Today, Ekahau Pro 10.4 transforms into Ekahau AI Pro — and we can assure you that, in addition to the upgraded name, there is a lot to talk about with this new Wi-Fi design and validation powerhouse. The game-changing Artificial Intelligence infused into AI Pro has created a solution that is better, faster, stronger, and more charismatic than ever before. Did we mention it’s also tuned for 6 GHz network design?

The Time for 6 GHz Wi-Fi Design is NOW

AI Pro fully supports 6 GHz, giving you the tools to develop predictive Wi-Fi designs for 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz – all in one awesomely unified workspace. Inside AI Pro, you’ll find a new selection of access points and antennas, including: Cisco C9136i, Aruba AP-635, Extreme Networks ExtremeMobility AP4000 and AP4000U, Meraki MR57, Mist AP45, Arista C-360, Cambium Networks XE3-4, and Netgear WAX630E. Ekahau are continually working with every major vendor to add new models as soon as they become available.

Ekahau AI Pro Unlocks the Promise of 6 GHz Wi-Fi

With 1.2GHz (US) or 500MHz (EU) of new, clean spectrum and up to 59 non-overlapping channels, 6 GHz Wi-Fi will completely change the game of Wi-Fi design. Next-gen business applications that require ultra-low latency like live video, AR and VR just weren’t feasible in the congested 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. Now, with the unprecedented speed and reliability of an Ekahau-perfected 6 GHz network design, businesses can shed those restrictions and take full advantage of the benefits of 6 GHz.

Expert AI Wi-Fi Design to the Rescue

When it’s time to design your network, AI Pro takes advantage of the all-new expert artificial intelligence system in AI Auto-Planner to automate thousands of design iterations against your specific wall materials and floor plan, helping you discover your network’s optimal AP placement and channel configuration in mere seconds.

Behind the Dancing APs

Once your walls are drawn and your requirements are set, just click Generate and watch your network come alive and dance around as APs are placed, tested, configured, tested again, moved, re-configured, re-tested, removed, added again … thousands and thousands of times until the network reaches a point where no additional meaningful performance gains can be achieved. The AI tests far more access point locations and far more configurations than could ever be possible with manual manipulation alone — a truly remarkable evolution in Wi-Fi design.

Ekahau AI Pro Saves You Time Creating Your Perfect Network Design

Hours and days of tedious iterating is now done for you in seconds resulting in a design that perfectly balances primary and secondary coverage for your unique capacity requirements while minimizing channel overlap. Use the AI-generated design as-is, or feel free to continue adjusting it to fit your specific installation needs.

Awesome Wi-Fi is Now Easy

AI Pro is packed with new features that simplify workflows, automate tedium, and unlock the possibilities of great Wi-Fi for even those out there without a PhD in Wi-Fi Fluidity.

• The layout is easy to navigate with workspaces that conveniently place the tools you need for every job right at your fingertips
• We’ve added prompts and tooltips that clearly define terminology so you can easily differentiate between heatmap visualizations
• Wall materials, channel plans, and even full designs can be generated automatically with the new expert AI tools
• Summary breakdowns provide easy network health pass/fail indications so you can be confident in your design

See Ekahau AI Pro in Action

NEW! Channel Planner

Working alongside the AI Auto-Planner, the new Channel Planner determines the absolute best channel configuration for your network with an automatic channel optimization algorithm that utilizes the real signal patterns of your APs to minimize channel interference across all three bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz).

NEW! Network Simulator

This new feature allows you to easily model how your measured network would look with different access points. Use the channel planner for instant improvements on your network today or run rip-and-replace scenarios to see how your network would perform with different AP models. Network Simulator is perfect for visualizing the impact of 6 GHz on your network and ensuring your Wi-Fi 6E investment is set up for immediate success. Just be warned that you may find a poorly designed network won’t be magically fixed with a rip-and-replace.

NEW! Automatic Wall Attenuation Calibration

Measuring specific wall attenuations is a crucial part of making an accurate predictive plan. But actually measuring the wall attenuation can be quite tedious with lots of squinting at fluctuating numbers, getting enough samples and positioning yourself just so next to the walls you’re measuring. Luckily, all that tedium is now eliminated with the new Automatic Wall Calibration feature. Get improved design accuracy and obliterate hidden wall attenuation anomalies using your measured survey data from your Ekahau Sidekick. You don’t have to do anything special, just survey with Sidekick as normal and let AI Pro calibrate wall attenuation in your design and provide click-to-accept recommendations for better, more accurate designs.

NEW! Intuitive Workspace Interface in Dark Mode

We’ve touched upon every aspect of the UI, scrubbing out the old and replacing it with a new fresh coat of (mostly black) paint. Use the intuitive new workspaces to seamlessly move between our mobile and desktop apps as you Design, Inspect, Survey and review Live Sidekick diagnostic data. The tools and panels change to display the most helpful information for the task at hand, and the dark mode colour scheme adds improved contrast to visualizations and tables.

NEW! Advanced Reflections and Diffractions

And lastly (at least in terms of this blog – your journey with AI Pro is just beginning!), we’ve added a new level of accuracy to our heatmaps to not only account for free space path loss and the attenuation of wall materials, but also the reflection and diffraction properties of those materials as well. Using maximum accuracy will come in handy when you are dealing with complex environments like warehouses or spaces with a lot of highly reflective materials such as metal and glass. When you want to check whether reflections and diffractions impact your Wi-Fi plan, change the Accuracy setting to Maximum, and inspect your heatmaps.

Ready to Upgrade? It’s FREE!

We want to give a huge shout out to all of our incredible customers who are working with us and building the best possible wireless networks. We see you sharing your successes on social media and it’s simply inspiring. Wi-Fi is a critical part of every business, and together we’re able to continuously innovate and improve the tools that make awesome Wi-Fi happen.

Current Ekahau Pro customers can find a link to download Ekahau AI Pro the next time you open the application. Be sure to check out the amazing “What’s New” callout in the product for even more details about all the new features included in this launch.

New to Ekahau? We invite you to get started with a personalized demo of the new AI Pro, Sidekick, and Connect Subscription in action. We’ve got everything you need to design, validate, optimize and troubleshoot your wireless networks and we can’t wait to have you onboarded with Ekahau.

This article was featured in the Ekahau Blog, Introducing Ekahau AI Pro: 6 GHz Support and ∞ More Updates.