NETW-310 Wired, Optical, and Wireless Communications Lab Manual

5 April 2008 Version Kenneth M. Chipps Ph.D. DeVry University - Dallas chipps@chipps.com kchipps@devry.edu

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How to Use This Manual

This symbol means the instructor must do something to setup the lab.

This symbol means the class members must do something as opposed to the students just watching the instructor do something.

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Lab 1
1. Use a spectrum analyzer to observe common waveforms. 2. Compare and contrast these waveforms to those produced by a single frequency, high peak power signal, such as a local FM radio station.

The instructor supplies this. A spectrum analyzer that will read signals around 98 MHz. A spectrum analyzer that will read signals around 2.4 GHz. An 802.11b/g access point set to channel 6. A microwave oven that can be turned on. This lab assumes the instructor knows how to use the spectrum analyzer at a basic level.

Part 1 Done with the class as a group

1. Become Familiar with the Spectrum Analyzers Controls The purpose of this part of the lab is to learn how to use the major controls on a spectrum analyzer. These controls are the frequency selector, span control, and attenuation or reference level control. In addition for the spread spectrum signal the peak hold control will be used. Frequency Selection The frequency selector control is used to find the center of the range of frequencies of interest. Span Control The span control then adjusts this range to set the area to examine. In other words, it adjusts the size of the window.

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Attenuation or Reference Level This control sets the sensitivity level for the on-screen display. So that the entire signal will be displayed on the screen, the signal may have to be reduced or attenuated. This is also called setting the reference level or resolution bandwidth. Improper use of this control can make a nearby signal appear to intrude on another signal. This setting takes all the power within a given band space and averages it together as it sweeps across the screen. The wider this setting is the fewer bumps you see on the screen. The trace will smooth out as you increase this setting because it is averaging power within a wider space of spectrum. This has the added effect of making a "loud" carrier appear to cover a wider space than it actually does. This can lead to the erroneous belief that a carrier is bleeding over into the part of the band of interest. Narrowing the resolution bandwidth will show a more accurate representation of the actual power in a given band space, but is slower to scan on most analyzers and produces a very sporadic display. If you are looking for narrowband or adjacent channel interference into the band, then a narrow resolution bandwidth will be required. To measure the signal of your own carrier, then a wider resolution bandwidth will be required. Peak Hold For signals that move around, such as FHSS and DSSS, a control is required to capture each small part of the total signal and hold that part while the rest of the signal appears over time.

Part 2 Done by each student

2. Learn What Common Waveforms Look Like The purpose of this part of the lab is to observe what common waveforms look like, as well as learn how to use the spectrum analyzers controls to capture these waveforms. Lets look at some common signal patterns. First we will look at some FM radio station signals. After those we will look at the type of signals more commonly seen in wireless data networks. The most basic type of signal is one that operates with high peak power at a single frequency. FM radio is an example of this. The following are some FM Page 4

radio signals. These range from 88 MHz to 108 MHz. The center frequency is 98 MHz. For these measurements the span was set to 2 MHz and the reference level to -30 dBm. Here is a trace of the FM radio band taken in Fort Worth, Texas.

Replicate this now on the spectrum analyzer. This view is similar to a group photograph. By zooming out you can see everyone in the group. Like this:

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By reducing the span to 200 KHz the individual FM stations begin to show up more clearly. In this example the center is 96.3 MHz. Off to the right a station shows up at 96.7 at lower power and local high power station at 97.1. To the left is a low power station at 95.9 MHz.

Replicate this now on the spectrum analyzer.

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By reducing the span it is similar to zooming in to just show part of the group. Like this:

Reducing the span to 50 KHz only one station at 96.3 MHz shows up.

Replicate this now on the spectrum analyzer.

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Change spectrum analyzers at this point. The next type of signal, DSSS - Direct Spread Spectrum, is characterized by a low level signal that is spread over a wide range. As such it looks very much like transient noise. To actually see this type of signal on the spectrum analyzer the peak hold function of the spectrum analyzer must be activated. This function keeps each signal on the screen as long as the peak hold function is activated. By doing this a pattern of the signal begins to appear.

To illustrate this type of signal turn on the 802.11b or g access point set to channel 6. Set the spectrum analyzer to a center frequency of 2437 MHz and a 5 MHz per division span. The spectrum analyzer display will be centered on 802.11b channel 6. Each of the five vertical grid lines on either side of the center one will represent that respective channels from channel 1 on the far left to channel 11 on the far right. To capture this signal turn on the peak hold function.

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Over time with the peak hold function turned on the form of the DSSS wave used by 802.11b/g radios will appear. Depending on the traffic level this may take a few minutes. Here is an example of such as signal.

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Interference is different in the way it appears on a spectrum analyzer. Interference exhibits a strong peak. In this example the waveform of a microwave oven operating in the 2.4 GHz range is shown. First one brief view without the peak hold turned on.

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The next one is a capture over time with the peak hold on.

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To demonstrate this live turn on a microwave oven.

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Lab 2
1. Terminate copper cable. 2. Terminate fiber optic cable. 3. Test copper and fiber optic cables.
This lab assumes the instructor knows how to terminate UTP cable, attach a connector to fiber optic cable, perform a mechanical splice of fiber optic cable, test a UTP cable permanent link, demonstrate common problems with copper and fiber optic cables, inspect a fiber optic cable end for quality of the cleave and cleanliness, and test a fiber optic cable link. If not, an in class demonstration of these activities should be arranged through a local company. If a local company is not available, then a set of videos showing these various activities is available at http://www.chipps.com/netw310lab.html. The students should view these as a class.

The instructor supplies this. Supplies RJ-45 jack for each student. RJ-45 110 patch panel. As many as are needed for the number of students. UTP cable of any type. About four feet per student. Corning UniCam Premium-Performance LC Connector, 62.5 m Multimode Fiber, Ceramic ferrule, Single Pack, beige housing, beige 900 m, 2.0 mm and 2.9 mm boots for each student. 3M S-D2529-6 3M Universal Fibrlok for each student Multimode fiber optic cable. About 10 feet per unit. Tools

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110 punch down tool. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fiber optic cable scissors. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fiber optic cable jacket stripper. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fiber optic cable cleaver. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fiber optic cable disposal unit. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fiber optic cable cleaning supplies. As many as are needed for the number of students. Corning TKT-UNICAM UniCam installation kit. As many as are needed for the number of students. As many as are needed for the number of students. 3M Universal Fibrlok Assembly Tool. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fluke FiberViewer FT120. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fluke DTX-LT with the Fiber Optic Cable Module for the DTX-LT. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fluke Copper Test Kit 664141 IPP-Cable-1. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fluke Fiber Test Kit 1671596 IPP-Fiber. As many as are needed for the number of students. Fluke NF Mandrel-50. As many as are needed for the number of students. The instructor should demonstrate each of the procedures to the class. Then as each student replicates the activity the instructor should observe.

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Lab 3
1. For a given scenario select the correct UTP cable. 2. For a given scenario select the correct type of fiber optic cable. 3. Assess an installed cabling system for compliance with structured cabling standards, in other words find whats wrong by examining a series of photographs of actual installations.
The organization you work for is in need of more office space. As the network manager you are accompanying the business manager of the organization as you visit office buildings with available space for rent. Part of your responsibility during these visits is to determine if the cabling currently installed in the building can be used as it is. In a vacant two story office building of current construction that you are visiting today the Equipment Room is on the first floor near the bottom left of the diagram of the building as shown on the First Floor Plan below. There will be two TRs Telecommunications Rooms on the second floor as shown on the Second Floor Plan also shown below. The first TR-1 is 175 feet from the patch panel in the relay rack located in the Equipment Room if a straight line is drawn between the Equipment Room and TR-1. When cable is run to this TR from the Equipment Room using the nearest available riser tube the cable length is 273 feet. The network design for the new space calls for the Equipment Room to house the servers and distribution layer switches. Then as needed TRs will be used to house the access layer switches that connect to the end user work areas. To connect the Equipment Room to each TR a backbone cable of suitable type and capacity will be required. The network design calls for at least a single cable capable of carrying 1,000 Mbps of traffic from the Equipment Room to each TR. No redundancy in the cabling plant is required. First Floor Plan

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Second Floor Plan

On inspection of the building it is seen that a backbone cable currently connects the Equipment Room to TR-1. While examining this cable the only markings that can be seen are shown in the photograph below.

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Markings on Cable Connecting the Equipment Room to TR-1

Part of the information sheet on this cable that you downloaded from the manufacturers web site is shown below.

A. Will we as the new tenants be able to use this cable to link the Equipment Room to TR-1? B. Explain your answer.

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C. If you answered no to Question A. What type of cable would you specify to replace the currently installed cable? D. Besides the method you specified in the answer to Question B, is there any other way to make the connection from the Equipment Room to TR-1? The second TR named TR-2 will be on the second floor of the building as shown on the floor plan above. The direct line distance between the Equipment Room and TR-2 is 428 feet. Using the nearest available riser tube the cable distance will be 467 feet. There is no cable from the Equipment Room to TR-2 as this is a new telecommunications room that will be built as part of the general renovation before we as the new tenants move in.

A. What type of cable should be specified for this run? Provide a detailed specification for this cable. B. Is there any other type of cable that could also be used for this connection? If yes, what type of cable? The lease is up for renewal on the building where the school for which you are the network manager is located. The school has decided to reduce the amount of space they occupy in this building in order to open additional locations. This strategy is expected to increase enrollment by making each location more convenient for the students. As part of the lease renewal and consolidation the entire building will be remodeled. Your job as part of this renovation is to examine the cabling plant in the building to determine what if anything needs to be done to bring the cabling plant into compliance with the standards that define a structured cabling system. The set of photographs shown below were taken to document for the contractor what parts of the cabling plant can be left and what parts will need to be redone.

For each photograph below state in detail whether it illustrates an acceptable or unacceptable practice.

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A. This is the back of the patch panel in one of the classrooms.

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B. These are the jacks for a surface mount floor connection for a cubicle in the office area. The jack at the bottom is for the Category 5E cable to connect the computer. The jack at the top is for the telephone.

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C. This is a wall jack for the Category 5E cable for an office.

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D. This is a cable run for cabling added to the building after initial construction.

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E. This is cable that has been cut off and left in the ceiling as it is no longer needed.

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F. This is a riser tube in a classroom. The one on the far left is plastic. The others are metal.

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G. This is a ground cable for a relay rack in a classroom.

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H. This is the front of a patch panel in a classroom.

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I. This is a set of cables coming through a firewall.

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J. This is a cable to a telephone in an office. It runs between the structural ceiling and the false ceiling.

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K. This is ladder rack bracing relay racks in the Telecommunications Room.

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L. This is cabling in the plenum area.

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M. This is a fiber optic patch panel in a classroom.

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N. The next several photographs are riser tubes connecting the first floor to the second floor.

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O. This is a patch panel in the Telecommunications Room.

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P. This is a patch panel in the Telecommunications Room.

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Q. These are switches in the Telecommunications Room.

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R. The next two photographs show ladder rack in the Telecommunications Room.

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S. This is the back of a patch panel in the Telecommunications Room

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T. This is a riser tube in a telecommunications room.

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Lab 4
1. For a given scenario specify the correct outside plant installation procedures. 2. For a given scenario select the correct type of wired media for an outside plant connection. 3. For a given scenario compare and contrast the use of wired versus wireless media.
You are the network manager for the local school district. Due to growth in the city one of the elementary schools has run out of classroom space. Across a city street from this elementary school there is a church that is for sale. The school district is considering purchasing this church as a low cost way to expand the space in the elementary school. The local area networks in the two buildings will have to be connected to each other. Due to the school districts data security policy the connection must be made using wired media. To install this media the city street between the two buildings must be crossed. This crossing will be underground. Here is the relationship of the two buildings.

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As the network manager you must issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to hire a firm to perform this work for the school district. To create this RFP you must determine what the citys requirements are for this type of work. Examine the document titled ROWManual.pdf.

Based on the contents of this document answer the following questions. A. May we trench across the street? B. Who issues the permit for this work? C. What are the compaction requirements for restoration of any surface that is trenched? D. Must we submit construction plans to the city? E. Once the permit is issued, how long must we wait before commencing work?

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F. How deep must the cable be buried? G. Is the company we hire to do this work required to be registered in any way? You own a small network consulting company that serves a predominately rural area. You received a call from a potential client that wants you to provide a link from his main house located at the rear of a 17 acre tract of land to another house on the same property that is located at the front of the tract. This client attempted to link the two houses using a wireless connection. As shown below in the aerial photograph there is too much vegetation between the two houses for a low power unlicensed wireless link to penetrate. The client does not want to install towers at each house to allow the wireless link to work. The client also rejects the idea of a licensed frequency as too expensive. Therefore, he has asked you for a wired media solution to this problem. Here is the tract in question.

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The client states that the reason for making the connection is to transfer traffic from a set of IP security cameras mounted on the Second House to a server located in the Main House. Right now there are five Toshiba IK-WB15A cameras installed at various locations on the Second House. Your calculations show that at 30 frames per second, medium compression, and a display setting of 640 x 480 pixels each camera will need 11.04 Mbps of bandwidth. For all five existing cameras the connection will need to carry 55.2 Mbps. The client states that there may eventually be 8 such cameras in place on the Second House. The distance between the Main House and the Second House is 1,137 feet.

A. What type of wired media is appropriate for this connection? B. For the type of wired media you selected in Question A, provide detailed specifications for this media. C. Is there any other type of wired media that could be used instead of what you specified in the answer to Question B? The strategic plan for the company you work for calls for the organization to enter three new markets this coming fiscal year. This planned expansion will require the hiring of 200 new staff. The majority of this new staff will consist of engineers and their required support staff. These engineers will have offices in the recently vacated building next door. Your job as the network manager is to connect the local area network in the new engineering building to the servers that will house their data. These servers will be housed in the data center in the existing building. The distance between these two buildings is 423 feet. The space between the two buildings consists of two adjoining concrete surfaced parking lots that your company will not own, but will control access to as part of the rental agreement for the space in both office buildings. The space between these two buildings is shown below in an aerial photograph.

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The network design calls for a redundant connection capable of carrying 2.5 Gbps of data initially, and up to 12 Gbps of data being possible.

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A. What options, both wired and wireless, can be used to link the two buildings to each other?

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Lab 5
1. For a given scenario write a RFI for an indoor cable installation. 2. For a given scenario write sections of a RFQ for an indoor cable installation. 3. Review and evaluate portions of a sample RFQ received in response to a request for quote for an indoor cabling installation.
You are the network manager for a social services agency in a large metropolitan area. As part of a general upgrade of the network the social services agency uses in its various offices the network will be changed from a Token Ring Local Area Network using IBM Type 1 cable to a 1000Base-T Ethernet network. As this social service agency is part of the state government the rewiring of each office must be opened to competitive bid by all interested parties. Since the bid specifications encompass 237 pages costing $43.87 each to send to the potential bidders, you desire to reduce the list of bidders to which the document must be sent to only those interested in actually bidding on the project. To do this you decide to send a one page RFI to the entire list of interested parties. Those that respond will then receive the bid specifications package.

A. Write a one page RFI for this project. You have received the responses to the RFI you wrote and distributed. Seventeen organizations requested the complete set of bid specifications. Part of these specifications must describe the type of horizontal cable you require to connect each work area outlet back to the patch panel in the relay rack installed in the LAN room.

A. Write the specification for the horizontal cables. The bid date has passed. Seven organizations submitted bids. Of these, three were nonresponsive to one or more required portions of the bid. Of the four Page 50

contenders for the award of the contract their respective responses to the horizontal cabling specification you wrote above are shown below. Evaluate each of these responses. The criteria for the evaluation is the best value criteria.

A. Assign each one a point value from 1 to 10. B. Write a short justification for the point value assigned in order to be prepared for a protest of the bid award by a losing bidder. Bidder 1 Each horizontal cable connection from the TC to the Work Area outlet will consist of a single unshielded twisted pair cable using stranded cooper cabling. The use of the stranded copper cable will save the government money as patch cables can be made from the left over material. Bidder 2 Horizontal cables will be EIA/TIA-568B.1 compliant BelTex 1588 UTP solid copper cable. The terminations will be done using the 568-B color code. Bidder 3 In order to provide the ability to increase the speed of the local area network without having to recable the entire building we will install two cables from each work area outlet to the patch panel installed in the relay rack in the LAN room. The first cable will be a UTP cable rated to 10 Gbps. The second cable will be a singlemode fiber optic cable. Only the UTP cable will be terminated at this time. Bidder 4 In conformance with the specifications included in the RFQ received we will install the following: Solid copper, 24 AWG, 100 ; balanced twisted-pair (UTP) Category 5e cables with four individually twisted-pairs, which meet or exceed the mechanical and transmission performance specifications in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2 up to 100 MHz. Note: Listed Type CMR, CMP, (as required in the NEC 2005,).

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Lab 6
1. Examine wired media frames. 2. Examine wireless media frames.
Tools For the wireless portion of this lab an AirPcap EX network interface card is required.

Go to www.wireshark.org. Once there download and install the latest version of the Wireshark network analyzer onto the laptop you purchased through DeVry University or any other computer you own. Attach the computer to any network that you have permission to connect to for the purpose of capturing frames that a third party may see. Once Wireshark is running properly on this network, use it to capture approximately 50 frames. Save this capture file to your laptop. Submit this file to the instructor. Load each of the following capture files as required, and then answer the questions concerning each file. Open the capture file named lancapture.pcap. This capture file shows that some frames contain errors. In what frames is this error detected? What is the nature of the error? In frame number 20 what is the ARP protocol being used for in this case? What frame contains the answer to the question asked in frame number 20? What is the answer provided to the question asked in frame number 20? Open the capture file named wancapture.pcap. At layer 1 of the OSI model what type of WAN connection carried this frame?

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At layer 2 of the OSI model what type of protocol carried the data? At layer 4 of the OSI model what application is using this connection? Attach the laptop to any wireless network that you have permission to connect to for the purpose of capturing frames that a third party may see. Once Wireshark is running properly on this network, use it to capture approximately 50 frames. Save this capture file to your laptop. Submit this file to the instructor. Open the capture file named beacon.pcap. How often are these beacon frames being sent out by the access point? On what channel is this signal being transmitted by the access point? What is the reported signal strength? Open the capture file named wirelesslan.pcap. What is the SSID of the wireless network? What is the noise floor? What data rates are supported?

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Lab 7
There are two labs for this topic. They both use OPNET. The instructions and files required to perform these labs are on the website from which this lab manual was downloaded.

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