![]() The difference in data resolution can be readily seen by comparing the Chanalyzer 2.0 screenshot to that of Chanalyzer 2.1 above. In June 2007 we released Wi-Spy 2.4x the first Wi-Spy designed specifically as a spectrum analyzer. We also unified the timeframes of each view so that if the waterfall view was showing 30 seconds, the density and planar views were also showing 30 seconds of data. In May 2007 Chanalyzer 2.1 added the ability to pause and rewind live data similar to using Tivo to replay and skip TV. This layout has become the defacto standard and should look familiar to anyone who has used a modern PC-based spectrum analyzer. Chanalyzer 2.0 also introduced stacked views aligned by frequency for easy visual comparison. This was the debut of the density view in PC-based spectrum analyzers. We released Chanalyzer 2 along with Wi-Spy 2.4x, and Cisco announced the acquisition of Cognio (which was finalized in early 2008).Ĭhanalyzer 2.0, released in February 2007, was a complete redesign of the Wi-Spy Viewer application. 2007Ģ007 was a big year for the industry. The software could toggle between the standard spectrum analyzer view and the waterfall view, but couldn’t show both views at the same time. So the only new feature that was released in 2006 was the addition of a waterfall view. The Wi-Spy Viewer 1.0 software was the first to label the frequency axis by either MHz or Wi-Fi channel and to fill in the area underneath the max and average traces instead of just drawing a line (the solid areas are easy to visualize at a glance).ĭevelopment in 2006 was slowed by my “day job,” daily runs to the post office to ship orders, and tech support. But Wi-Spy was the first USB spectrum analyzer, making it accessible to modern laptops and desktops. The software only had current, average, and max traces. The radio receiver only had a 5-bit RSSI, which severely limited the amplitude range and the frequency resolution was fixed at 1 MHz steps. The first Wi-Spy model was a retrofitted wireless mouse dongle (notice the “connect” button underneath the “I”). When I released Wi-Spy it was clearly not in the same league as the Cognio Spectrum Expert, but for $99 WLAN administrators finally had visibility at the RF layer and could troubleshoot physical layer issues in their wireless networks. The user interface was overly complex though and with a price tag of almost $4,000 it was clearly aimed at enterprise customers only. The software was fairly advanced with automatic device classification, device finder, waterfall view and a few bar graphs showing channel usage. It was PCMCIA based and covered the 2.4, 4.9 and 5 GHz bands. ![]() ![]() December 2005īefore I invented the Wi-Spy, Cognio’s Spectrum Expert was the only PC-based spectrum analyzer on the market. Here’s a quick tour of the evolution of MetaGeek products, showing the progression from Wi-Spy Viewer 1.0 to Chanalyzer Pro, and how they have led the whole industry forward over the past five years. The data resolution was so bad the screenshots look like they are from an Atari console game □ But even that very first version of our software contained some significant innovations in PC-based spectrum analysis that have since been adopted industry-wide. Wi-Spy Viewer) and laughed at how basic it was. A few days ago I was looking back at screenshots of Chanalyzer 1.0 (a.k.a. It visualizes your WiFi environment, gives you tips on how to optimize your wireless network, and helps you avoid busy channels with the basic spectrum analysis, provided by Wi-Spy to increase your network performance and decrease your support costs.This month marks the five year anniversary of Wi-Spy and Chanalyzer. ![]() InSSIDer Office is WiFi scanning, troubleshooting, and network optimization tool. It visualizes your WiFi environment to help you troubleshoot and deploy networks. InSSIDer 4 (end-of-sale as of June 26, 2017) is a WiFi scanning tool. ![]()
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