Radio signal information overview
    • 28 Apr 2025
    • 3 Minutes to read
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    Radio signal information overview

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    Article summary

    Reconeyez cloud now offers improved radio signal information to the users. For all detectors/sirens/keypads the 2.4 GHz zigbee signal quality with the bridge is displayed. For the bridge units the mobile signal quality of the bridge itself is displayed.

    Radio signal in the table view

    Devices menu table view shows a summary of the radio information in the Signal column using a simple 4 bar signal icon (poor-OK-good-very good). Hovering over the Signal column will display more detailed radio infromation - radio routes showing the number of hops between the device and it’s bridge; and the time when radio info was last updated. The simplified 4 bar signal indicator is calculated based on the more technical radio signal parameters that can be viewed in the device view. If any of these parameters is outside of the acceptable range, then the whole radio link is displayed having reduced quality.

    Devices menu table view offers simplified radio signal overview of the whole device area

    Radio signal in the device view

    Device view shows more detailed  2.4 Ghz signal information under the new Analytics tab. Route and multihop info related to the chosen device is displayed in more detail, allowing user to click on the device names to see the quality of each radio hop separately.

    Detailed signal information in device view

    In addition the device view shows a more detailed 2.4 GHz radio signal history graph with the following advanced radio parameters’ history displayed.
    1) RSSI - Received Signal Strength Indicator - usually indicating link distance or obsticles in dBM (< 70 dBm = excellent)
    2) LQI - Link Quality Index - usually indicating radio interference in the area or obsticles (100=excellent)
    3) ETX - Expected Transmission Count - indicates number of packet repetition (10 = no repetition)

    2.4 GHz technical parameters RSSI/LQI/ETX explained

    FROM values indicate 2.4 GHz signal viewed FROM the detector/siren/keypad perspective and TO values indicate 2.4 GHz signal info viewed from the bridge perspective (TO the detector/siren/keypad). This helps to distinguish with more precision the source of radio interference or device antenna damage. As in most cases the radio links FROM detector to the bridge are more informational, then by default only FROM values are enabled in this graph for the sake of simplicity. This shows the signal quality from the detector to the bridge - the direction in which most of the data (eg. alarm photos) is travelling.

    Detector 2.4 GHz radio history showing RSSI/LQI/ETX info FROM detector and TO detector.

    Radio signal in the bridge view

    The bridge view shows more detailed mobile signal quality info. Mobile signal quality is calculated based on the following two parameters. If either of them is below threshold, then the 4 bar signal icon displays worse signal.
    1) mobile RSSI - Received Signal Strength Indicator - mobile signal strength in dBm (< 70 dBm = excellent)
    2) BER - Bit Error Rate - mobile packet repetition rate in percentage (0% = excellent)

    Mobile signal parameters explained

    Interpreting 2.4 GHz signal parameters

    Parameter

    Issue

    Possible causes

    Low RSSI (Weak Signal Strength)

    Poor signal reception

    • Long distance between nodes

    • Physical obstructions (walls, metal, water)

    • Antenna misalignment or damage

    • Interference from other wireless devices (Wi-Fi, LTE, other 802.15.4 networks)

    • Low transmit power setting

    Low LQI (Poor Link Quality)

    High noise or interference

    • RF interference from nearby electronics

    • Multipath fading (reflections causing phase issues)

    • Poor device/antenna placement

    • Weak RSSI leading to unreliable demodulation

    High ETX (Poor Packet Delivery)

    High retransmissions or packet loss

    • High congestion on the network

    • Poor RSSI and/or LQI affecting delivery

    • Routing issues causing inefficient paths

    • High interference from other RF sources

    • Hidden node problem causing collisions

    Interpreting combination of 2.4 GHz parameters

    Parameter combination

    Likely cause

    Low RSSI + Low LQI

    Severe path loss due to distance, obstacles, or antenna misalignment

    Low RSSI + High ETX

    Weak signal strength leads to frequent retransmissions

    Low LQI + High ETX

    High noise or interference causing packet corruption and retries

    Low RSSI + Low LQI + High ETX

    Severe environmental or interference issues, poor device placement, or network congestion

    Good RSSI + Low LQI

    High interference or multipath fading causing corrupted packets

    Good RSSI + High ETX

    Possible congestion, routing inefficiencies, or packet collisions

    Good RSSI + Good LQI + High ETX

    Overloaded network, too many retransmissions due to congestion


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