Wireless Access

Let me start by saying that I am very new to using AirWave and planning out these networks.  I am using VisualRF to plan out AP location in a 5,000 sqft square building with client location tracking.  In the user guide for AirWave, it says that for square or rectangle buildings to place the AP's on the exterior walls plus the middle.  However with such a small building, I can get full coverage with all 3 AP's in a triangle shape spread out across the building.

My question is, do I really need to have the AP's on the external walls as mentioned in the user guide instead of having 3 placed equidistant throughout the building?

Thanks in advance.

For location tracking, you will need APs at the outer edge of the area that you want to track users in. Long story short is that you can only reliably position clients that are inside a triangle drawn between any of your APs, also you will need to be in the range of 3 or more APs in any location where you need location tracking.

If your location tracking based on floor and approximate part of the floor (like floor 3, left-wing), using a standard coverage or capacity planning could work. If you need an accuracy of roughly better than 15m/40ft, you probably will need to place the APs following the 'location rules' to the outside perimeter of your tracking area.

An experienced WLAN engineer should be able to help and advise you with such a design.