To be fair, it's antenna theory, not propagation theory. That by itself is another realm of electrophysics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation htt

To be fair, it's antenna theory, not propagation theory. That by itself is another realm of electrophysics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation There are some ray-tracing and wave theory solvers out there that will readily accept a 2D floor plan, but 3D full wave solutions are intensely complicated computational problems that probably won't even resolve to real-life just because of the complexities of the real world. The biggest problem for AP (router) placement is multipath interference, which either creates a null or node at any given location, compromising of basically infinite paths between the AP, bouncing off of walls, furniture, people, animals, and everything, The network engineer's rule of thumb is to ignore multipathing completely, and start at 0dB a foot from the router, and subtract 10dB for passing through drywall, 15dB for brick walls, 8dB for glass, and 6dB for every doubling of distance between the wireless AP and the desired client locations. As long as you stay above around -20- -30dB, you should have good signal. I've come up with these numbers in my own experience as an RF engineer. Typical software usually uses n-bounce ray tracing to determine deadzones or optimum placements, but that stuff is expensive and only as accurate as the 2D or 3D model of your space. An even less intense rule of thumb is place as close to common client locations then move them by trial and error until it works best. I place a single AP on the ground in the center of my home, and another mesh node for my back yard, and my whole house is covered. (I use ubiquiti unifi gear, which are far more powerful than a router/AP-in-one, and it gives you a lot of insight on how well the clients are connected, interference, and other useful data). This is also why mesh wireless is getting popular, so you can dot mesh APs around the home in just about every room, and ignore the whole problem.