Wireless Protocols You Just Have to Know About!

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Wireless Protocols You Just Have to Know About!

• Todd Lammle (FCC RF Licensed)
• Certified Wireless Administrator (CWA)
  instructor, Sybex author

www.wirelesstechnologygroup.org www.globalnettrai
ning.com www.routersim.com
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About Todd Lammle

• President, GlobalNet Training, inc
• CEO, RouterSim, LLC
• Sybex author

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Objectives

• To understand the term WLAN
• To understand the current IEEE wireless standards
• To understand the future IEEE wireless standards
• To gather information that will allow you to make
  informed decisions

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Why do we care?
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Can I just use it till I need glasses?
Wireless Is Addicting
Once You Use It
You Cant Live without It
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Whats a typical LAN?
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Whats a typical WLAN?
Its a hub without wires
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Wireless LANS (WLANs) use Cells
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Channel Overlap to cover distance
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ISM Unlicensed Frequency Bands
Short-Wave Radio
FM Broadcast
Infrared Wireless LAN
AM Broadcast
Television
Cellular (840MHz)
Audio
NPCS (1.9GHz)
Extremely Low
Very Low
Low
Medium
High
Very High
Ultra High
Super High
Infrared
Visible Light
Ultra- violet
X-Rays
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What is the Wireless LAN Hardware?

• Access Points
• Client Adapters
• Bridge
• Antennas

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Devices In a Wireless Network

• Access Point An AP operates within a specific
  frequency spectrum and uses an 802.11 standard
  specified modulation technique.
• It also informs the wireless clients of its
  availability and authenticates and associates
  wireless clients to the wireless network.
• An AP also coordinates the wireless clients' use
  of wired resources.

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Wireless Access Points

• Serves as a connection point for wireless users
  to connect to the wired LAN
• Contention-based, half-duplex device
• Not necessary in Ad Hoc networks
• Physical/Data Link Layer device
• Has Layer-2 filtering capabilities
• 1, 2, 5.5, or 11 Mbps connectivity depending on
  standard implemented

Think of this device as a 10BaseT hub
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Access Point Example
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Wireless Components

• Network interface card (NIC)/client adapter A PC
  or workstation uses a wireless NIC to connect to
  the wireless network.
• The NIC scans the available frequency spectrum
  for connectivity and associates it to an access
  point or another wireless client.
• The NIC is coupled to the PC/workstation
  operating system using a software driver.

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Wireless Components

• Bridge Wireless bridges are used to connect
  multiple LANs (both wired and wireless) at the
  Media Access Control (MAC) layer level.
• Used in building-to-building wireless
  connections, wireless bridges can cover longer
  distances than APs (IEEE 802.11 standard
  specifies 1 mile as the maximum coverage range
  for an AP).

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Wireless Bridged Network
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Wireless Workgroup Bridge

• Users are connected via wired Ethernet to the
  bridge, which is then connected via wireless
  Ethernet to the Access Point, which then connects
  to the wired backbone
• Used to connect a small group of users (8 or
  less) to the wireless network
• Users are a "collective client" on the wireless
  network

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Wireless Components

• Antenna An antenna radiates the modulated signal
  through the air so that wireless clients can
  receive it.
• Characteristics of an antenna are defined by
  propagation pattern (directional versus
  omnidirectional), gain, transmit power, and so
  on.
• Antennas are needed on both the AP/bridge and the
  clients.

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Campus Antenna Example
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IEEE 802.11 WLAN
LLC layer
IEEE 802.2 SNAP
MAC layer
IEEE 802.11
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum
Infrared Light
Physical
Packet Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP)
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WLAN Road Map

802.11g 2.4 GHz OFDM gt20Mbps
802.11a Standard 5 GHz OFDM 54 Mbps
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
802.11b Standard 2.4 GHz DSSS 11Mbps
Network Radio Speed
802.11b uses complementary Code Keying (CCK) as
its modulation scheme
Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing
(OFDM)
Proprietary

• IEEE 802.11a/b Ratified

1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
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IEEE 802.11 who?

• Original recipe 802.11 Ratified June, 1997, 1 or
  2Mbps at 2.4Ghz.
• The big event- 802.11b (Wi-Fi) 1, 2, 5.5 and
  11Mbps, 2.4 GHz, ratified in 1999. Didnt take
  off until late 2000. Backward compatible to
  802.11
• First in line, last to produce products- 802.11a
  Up to 54Mbps, 5 GHz, ratified in 1999. Not
  compatible with 802.11 and 802.11b

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802.11a is 5Ghz

• Range of 5Ghz is about 30 less then 2.4Ghz
• Overall investment of infrastructure is much
  higher with 5Ghz (for now)
• Typical 2.4 Ghz range is 150 feet
• Typical 5Ghz range is 50 feet
• Not compatible with 802.11a and 802.11b
• The data rates specified by IEEE 802.11a are 6,
  9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 54 Mbps, with support
  for 6, 12, and 24 Mbps

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IEEE 802.11-tag-alongs

• 802.11c Management Group
• 802.11d Committee trying to add 802.11 into
  other countries that cant use 2.4Ghz. Only Spain
  now
• 802.11e Quality of Service (QoS), multimedia and
  security as well as error correction. Uses TDMA
  like Ciscos up and coming 802.11a products.
• 802.11f Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP),
  Mobile IP
• 802.11g 54Mbps in 2.4Ghz range
• 802.11h Group trying to take 802.11a into Europe
  with 802.11e specs.
• 802.11i Wireless Authentication and Security
• 802.11j So new, there is still no members! Group
  will focus on 802.11a and HiperLAN2 coexistence

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11 and 54Mbs WLANs 802.11g

• Provides higher date rates at 2.4 Ghz
• Similar to 802.11b
• Backward compatible to
• 80211
• 802.11b

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Other Committees

• Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA)
  Drafted the Wi-Fi System Interoperability testing
  document
• Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) Agilent Technologies
  in San Jose performs the independent WLAN
  products testing. After testing, the WECA board
  awards the Wi-Fi seal

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Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA)

• Mission statementWECAs mission is to certify
  interoperability of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b)
  products and to promote Wi-Fi as the global
  wireless LAN standard across all market segments
• GoalProvide users with a comfort level for
  interoperability
• Presently over 100 different product certified
  and growing

• Supports ONLY 802.11b 11MB DS products

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Other Wireless Technologies

• BlueTooth
• HomeRF
• ZigBee
• HiperLAN
• Homeplug

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BlueTooth

• Bluetooth is a personal-area network (PAN)
  specified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group
  for providing low-power and short-range wireless
  connectivity using frequency-hopping spread
  spectrum in the 2.4-GHz frequency environment.

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HomeRF

• In 1988, The HomeRF SWAP Group published the
  Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) standard
  for wireless digital communication between PCs
  and consumer electronic devices within the home.
• SWAP supports voice and data over a common
  wireless interface at 1 and 2-Mbps data rates
  using frequency-hopping and spread-spectrum
  techniques in the 2.4-GHz band.

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SigBee

• Was known as HomeRF Light
• Less then 2 per module for manufacturer
• Runs off of cheap AA batteries
• Up to 115kbps
• From 10 meters to 75 meters
• All-in-one product (power, tx, rx, ant.)

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HiperLAN

• HiperLAN is a European Telecommunications
  Standards Institute (ETSI) standard ratified in
  1996. HiperLAN/1 standard operates in the 5-GHz
  radio band up to 24 Mbps.
• ETSI has recently approved HiperLAN/2, which
  operates in the 5-GHz band at up to 54 Mbps using
  a connection-oriented protocol for sharing access
  among end-user devices.

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HomePlug Powerline Alliance

• Not-for-profit corporation formed to provide a
  forum for the creation of open specifications for
  high speed home powerline networking products and
  services.
• Supposedly works at 14Mbps
• Dont turn on a blow dryer
• Newly released specs fix power spikes

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WLAN is not all you need to know

• Third Generation Cell service will provide..???

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Reality WLAN will deliver mobile high-speed
ahead of 3G
100 000
Fixed LAN
50 000
802.11a and HiperLAN2
10 000
802.11b/WiFi
Transmission rate (kbit/s)
1 000
HomeRF
HomeRF
500
Bluetooth
Bluetooth
UMTS
GPRS
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GSM
Blackberry (US)
Terminal device location
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Wireless Security Methods
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No Security by default.
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Radius Authentication
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WLAN Security
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Summary

• Dont Delay- Get UN-Hookedwith Wireless
• Hands-on Demonstrations
• Give Away Time!