Drywall costs maybe 3 dB per partition; brick costs 8–12 dB; reinforced concrete with rebar can absorb and reflect 15–25 dB. A 5 GHz signal that propagates 14 m through open air drops to 8–9 m through brick partitions and 6–7 m through concrete. The radius-factor in the planner is the published industry mean against open air.
Should I always pick Wi-Fi 7?
Not always. Wi-Fi 7 with MLO is the right choice for very high density (auditoriums, classrooms above 30 clients), or where 4×4 streaming AV-over-IP and AR/VR clients are part of the design. Most offices still get excellent service from Wi-Fi 6E. The standard you pick should be tied to the slowest client device the network must serve well — laptops, IoT controllers, surgical theatres — not the fastest.
How is the AP count affected by ceiling height?
Above 4.5 m, omni-directional ceiling APs spread RF energy over a wider sphere — clients at floor level get a weaker signal because they're further from the AP. The planner derates the effective radius by 4% per metre above 4.5 m. Above 8 m, the correct answer is usually directional sector antennas or strut-mounted APs rather than ceiling mounts.
What about channel reuse?
In India the delicensed 5 GHz spectrum — 5150–5350 and 5470–5875 MHz, notified under G.S.R. 1048(E) of 2018 — gives nine non-overlapping 20 MHz channels that need no DFS, and about twenty-five once the DFS bands are included. DFS channels are usable but not free: the radio must vacate on a radar detection, so a plan that depends on them needs the client mix and the site's radar environment checked first. The 6 GHz band adds more, and how many depends on the channel width you run and on the regulatory domain the access point is set to — we confirm that against the specific AP rather than quoting a number. The planner warns when the AP count per floor approaches the usable pool, which is the point at which channel-plan automation and BSS colouring stop being optional.
Engineering toolkit
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· Begin
Take the plan to a
predictive survey.
Brief-stage AP counts establish the first budget and riser plan. The right next step is a predictive heatmap on the actual architectural drawing and a Day-2 validation walk.