Technical STS Guide — Stations Trouble Shooting Monitor

1. STS Architecture & Monitoring Philosophy

The STS application uses a decoupled 2-stage architecture to deliver real-time wireless link monitoring without causing browser latency or blocking HTTP requests:

                MikroTik APs (Port 8728) → Stage 1 CLI Daemon → MySQL current_clients → Stage 2 Web API → Dashboard UI
            

Stage 1 (Server-Side Poller Daemon): Runs continuously in the background via CLI/systemd. Maintains persistent RouterOS API socket connections to enabled Access Points, fetches the Wireless Registration Table every ~1s cycle, normalizes RF metrics, computes health scores, and updates MySQL `current_clients`.
Stage 2 (Read-Only Web API & UI): The browser dashboard reads pre-computed client states from MySQL via `/api/clients.php`. The browser never initiates socket connections or polling requests to MikroTik APs.

2. Visual Measurement Matrix

Understanding the distinction between Signal, SNR, and CCQ is essential for diagnosing root cause:

SIGNAL STRENGTH (dBm)

"What strength is the station receiving?"

Primary Indicator (45% Weight)
Measures raw RF power received by the antenna.
Evaluates physical path loss, distance, line-of-sight (LOS), and antenna alignment.

SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio)

"How clean is that signal compared with noise?"

Corroborating Indicator (30% Weight)
Measures signal headroom above the RF noise floor.
Evaluates channel cleanliness and co-channel / adjacent-channel noise interference.

CCQ (Client Connection Quality)

"How efficiently/reliably is the link communicating?"

Corroborating Indicator (25% Weight)
Measures real-time packet retransmission rates (0–100%).
Evaluates TX/RX frame retry rates, hidden node collisions, and transient interference.

3. Wireless Health Scoring & Weighting Engine

STS evaluates wireless quality using a multi-factor weighted formula combined with single-metric override rules:

Metric	Weight	Role	Warning Threshold	Bad Threshold	Critical Threshold
Signal Strength	45%	Primary Indicator	≤ -73 dBm	≤ -79 dBm	≤ -84 dBm
SNR	30%	Corroborating	≤ 22 dB	≤ 15 dB	≤ 10 dB
CCQ (Tx/Rx)	25%	Corroborating	≤ 75%	≤ 55%	≤ 35%

Severe Single-Metric Override Thresholds:
- Signal ≤ -84 dBm
- SNR ≤ 10 dB
- CCQ ≤ 35%
If any single metric drops to or below its critical threshold, the HealthEvaluator instantly caps the client severity to 🔴 Critical regardless of how high the other two metrics are.

4. AP-Level vs Client-Level Scope Isolation

When troubleshooting, always isolate whether the issue is isolated to a single client or widespread across the entire Access Point sector:

SCENARIO A: Single-Client Degradation

Observation: 1 client is Critical, while 15 other clients on the same AP are 🟢 Healthy.

Diagnosis: Individual Customer / Station Issue.

Antenna misalignment or physical shift
Water ingress in cable / RF connector
Tree growth / Fresnel zone obstruction
Local 2.4/5GHz interference at customer site

SCENARIO B: AP / Sector-Wide Degradation

Observation: 8 out of 10 clients on the same AP show 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Bad.

Diagnosis: Access Point / Tower / RF Environment Issue.

Co-channel interference on AP frequency
High noise floor at tower site
Damaged sector antenna or pigtail
Backhaul capacity / site power degradation

5. Technical Troubleshooting Workflow

1

Check Signal (dBm)

Verify raw received signal power. If ≤ -80 dBm, check antenna size, alignment, TX power, and physical line-of-sight.

2

Check SNR (dB)

If signal is adequate (-65 dBm) but SNR is low (< 15 dB), inspect noise floor and scan for local RF interference.

3

Check TX/RX CCQ

Look for asymmetry. Low TX CCQ indicates AP-to-Client packet loss; low RX CCQ indicates Client-to-AP noise or low uplink power.

4

Compare AP Sector

Filter dashboard by `ap_id` to determine if neighboring stations on the same AP sector share similar degradation.

5

Action Plan

Dispatch field technician for single-client realignment/cable fix, or change AP frequency/channel width for sector issues.

6. Dashboard Filters & Sorting Logic

The STS dashboard provides real-time filtering options:

Worst Clients First: Default active sorting mode. Ranks clients by severity order (CRITICAL → BAD → WARNING → HEALTHY) and ascending health score. It is not a severity category, but the primary NOC sorting view.
Critical Only: Filters display strictly to clients in CRITICAL state (immediate priority).
Bad Only: Filters display to clients in BAD state (severe degradation).
Warning: Displays clients in WARNING state (moderate degradation).
Healthy: Displays clients operating within normal parameters.
Show All: Displays all active connected clients across all APs.

7. Operational Interpretation & Caveats

IMPORTANT OPERATIONAL NOTICE:
STS severity colors represent wireless link quality troubleshooting priorities, not absolute guarantees of customer internet throughput or service status.

- 🟢 Healthy means STS detects no significant wireless radio quality issue according to configured thresholds. It does not rule out customer LAN router faults, ISP backhaul congestion, or DNS issues.
- 🔴 Critical indicates that physical RF measurements (Signal, SNR, CCQ) require technical attention. Technicians must investigate root cause using the 5-step workflow.