Determining the optimum coverage position in a building for externally provided RF signals

1. A method of calculating a location within a building at which to place a wireless repeater, the building having a structure, the method comprising:

determining, by a computing system and via an RF transceiver, a signal strength of an RF signal from an external cellular base station at each of a plurality of locations within the structure of the building;

determining, by the computing system at each of the plurality of locations within the structure, a signal quality of the RF signal, the signal quality being based on at least one of a plurality of cellular signal protocols;

determining, by the computing system, geographical coordinates that define the structure of the building;

superimposing, by the computing system, the geographical coordinates of the structure on a map of the structure that provides a graphical representation of the signal strength and signal quality of the RF signal;

determining, by the computing system, at least one face of the structure having an optimal cellular signal coverage based on the at least one cellular signal protocol, a size of the structure, a position of the structure, an orientation of the structure, and the signal quality; and

generating, by the computing system, the map of the structure that provides a graphical representation of the signal strength and signal quality of the RF signal from the external cellular base station, the graphical representation including a depiction of the location within the building at which to place the wireless repeater.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the face of the structure is defined by the size, the position and the orientation.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2 , further comprising storing, by the computing system, the size, the position and the orientation in a database associated with the computing system.

4. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

determining, via an RF transceiver, a signal strength of an RF signal from an external cellular base station at each of a plurality of locations within a structure of a building;

determining, at each of the plurality of locations within the structure, a signal quality of the RF signal, the signal quality being based on at least one of a plurality of cellular signal protocols;

determining, by the computing system, geographical coordinates that define the structure of the building;

superimposing, by the computing system, the geographical coordinates of the structure on a map of the structure that provides the graphical representation of the signal strength and signal quality of the RF signal;

determining, by the computing system, at least one face of the structure having an optimal cellular signal coverage based on the at least one cellular signal protocol, a size of the structure, a position of the structure, an orientation of the structure, and the signal quality; and

generating the map of the structure that provides the graphical representation of the signal strength and signal quality of the RF signal from the external cellular base station, the graphical representation including a depiction of the location within the building at which to place the wireless repeater.

5. A system comprising:

an RF transceiver; and

a computing system coupled with the RF transceiver, the computing system having a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one programmable processor, cause the at least one programmable processor to perform operations comprising:

determine, via the RF transceiver, a signal strength of an RF signal from an external cellular base station at each of a plurality of locations within a structure of a building;

determine, at each of the plurality of locations within the structure, a signal quality of the RF signal, the signal quality being based on at least one of a plurality of cellular signal protocols;

determine, by the computing system, geographical coordinates that define the structure of the building;

superimpose, by the computing system, the geographical coordinates of the structure on a map of the structure that provides the graphical representation of the signal strength and signal quality of the RF signal;

determine, by the computing system, at least one face of the structure having an optimal cellular signal coverage based on the at least one cellular signal protocol, a size of the structure, a position of the structure, an orientation of the structure, and the signal quality; and

generate the map of the structure that provides the graphical representation of the signal strength and signal quality of the RF signal from the external cellular base station, the graphical representation including a depiction of the location within the building at which to place the wireless repeater.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geographical coordinates are graphical positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geographical coordinates are an address of the building.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining the position and the orientation from a database, the database including image information and location information of the building.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

placing a donor antenna of the wireless repeater on the determined face of the structure.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining man-made and natural impediments to signal strength or quality based on images taken of the ground, the images retrieved from a database.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the at least one face of the building is performed using at least: the geographic location of the building; the orientation of the building; geographical and physical RF signal impairment structures; average measured RF signal strengths for a particular RF signal; signal strengths for cell towers within range of the building; and cell tower locations.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

uploading measured RF signal strength to an RF signal provider and maintained at a signal strength database.

13. The system in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the face of the structure is defined by the size, the position and the orientation.

14. The system in accordance with claim 13 , the operations further comprising storing, by the computing system, the size, the position and the orientation in a database associated with the computing system.

15. The system of claim 5 , wherein the geographical coordinates are graphical positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

16. The system of claim 5 , wherein the geographical coordinates are an address of the building.

17. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:

obtaining the position and the orientation from a database, the database including image information and location information of the building.

18. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:

determining man-made and natural impediments to signal strength or quality based on images taken of the ground, the images retrieved from a database.

19. The system of claim 5 , wherein determining the at least one face of the building is performed using at least: the geographic location of the building; the orientation of the building; geographical and physical RF signal impairment structures; average measured RF signal strengths for a particular RF signal; signal strengths for cell towers within range of the building; and cell tower locations.

20. The system of claim 5 , the operations further comprising:

uploading measured RF signal strength to an RF signal provider and maintained at a signal strength database.