WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORKS

Introduction
Wireless local area networks (WLAN) are interconnections of personal computers, laptops, personal digital assistance and other devices by radio. It is a local area network (LAN) that does not rely on wired Ethernet connections. A WLAN can be either an extension to a current wired network or an alternative to it. WLANs have data transfer speeds ranging from 1 to 54Mbps. Since the wireless signal is broadcast so everybody nearby can share it, several security precautions are necessary to ensure only authorized users can access the WLAN. A WLAN signal can be broadcast to cover an area ranging in size from a small office to a large campus. Most commonly, a WLAN access point provides access within a radius of 65 to 300 feet. The diagram below shows how a wireless local area network is broadcast from a wired LAN. An access point (AP) is connected to the Ethernet switch. The access point broadcasts the wireless network for devices (laptops, personal computers, personal digital assistants, ipads, etc.) with wireless capability to connect to the local area network.

WLAN types
i. Private home or small business WLAN

A home or business WLAN employs one or two access points to broadcast a signal around a 100- to 200-foot radius. Hardware for this WLAN type subscribes to the 802.11a, b, or g standards (also known as Wi-Fi); some home and office WLANs now adhere to the new 802.11n standard. Many home and office WLANs adhere to the Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) security standard.

Enterprise class WLAN An enterprise class WLAN employs a large number of individual access points to broadcast the signal to a wide area. The access points have more features than home or small office WLAN equipment, such as better security, authentication, remote management, and tools to help integrate with existing networks. These access points have a larger coverage area than home or small office equipment, and are designed to work together to cover a much larger area. This equipment can adhere to the 802.11a, b, g, or n standard, or to security-refining standards, such as 802.1x and WPA2.

Wireless Access Point & Hotspot

A wireless access point (WAP) is a device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or related standards. The WAP usually connects to a router (via a wired network), and can relay data between the wireless devices (such as computers or printers) and wired devices on the network. Wireless access points (APs or WAPs) are specially configured nodes on wireless local area networks (WLANs). Access points act as a central transmitter and receiver of WLAN radio signals. The images below show examples of wireless access points used in homes or offices.

A typical corporate use involves attaching several WAPs to a wired network and then providing wireless access to the office LAN. The wireless access points are managed by a WLAN Controller which handles automatic adjustments to RF power, channels, authentication, and security. Further, controllers can be combined to form a wireless mobility group to allow inter-controller roaming. The controllers can be part of a mobility domain to allow clients access throughout large or regional office locations. This saves the clients time and administrators overhead because it can automatically re-associate or re-authenticate. A hotspot is a common public application of wireless access points. A hotspot is any location where Wi-Fi network access (usually Internet access) is made publicly available. Wireless clients can connect to the Internet without regard for the particular networks to which they have attached for the moment. The concept has become common in large cities, where a combination of coffee shops, airports, places where business people tend to congregate libraries and privately owned open access points which allow clients to stay more or less

continuously connected to the Internet, while moving around. A collection of connected hotspots can be referred to as a lily-pad network. Hotspot providers strive to make connecting Wi-Fi clients as simple and secure as possible. However, being public, hotspots generally provide less secure Internet connections than do other wireless business networks. WLAN STANDARDS
802.11a Standard

802.11a, is much faster than 802.11b, with a 54Mbps maximum data rate operates in the 5GHz frequency range and allows eight simultaneous channels. 802.11a uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), an encoding scheme that offers benefits over spread spectrum in channel availability and data rate. Channel availability is significant because the more independent channels that are available, the more scalable the wireless network becomes. 802.11a uses OFDM to define a total of 8 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels across the 2 lower bands. By comparison, 802.11b uses 3 non-overlapping channels. All wireless LANs use unlicensed spectrum; therefore they're prone to interference and transmission errors. To reduce errors, both types of 802.11 automatically reduce the Physical layer data rate. IEEE 802.11b has three lower data rates (5.5, 2, and 1Mbit/sec), and 802.11a has seven (48, 36, 24, 18, 12, 9, and 6Mbits/sec). Higher (and more) data rates aren't 802.11a's only advantage. It also uses a higher frequency band, 5GHz, which is both wider and less crowded than the 2.4GHz band that 802.11b shares with cordless phones, microwave ovens, and Bluetooth devices.
802.11b Standard

With 802.11b WLANs, mobile users can get Ethernet levels of performance, throughput, and availability.The basic architecture features, and services of 802.11b are defined by the original 802.11 standard. The 802.11b specification affects only the physical layer, adding higher data rates and more robust connectivity. The key contribution of the 802.11b addition to the wireless LAN standard was to standardize the physical layer support of two new speeds,5.5 Mbps and 11 Mbps. To accomplish this, DSSS had to be selected as the sole physical layer technique for the standard since, as frequency hopping cannot support the higher speeds without violating current FCC regulations. The implication is that 802.11b systems will interoperate with 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps 802.11 DSSS systems, but will not work with 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps 802.11 FHSS systems. The 5.5 Mbps rate uses CCK to encode 4 bits per carrier, while the 11 Mbps rate encodes 8 bits per carrier. Both speeds use QPSK as the modulation technique and signal at 1.375 Mbps. This is how the higher data rates are obtained. To support very noisy environments as well as extended range, 802.11b WLANs use dynamic rate shifting, allowing data rates to be automatically adjusted to compensate for the changing nature of the radio channel. Ideally, users connect at the full 11 Mbps rate.

However when devices move beyond the optimal range for 11 Mbps operation, or if substantial interference is present, 802.11b devices will transmit at lower speeds, falling back to 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps. Likewise, if the device moves back within the range of a higher-speed transmission, the connection will automatically speed up again. Rate shifting is a physical layer mechanism transparent to the user and the upper layers of the protocol stack. One of the more significant disadvantages of 802.11b is that the frequency band is crowded, and subject to interference from other networking technologies - microwave ovens, 2.4GHz cordless phones (a huge market), and Bluetooth. There are drawbacks to 802.11b, including lack of interoperability with voice devices, and no quality of service provisions for multimedia content. Interference and other limitations aside, 802.11b is the clear leader in business and institutional wireless networking and is gaining share for home applications as well.
802.11g Standard

Though 5GHz has many advantages, it also has problems. The most important of these is compatibility. The different frequencies mean that 802.11a products aren't interoperable with the 802.11b base. To get around this, the IEEE developed 802.11g, which extended the speed and range of 802.11b so that it is fully compatible with the older systems. The standard operates entirely in the 2.4GHz frequency, but uses a minimum of two modes (both mandatory) with two optional modes. The mandatory modulation/access modes are the same CCK (Complementary Code Keying) mode used by 802.11b (hence the compatibility) and the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) mode used by 802.11a (but in this case in the 2.4GHz frequency band). The mandatory CCK mode supports 11Mbps and the OFDM mode has a maximum of 54Mbps. There are also two modes that use different methods to attain a 22Mbps data rate--PBCC-22 (Packet Binary Convolutional Coding, rated for 6 to 54Mbps) and CCK-OFDM mode (with a rated max of 33Mbps). The obvious advantage of 802.11g is that it maintains compatibility with 802.11b (and 802.11b's worldwide acceptance) and also offers faster data rates comparable with 802.11a. The number of channels available, however, is not increased, since channels are a function of bandwidth, not radio signal modulation - and on that score, 802.11a wins with its eight channels, compared to the three channels available with either 802.11b or 802.11g. Another disadvantage of 802.11g is that it also works in the 2.4 GHz band and so due to interference it will never be as fast as 802.11a. Security Wireless access has special security considerations. Many wired networks base the security on physical access control, trusting all the users on the local network, but if wireless access points are connected to the network, anyone on the street or in the neighbouring office can connect. The most common solution is wireless traffic encryption. Modern access points come with built-in encryption. The first generation encryption scheme WEP proved easy to crack; the second and third generation schemes, WPA and WPA2, are considered secure if a strong enough password or passphrase is used.

Some WAPs support hotspot style authentication using RADIUS and other authentication servers. The 802.11x standards provide some basic security, but are becoming less adequate as use of wireless networking spreads. Following are security standards that extend or replace the basic standard: i. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)

WEP encrypts data traffic between the wireless access point and the client computer, but doesn't actually secure either end of the transmission. WEP's encryption level is relatively weak (only 40 to 128 bits). Many analysts consider WEP security to be weak and easy to crack. ii. WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

WPA implements higher security and addresses the flaws in WEP, but is intended to be only an intermediate measure until further 802.11i security measures are developed. iii. 802.1x

This standard is part of a full WPA security standard. WPA consists of a pair of smaller standards that address different aspects of security:

TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol encryption), which encrypts the wireless signal 802.1x, which handles the authentication of users to the network

Commonly, wireless systems have you log into individual wireless access points or let you access the wireless network, but then keep you from accessing network data until you provide further authentication (e.g., VPN). 802.1x makes you authenticate to the wireless network itself, not an individual access point, and not to some other level, such as VPN. This boosts security, because unauthorized traffic can be denied right at the wireless access point. iv. WPA2/802.11i The encryption level is so high that it requires dedicated chips on the hardware to handle it. In practical use, WPA2 devices have interoperability with WPA devices. When not interfacing with older WPA hardware, WPA2 devices will run strictly by the 802.11i specifications. WPA2 consists of a pair of smaller standards that address different aspects of security:

WPA2-Personal, which uses a pre-shared key (similar to a single password available to groups of users, instead of a single individual); the pre-shared key is stored on the access point and the end user's computer

WPA2-Enterprise, which authenticates users against a centralized authentication service

Short Range Wireless Technologies

There are many short range wireless communications devices available now, with combinations usually based on complementarities, but there are also combinations to create interoperability. These short range wireless devices are used in radio technologies designed for communication over distances up to 10 meters and were basically designed to replace cables.

Personal Area Network - PAN

A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network organised around an individual person used for communication among personal devices themselves (intrapersonal communication), or for connecting to a higher level network and the Internet (an uplink) having a reach of a few centimeters to a few meters usually less than 10 meters.. PANs typically involve a mobile computer, a cell phone and/or a handheld computing device such as a PDA. You can use these networks to transfer files including email and calendar appointments, digital photos and music. PANs can be constructed with cables or wirelessly. Wired computer buses such as USB and FireWire technologies often link together a wired PAN.

Figure1-1 wired PAN

Figure1-2 wireless PAN A wireless personal area network (WPAN) is a PAN carried over wireless network technologies such as Bluetooth, Wireless USB, Z-Wave, ZigBee, XBee or even infrared in some cases. A wireless PAN consists of a dynamic group of less than 255 devices that communicate within about a 33-foot range. Unlike with wireless LANs, only devices within this limited area typically participate in the network, and no online connection with external devices is defined. One device is selected to assume the role of the controller during wireless PAN initialization, and this controller device mediates communication within the WPAN. The controller broadcasts a beacon that lets all devices synchronize with each other and allocates time slots for the devices. Each device attempts to join the wireless PAN by requesting a time slot from the controller. The controller authenticates the devices and assigns time slots for each device to transmit data. The data may be sent to the entire wireless PAN using the wireless PAN destination address, or it may be directed to a particular device. Bluetooth Bluetooth technology was designed primarily to support simple wireless networking of personal consumer devices and peripherals, including cell phones, PDAs, and wireless headsets, keyboards, pointing devices, audio head sets, printers and other network devices over short distances, typically up to 30 feet (10 meters).Bluetooth networks feature a dynamic topology called a piconet which contains a minimum of two and a maximum of eight Bluetooth peer devices in a master-slave relationship. The first device is the master and all other devices are slaves that communicate with the master .These devices communicate using protocols that are part of the Bluetooth Specification.

Figure1-3 piconet

Although the Bluetooth standard utilizes the same 2.4 GHz range as 802.11b and 802.11g, Bluetooth technology is not a suitable Wi-Fi replacement. Compared to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth networking is much slower, running at less than 1Mbps, a bit more limited in range, and supports many fewer devices. As is true for Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies today, concerns with Bluetooth technology include security and interoperability with other networking standards. Bluetooth was ratified as IEEE 802.15.1.

How Bluetooth works

Bluetooth piconets utilize frequency hopping in which 79 frequencies are used and they change frequencies 1600 times per second. They use an assigned frequency of 2.45 GHz, a frequency set aside for this purpose by the ISM(Industrial Scientific and Medical) frequency band. Since, each piconet has a unique master with its unique Bluetooth device address (BD_ADDR) as well as it's own clock, therefore, each piconet has its unique frequency hopping sequence. When a connection is initiated by Bluetooth enabled devices, the master devices clock along with the device address (BD_AAR) is transmitted to the slave devices in a packet known as Frequency-Hop Synchronization Packet (FHS packet). The device address of the master device is used to calculate the sequence of frequency hops which all devices within a piconet, follow. The clock of the master device assigns the sequence of the frequency hops. All devices within a piconet use the difference between their

own native clock and the masters native clock to make use of particular frequency in order to transmit or receive radio signals on a particular moment. Using this method, the Bluetooth devices within a piconet are able to avoid one anothers transmission by persistently changing frequency channels.

Zigbee
ZigBee is the latest, low-cost, low-power, advanced wireless mesh network standard technology being built into millions of home automation & smart energy devices worldwide. Lights, thermostats, alarms, fridges, doors, appliances, utility meters are all being ZigBee enabled. ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on an IEEE 802 standard for personal area networks.

The technology defined by the ZigBee specification is intended to be simpler and less expensive than other WPANs, such as Bluetooth. ZigBee is targeted at radio-frequency (RF) applications that require a low data rate, long battery life, and secure networking. ZigBee has a defined rate of 250 kbps best suited for periodic or intermittent data or a single signal transmission from a sensor or input device. The low cost allows the technology to be widely deployed in wireless control and monitoring applications. Low power-usage allows longer life with smaller batteries. Mesh networking provides high reliability and more extensive range. ZigBee chip vendors typically sell integrated radios and microcontrollers with between 60 KB and 256 KB flash memory.

Figure1-3 zigbee network

Zigbee applications
Home Entertainment and Control Home automation, smart lighting advanced temperature control safety and security Wireless Sensor Networks Industrial control Embedded sensing Medical data collection Smoke and intruder warning Building automation And all other consumer and industrial equipment that requires short-range wireless transfer of data at relatively low rates.

Ultra WideBand (UWB)

UWB also known as digital pulse wireless is a wireless technology for transmitting large amounts of digital data over a wide spectrum of frequency bands with very low power for a short distance. UWB radio not only can carry a huge amount of data over a distance up to 230 feet at very low power (less than 0.5 mW), but has the ability to carry signals through doors and other obstacles that tend to reflect signals at more limited bandwidths and a higher power. UWB can be compared with another short-distance wireless technology, Bluetooth, which is a standard for connecting handheld wireless devices with other similar devices and with desktop computers. UWB broadcasts digital pulses that are timed very precisely on a carrier signal across a very wide spectrum (number of frequency channels) at the same time. Transmitter and receiver must be coordinated to send and receive pulses with an accuracy of trillionths of a second. On any given frequency band that may already be in use, the UWB signal has less power than the normal and anticipated background noise so theoretically no interference is possible.

Ultra wideband applications:

Applications involving radar, in which the signal penetrates nearby surfaces but reflects surfaces that are farther away, allowing objects to be detected behind walls or other coverings.

Voice and data transmission using digital pulses, allowing a very low powered and relatively low cost signal to carry information at very high rates within a restricted range.

Replacing cables between portable multimedia CE devices, such as camcorders, digital cameras, and portable MP3 players, with wireless connectivity Enabling high-speed wireless universal serial bus (WUSB connectivity for PCs and PC peripherals, including printers, scanners, and external storage devices Replacing cables in next-generation Bluetooth Technology devices, such as 3G cell phones, as well as IP/UPnP-based

Radio frequency identification RFID

A basic RFID system consists of three components: An antenna or coil A transceiver (with decoder) A transponder (RF tag) electronically programmed with unique information

figure1-4 RFID

The antenna emits radio signals to activate the tag and to read and write data to it. The reader emits radio waves in ranges of anywhere from one inch to 100 feet or more, depending upon its power output and the radio frequency used. When an RFID tag passes through the electromagnetic zone, it detects the reader's activation signal. The reader decodes the data encoded in the tag's integrated circuit (silicon chip) and the data is passed to the host computer for processing.

The purpose of an RFID system is to enable data to be transmitted by a portable device, called a tag, which is read by an RFID reader and processed according to the needs of a particular application. The data transmitted by the tag may provide identification or location information, or specifics about the product tagged, such as price, color, date of purchase, etc. RFID technology has been used by thousands of companies for a decade or more. RFID quickly gained attention because of its ability to track moving objects. As the technology is refined, more pervasive - and invasive - uses for RFID tags are in the works.

A typical RFID tag consists of a microchip attached to a radio antenna mounted on a substrate. The chip can store as much as 2 kilobytes of data. To retrieve the data stored on an RFID tag, you need a reader. A typical reader is a device that has one or more antennas that emit radio waves and receive signals back from the tag. The reader then passes the information in digital form to a computer system

RFID Applications
Security and Access Control Payment System Asset Tracking Animal and pet tracking

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