AirMagnet Survey PRO vs iwScanner

AirMagnet Survey PRO is Wi-Fi heatmap and wireless design software for predictive modeling, site surveys, and network verification. Its Planner uses building materials, attenuation areas, and access-point details to estimate quantities and placement for new or existing networks without installing access points first. The software generates coverage heatmaps and supports active, passive, and iPerf surveys on 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands, plus data simulation. It can import walls from CAD floor plans and produce customizable reports. PRO adds outdoor surveys, multi-floor analysis, multiple survey reports, network-design verification, and VoWLAN deployment verification. AirMapper surveys from supported NetAlly testers can be used, and Cisco Prime NCS/WCS project exchange is supported. Outdoor results can be exported to Google Earth. The listed PC operating system is 64-bit Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise; MacBook Pro use requires supported Windows through Boot Camp or a virtual machine.

iwScanner is a free Linux wireless scanner with a graphical interface. It detects wireless networks and displays each access point, MAC address, channel, and encryption type. A signal chart shows the strength of detected networks, and scanning speed can be adjusted. The program uses wireless-tools and is ready to run when iwlist is available. It is designed in Glade and written in Python; the maker says PyGTK is needed in a Linux environment. iwScanner can open and save NetDetect (.ndd) and NetStumbler (.ns1) files, and the source is included with the download. The latest listed release is version 0.2.4, dated 2010-04-15, offered as an Ubuntu deb package and a generic Linux tarball. That release fixes networks being incorrectly detected as WPA2. Notes for version 0.2.3 add support for the rt2860sta card. The maker identifies Renzo Bertuzzi as author and invites email contact.