Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Wireless LAN Overview Abdus Salam ICTP, February 2003 Presented by Ermanno Pietrosemoli Latin American Networking School - ULA

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Wireless LAN Overview Wireless networks where borne as LANs, but for developing countries applications they are more useful as MANs or even WANs The enormous success of this technology has led to a dramatic price reduction of the equipment, from $750 in 1992 to $60 in 2002

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Wireless LAN Overview Agenda DSSS Channel Allocation Access Point Modes and Types Clients Types Standards Terminology

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Wireless LAN Overview DSSS popularity has eclipsed FHSS, although the latter may be more resistant to interference We will focus on DSSS

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Channel Overlapping

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Repeater and Bridging Functions

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Common options that most wireless residential gateways include are: Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) Network Address Translation (NAT) Port Address Translation (PAT) Ethernet switching Virtual Servers Print Serving Fail-over routing Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server and Client Configurable Firewall

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Enterprise Gateway Features Enterprise wireless gateways do have features, such as Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), that are not found in any access points. RBAC allows an administrator to assign a certain level of wireless network access to a particular job position in the company. If the person doing that job is replaced, the new person automatically gains the same network rights as the replaced person. Having the ability to limit a wireless user's access to corporate resources, as part of the "role", can be a useful security feature.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Enterprise Gateway Features Class of service is typically supported, and an administrator can assign levels of service to a particular user or role. For example, a guest account might be able to use only 500 kbps on the wireless network whereas an administrator might be allowed 2 Mbps connectivity.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Configuration and Management of EG Enterprise wireless gateways are installed in the main the data path on the wired LAN segment just past the access point(s) They are configured through console ports using telnet, internal HTTP or HTTPS servers, etc. Centralized management of only a few devices is one big advantage of using enterprise wireless gateways. An administrator, from a single console, can easily manage a large wireless deployment using only a few central devices instead of a very large number of access points.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Configuration and Management of EWG Enterprise wireless gateways are normally upgraded through use of TFTP in the same fashion as many switches and routers on the market today. Configuration backups can often be automated so that the administrator won't have to spend additional management time backing up or recovering from lost configuration files. Enterprise wireless gateways are mostly manufactured as rack-mountable 1U or 2U devices that can fit into your existing data center design.

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb UNII Bands

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb UNII Middle Band The middle UNII band is bound by 5.25 GHz and 5.35 GHz and is specified at 250 mW of output power by the FCC. The power output specified by IEEE for the middle UNII band is 200 mW. This power limit allows operation of devices either indoors or outdoors and is commonly used for short outdoor hops between closely spaced buildings. In the case of a home installation, such a configuration might include an RF link between the house and the garage, or the house and a neighbor’s house..

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb UNII Upper Band The upper UNII band is reserved for outdoor links and is limited by the FCC to 1 Watt of output power. This band occupies the range of frequencies between GHz and GHz, and is often confused with the 5.8 GHz ISM band. The IEEE specifies the maximum output power for this band as 800 mW, which is plenty of power for almost any outdoor implementation, except for large campuses or long-distance RF links.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Power Limits PtMP links have a central point of connection and two or more non-central connection points. PtMP links are typically configured in a star topology. The central connection point may or may not have an omnidirectional antenna It is important to note that when an omnidirectional antenna is used, the FCC automatically considers the link a PtMP link. Regarding the setup of a PtMP link, the FCC limits the EIRP to 4 Watts in both the 2.4 GHz ISM band and upper 5 GHz UNII band. The power limit set for the intentional radiator (the device transmitting the RF signal) in each of these bands is 1 Watt. If the transmitting wireless LAN devices are adjustable with respect to their output power, then the system can be customized to the needs of the user.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Power Limits Suppose a radio transmitting at 1 Watt (+30 dBm) is connected directly to a 12 dBi omnidirectional antenna. The total output power at the antenna is about 16 Watts, which is well above the 4 Watt limit. The FCC stipulates that for each 3 dBi above the antenna's initial 6 dBi of gain, the power at the intentional radiator must be reduced by 3 dB below the initial +30 dBm. For our example, since the antenna gain is 12 dBi, the power at the intentional radiator must be reduced by 6 dB. This reduction will result in an intentional radiator power of +24 dBm (30 dBm – 6 dB), or 250 mW and an EIRP of 36 dBm (24 dBm + 12 dBi), or 4 Watts. Clearly this rule can become confusing, but the end result must be that the power at the intentional radiator must never be more than 1 Watt and the EIRP must never be above 4 Watts for a PtMP connection.

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb IEEE g g provides the same maximum speed of a,coupled with backwards compatibility for b devices. This backwards compatibility will make upgrading wireless LANs simple and inexpensive. IEEE g specifies operation in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. To achieve the higher data rates found in a, g compliant devices utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation technology. These devices can automatically switch to QPSK modulation in order to communicate with the slower b- and compatible devices. With all of the apparent advantages, g’s use of the crowded 2.4 GHz band could prove to be a disadvantage.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) promotes and tests for wireless LAN interoperability of b devices and a devices. WECA’s mission is to certify interoperability of Wi-Fi™ (IEEE ) products and to promote Wi-Fi as the global wireless LAN standard across all market segments. As an administrator, you must resolve conflicts among wireless LAN devices that result from interference, incompatibility, or other problems.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb European Telecommunications Standards Institute

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb European Telecommunications Standards Institute The website for ETSI is

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Wireless LAN Association The Wireless LAN Association's mission is to educate and raise consumer awareness regarding the use and availability of wireless LANs and to promote the wireless LAN industry in general. The Wireless LAN Association (WLANA) is an educational resource for those seeking to learn more about wireless LANs. WLANA can also help if you are looking for a specific wireless LAN product or service. WLANA has many partners within the industry that contribute content to the WLANA directory of information. It is this directory, along with the many white papers and case studies that WLANA provides, that offer you valuable information for making your own decisions about wireless LAN implementation. The website for WLANA is

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Bluetooth

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb The website for IrDA is

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Locating a Wireless LAN

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Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Beacons Beacons (short for beacon management frame) are short frames that are sent from the access point to stations (infrastructure mode) or station-to-station (ad hoc mode) in order to organize and synchronize wireless communication on the wireless LAN. Beacons serve several functions, including the following:

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Time Synchronization Beacons synchronize clients by way of a time-stamp at the exact moment of transmission. When the client receives the beacon, it changes its own clock to reflect the clock of the access point. Once this change is made, the two clocks are synchronized. Synchronizing the clocks of communicating units will ensure that all time- sensitive functions, such as hopping in FHSS systems, are performed without error. The beacon also contains the beacon interval, which informs stations how often to expect the beacon.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb FH or DS Parameter Sets Beacons contain information specifically geared to the spread spectrum technology the system is using. For example, in a FHSS system, hop and dwell time parameters and hop sequence are included in the beacon. In a DSSS system, the beacon contains channel information.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb SSID Information Stations look in beacons for the SSID of the network they wish to join. When this information is found, the station looks at the MAC address of where the beacon originated and sends an authentication request in hopes of associating with that access point. If a station is set to accept any SSID, then the station will attempt to join the network through the first access point that sends a beacon or the one with the strongest signal strength if there are multiple access points.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Traffic Indication Map (TIM) The TIM is used an as indicator of which sleeping stations have packets queued at the access point. This information is passed in each beacon to all associated stations. While sleeping, synchronized stations power up their receivers, listen for the beacon, check the TIM to see if they are listed, then, if they are not listed, they power down their receivers and continue sleeping..

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Supported Rates With wireless networks, there are many supported speeds depending on the standard of the hardware in use. For example, an b compliant device supports 11, 5.5, 2, & 1 Mbps speeds. This capability information is passed in the beacons to inform the stations what speeds are supported on the access point.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Passive Scanning Passive scanning is the process of listening for beacons on each channel for a specific period of time after the station is initialized. These beacons are sent by access points (infrastructure mode) or client stations (ad hoc mode), and the scanning station catalogs characteristics about the access points or stations based on these beacons. The station searching for a network listens for beacons until it hears a beacon listing the SSID of the network it wishes to join. The station then attempts to join the network through the access point that sent the beacon.

Pietrosemoli, ICTP Feb Active Scanning Active scanning involves the sending of a probe request frame from a wireless station. Stations send this probe frame when they are actively seeking a network to join. The probe frame will contain either the SSID of the network they wish to join or a broadcast SSID. If a probe request is sent specifying an SSID, then only access points that are servicing that SSID will respond with a probe response frame. If a probe request frame is sent with a broadcast SSID, then all access points within reach will respond with a probe response frame. The point of probing in this manner is to locate access points through which the station can attach to the network. Once an access point with the proper SSID is found, the station initiates the authentication and association steps of joining the network through that access point..

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