Glossary

The terms this documentation uses, in plain language. They are grouped by topic rather than alphabetically, so related terms sit together.

The wireless network

WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider): the kind of operator SignalScope exists for.

AP (Access point): the base antenna, usually on a tower or node, serving several customers at once. The docs also call it the "base station".

Station (CPE): the radio on the customer's side, aimed at an AP and connected to it. Every customer has one.

Link: the wireless connection between a station and its AP. When the docs say "the link degraded", they mean that over-the-air stretch.

Sector: an AP and every station hanging off it. A "sector" problem affects all of those customers at once.

SSID: the network name an AP broadcasts, which stations use to find it.

Frequency / channel: the slice of spectrum an AP transmits on. Two nearby APs on overlapping channels interfere with each other.

Modulation: the "speaking speed" a radio and AP negotiate (6x, 8x…). A higher modulation gives more capacity but demands better signal. A link with poor signal drops its modulation, which is why it delivers less than expected. It is negotiated separately in each direction, and the app shows both (8x/1x) because a radio can receive perfectly and transmit very badly.

Airtime (air in use): the percentage of time the channel is busy. With air at 70 % or more, the channel is saturated and clients wait their turn to transmit.

The signal

dBm: the unit of signal strength. It is negative, and the closer to zero, the stronger: −55 dBm is better signal than −70 dBm. It is SignalScope's central reading.

Noise (noise floor): the background energy present on the channel even when nobody transmits. It is measured in dBm, and a high floor "drowns" the useful signal.

SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio): the margin between your signal and the noise floor, in dB. Higher is better. With little margin, the radio cannot tell signal from noise.

CINR: like SNR, but it also discounts interference from other transmitters on the channel. That is why it can catch a dirty channel even when the signal "looks fine".

Chains (polarities): the two paths of a modern antenna (horizontal and vertical), which should receive almost the same. A large imbalance betrays a rotated or damaged antenna.

Link quality (linkscore): airMAX's indicator, from 0 to 100 %, of how healthy the link is beyond signal alone.

CCQ: RouterOS's equivalent indicator, also from 0 to 100 %. It is not the same number as the airMAX linkscore because it is computed differently, so the app labels it and does not colour it until there are field-measured thresholds.

Latency: the round-trip time of data, in milliseconds (ms). With high latency the service feels "slow" even when the contracted speed is there.

Throughput: the traffic the link is carrying right now, that is, what the customer is consuming. Capacity, by contrast, is what the link could carry.

The network and its protocols

IP: a device's address on the network. It can change, which is why SignalScope does not identify devices by their IP.

MAC: every network device's factory-set physical identity, which does not change. SignalScope recognizes each device by its MAC even when its IP changes.

OUI (manufacturer): the first pairs of the MAC, assigned per manufacturer. With them the app suggests what a newly detected device is.

CIDR (range): the notation for a network range. 192.168.1.0/24 is that network's 256 addresses. It is how the networks to scan are registered.

ARP: the system table that maps each IP to its MAC inside the local network. It does not cross routers, which is why a "routed" device arrives without a MAC.

Ping (ICMP): the network's simplest question, "are you there?". It measures whether a device answers and how fast.

SSH / HTTPS / HTTP: the means by which the app signs in to a radio. SSH and HTTPS are encrypted. HTTP is not, and the app marks it amber. With RouterOS only SSH is available.

SNMP: a protocol for querying identity and state. The app uses it only if you configure it, and only in read mode.

Half duplex: an Ethernet port that can only talk in one direction at a time (full duplex is the norm). It almost always betrays a cable or connector problem.

Firmware: the radio's internal software. Different versions report different data, and keeping it current avoids surprises.

airOS: the system running on Ubiquiti airMAX radios. The app reads the system, and it is the firmware, more than whoever made the box, that decides which data arrives.

RouterOS: MikroTik's system, which runs across its whole catalog, from a desktop router to a tower sector. Knowing a device is a MikroTik does not tell you what it is: the device itself says so when you sign in.

WebFig: MikroTik's web interface, meant to be used from a browser. It is what answers on a RouterOS device's web port, and the app does not use it to read the device.

Wi-Fi 6 (ax) and the wifi package: MikroTik Wi-Fi 6 devices use the RouterOS 7 wifi package, which differs from the classic wireless one. The app cannot read their radios yet. Details in Supported devices.

Chassis: the physical box, when it holds more than one radio. The app opens one session per chassis and draws one row per radio. The chassis data (CPU, memory, ports, model) repeats identically across all its rows.

Uptime: how long a device has been powered on since its last reboot.

SignalScope's own

Project (.sscope): the file containing your whole network: devices, encrypted credentials, baselines and Snapshots. It saves itself.

Snapshot: the whole network's state saved at a given moment, to look at or compare later. A project holds up to 20.

.ssnap: a Snapshot exported for sharing. Another SignalScope opens it in read-only viewer mode, and it never carries credentials.

Baseline: the "healthy" signal you pin per antenna with Mark. With a baseline, the signal axis judges how far it dropped from it instead of the absolute value, and the chip says Stable, Dropped vs baseline or Check link.

Detected: the queue of what the scan found and you have not resolved yet. It empties as you sign in to each device, move it to References or remove it.

References: the table of what you do not manage but look at for contrast, such as the node's router, your provider or a web domain. Each row is a target, and you can monitor whether it answers. Details in Detected and References.

Absent: a device that lost its session. It keeps its last reading, and the app keeps looking for it and reconnects on its own when it comes back or when it finds it at another IP. Its chip says what is going on (Searching, Possible cut, Blocked at the AP…). See When a device goes absent.

Reason for absence: the label you put on an absent device when you know why it is not there: Suspended, Technical or Retired. It is informational and clears itself when the device comes back.

Needs your attention: the state of a session the app cannot resolve on its own (unknown IP, rejected account or possible replacement). The app pauses it, turns the Session chip violet and asks you for what it needs. See When the app needs you to step in.

Possible replacement: the case where another device with the same name answers at a registered device's IP. The app puts both side by side and you decide whether the new one inherits the old one's place.

Session log: the per-device record of what the app tried and how each attempt ended, with date and time. It is in the Log tab of the session window.

Traffic light: each station's color (green, amber or red). It is the worst axis of its diagnosis, with signal as the main axis. Details in Traffic light and diagnostics.

Sentinel: the alert system for the failures the signal does not betray, such as a loose cable, a port in half duplex or a fallen AP. Details in Sentinel and network score.

Notice tray (the bell): the list of what the app told you while you were working, with the time. It differs from the sentinel in that the sentinel says what is broken now and resolves itself, while the bell says what happened and is read once.

Notify on reconnection: the mark you put on a device so the app tells you when it connects again, Once or Always.

Mute: silencing one device's alerts for a period without ceasing to measure it.

Switch session off: stopping the connection to a device. It keeps its record and leaves it out of the diagnosis until you switch the session back on.

Background: the mode SignalScope is left in when you close the window with a project open. The app stays in the system tray, measuring and alerting. To close it completely, use File → Quit SignalScope or right-click its tray icon.

Ping from SignalScope: the optional latency measurement the app itself takes against each station, on top of the one the radio reports. You turn it on under Preferences → General → Network probe, and it helps detect problems that are in the network or in the device's CPU, outside the wireless link.

Coverage modes: the three ways of drawing sectors on the Map. Footprint merges them all into a single surface, Focus paints only the AP you are looking at in full, and Detail shows each sector by its band.

Transfer code: the key (XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) that unlocks a project on another computer. Details in Sharing.

The license

Trial: 30 days with every feature, no email or sign-up. There is one per machine, and reinstalling does not reset it.

Full license: the paid annual license, with your email and your key. It is bought at sscope.materis.io and takes one slot per machine.

Customer portal: panel.materis.io, where you see your purchases and renewal dates, renew, and add machines to your license.

HWID: your machine's identifier, used by the license to know which machine it is active on.