Wireless Trends

1
Wireless Trends

• An Exploration
• with
• Lots of Acronyms
• and
• A Few Props
• and
• Time for Discussion

Dr. Robert Minch Boise State University
2
Agenda

• The Wireless World (overview)
• Cellular evolution
• WLAN evolution
• Wireless security
• Emerging technologies applications
• A small thought experiment ?
• Location-aware mobile devices
• A research project . . .

3
The Wireless WorldSpeeds and Distances for Major
Alternatives
1G
WWAN
2G
2.5G
3G
4G
Wireless Wide-Area Networks
802.20 Mobile-Fi
WMAN
IEEE 802.16aWiMAX (fixed),802.16e (mobile)
Wireless Metropolitan-Area Networks
802.21 Inter-Network Handoffs
WLAN
IEEE 802.11b, a, g Wi-Fi
IEEE802.11n
Wireless Local-Area Networks
802.15.4Zigbee
WPAN
802.15.1Bluetooth
IEEE802.15.3a UWB WiMedia
Wireless Personal-Area Networks
NFC
10 kbps
100 kbps
1 Mbps
10 Mbps
100 Mbps
1 Gbps
Legacy
Current
Emerging
Future
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Cellular Evolution Generations
2G 9.6 19.2 kbps Digital voice Messaging Voice
mail Very limited dial-up style Internet
2.5G 115 153 kbps(maximum) 2G Always-on
data/Internet Landline speed
3G 0.4 5 Mbps(maximum) 2.5G High-speed
Internet VoIP Multimedia
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Cellular EvolutionWorldwide Cell Handset
Production
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Cellular Evolution Speeds Heritages
2G
2.5G
3G
3-5 Mbps
1xEV-DV
14.4 kbps
144 kbps
2.4 Mbps
IS-95(CDMA)
1xRTT(CDMA2000)
1xEV-DO
W-CDMA(UMTS)
GSMTDMA
GPRS
2 Mbps
EDGE
115 kbps
9.6 kbps
384 kbps
1990s
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Disclaimers Approximate introduction
dateswidespread availability lags by
years Theoretical speedsdelivered speeds may be
a fraction of these
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WLAN Evolution
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Wireless SecurityWorld Wide War Drive Stats
http//www.worldwidewardrive.org/
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Wireless Security(You do at least this much,
right?)

• Audit signal coverage
• Detect rogue access points
• Segregate firewall wireless from wired
• Change default SSIDs dont beacon them
• Use MAC authentication
• Use WEP or better (WPA, 802.11i . . .)
• Use VPNs/encryption on top of other security
• For many more guidelines, see http//www.sans.org/
  rr/papers/index.php?id1233

10
Emerging Technologies

• This PDA phone
• Is an iPAQ 6315, available now
• Is a multi-mode voice/data/PDA phone
• Quad-mode GSM/GPRS
• Wi-Fi (802.11b)
• Bluetooth
• You can use Web via Wi-Fi while on a GSM call
  using a Bluetooth headset.

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Emerging Technologies

• This phone
• Is a Motorola CN620, FCC approved 7/1/04
• Is a multimode voice/data phone
• Quad-mode GSM
• WLAN (802.11a)
• Can roam between WLAN GSM !
• Will auto-select the cheapest way

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A Small Thought Experiment

• What if you had
• Self-organizing networks of intelligent
  communicating devices
• Communications gateways (integrated Wi-Fi, GSM,
  Bluetooth, WiMedia, Zigbee . . .)
• Computing devices (PDA, Laptop . . .)
• Display devices (roll-up OLED flat screen . . .)
• Input devices (Camera, GPS, voice, environmental
  monitors. . .)
• How might they communicate and work?

13
Location-Aware Mobile Devices

• Mobile devices are becoming location-aware
• Cell phones because of E911
• Other devices because of joining networks or GPS
• Pros safety, convenience, m-commerce
• Cons
• Privacy
• Criminal civil rights issues
• Unfair commercial advantage

For a review of privacy issues in location-aware
mobile devices, seehttp//telecomm.boisestate.ed
u/minch/location-aware_pid25047.pdf
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A Research Project

• Were looking for companies
• Using or considering using location-aware devices
• Particularly for employee location monitoring
• Willing to participate in a study of the issues
  involved

For a review of legal and ethical implications of
employee location monitoring, seehttp//telecomm
.boisestate.edu/minch/employee_location_monitoring
_pid35740.pdf
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For a somewhat eye-opening review of both
attacking and protecting wireless networks, see
this book Wi-Foo The Secrets of Wireless
Hacking (Vladimirov, Gavrilenko, and
Mikhailovsky, 2004) ISBN 0-321-20217-1