CWNA Guide to Wireless

LANs, Second Edition

Chapter Twelve
Personal, Metropolitan, and Wide Area
Wireless Networks
 Objectives
• Define a wireless personal area network
• List the technologies of a wireless metropolitan
area network
• Describe the features of a wireless wide area
network
• Discuss the future of wireless networking

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 2

 Wireless Personal Area Networks
• Wireless networks classified into four broad
categories:
– Wireless personal area network (WPAN): Hand-
held and portable devices; slow to moderate
transmission speeds
– Wireless local area network (WLAN): i.e., IEEE
802.11a/b/g
– Wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN):
Range up to 50 kilometers
– Wireless wide area network (WWAN): Connects
networks in different geographical areas
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 3
 Wireless Personal Area Networks
(continued)

Figure 12-1: Wireless network distances

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 4
 Wireless Personal Area Networks
(continued)

Figure 12-2: Point-to-point transmission

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 5
 Wireless Personal Area Networks
(continued)

Figure 12-3: Point-to-multipoint transmission

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 6
 Wireless Personal Area Networks
(continued)
• WPANs encompass technology designed for
portable devices
– PDAs, cell phones, tablet or laptop computers
– Low transmission speeds
• Three main categories:
– IEEE 802.15 standards
– Radio frequency ID (RFID)
– IrDA

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 7

 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.1 (Bluetooth)
• Bluetooth uses short-range RF transmissions
– Users can connect wirelessly to wide range of
computing and telecommunications devices
– Rapid and ad hoc connections between devices
• 802.15.1 adapted and expanded from Bluetooth
– Designed for area of about 10 meters
– Rate of transmission below 1 Mbps
• Two types of 802.15.1 network topologies
– Piconet
– Scatternet
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 8
 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.1 (continued)
• Piconet: When two 802.15.1 devices come within
range, automatically connect
– Master: Controls wireless traffic
– Slave: Takes commands from master
– Piconet has one master and at least one slave
• Active slave: Connected to piconet and sending
transmissions
• Parked slave: Connected but not actively
participating

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 9

 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.1 (continued)

Figure 12-4: Piconet

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 10
 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.1 (continued)

Figure 12-5: Slave device detected by a master device

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 11
 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.1 (continued)
• Devices in piconet can be in one of five modes:
– Standby: Waiting to join a piconet
– Inquire: Device looking for devices to connect to
– Page: Master device asking to connect to specific
slave
– Connected: Active slave or master
– Park/Hold: Part of piconet but in low-power state
• Scatternet: Group of piconets in which
connections exist between different piconets
• 802.15.1 uses FHSS
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 12
 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.1 (continued)

Figure 12-6: Scatternet

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 13
 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.1 (continued)

Table 12-1: Comparison of 802.15.1 speed

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 14

 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.3
• Created in response to limitations of 802.15.1
– High-rate WPANs
• Two main applications:
– Video and audio distribution for home entertainment
systems
• High-speed digital video transfer
• High-density MPEG2 transfer between video
players/gateways and multiple HD displays
• Home theater
• PC to LCD projector
• Interactive video gaming
– High speed data transfer
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 15
 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.3 (continued)
• Differences between 802.15.3 and 802.15.1
– Quality of Service (QoS)
– Security
– High data rates
– Spectrum utilization
– Coexistence

Table 12-2: IEEE 802.15.3 security modes

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 16
 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.3 (continued)
• 802.15.3a: Will support data transfers up to 110
Mbps between max of 245 devices at 10 meters
– Ultrawideband (UWB)
– Intended to compete with USB 2.0 and FireWire
• IEEE 802.15.3b task group working on improving
implementation and interoperability of 802.15.3
• IEEE 802.15.3c task group developing alternative
physical layer standard that could increase speeds
up to 2 Gbps

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 17

 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.4
• Sometimes preferable to have low-speed, low-
power wireless devices
– Size can be dramatically reduced
• IEEE 802.15.4 standard addresses requirements
for RF transmissions requiring low power
consumption and cost

Table 12-3: IEEE 802.15.4 data rates and frequencies

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 18

 WPANs: IEEE 802.15.4 (continued)
• ZigBee Alliance: Industry consortium that
promotes 802.15.4 standard

Figure 12-7: ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4

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 WPANs: Radio Frequency ID (RFID)

Figure 12-8: RFID tag

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 20
 WPANs: Radio Frequency ID
(continued)
• Passive RFID tags: No power supply
– Can be very small
– Limited amount of information transmitted
• Active RFID tags: Must have power source
– Longer ranges/larger memories than passive tags

Table 12-4: RFID tags

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 21
 WPANs: IrDA
• Infrared Data Association
• IrDA specifications include standards for physical
devices and network protocols they use to
communicate
• Devices communicate using infrared light-emitting
diodes
– Recessed into device
– Many design considerations affect IrDA performance

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 22

 WPANs: IrDA (continued)

Figure 12-9: IrDA diodes in device

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 23
 WPANs: IrDA (continued)
• IrDA drawbacks:
– Designed to work like standard serial port on a
personal computer, which is seldom used today
– Cannot send and receive simultaneously
– Strong ambient light can negatively impact
transmissions
– Angle and distance limitation between
communicating devices

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 24

 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks
• Cover an area of up to 50 kilometers (31 miles)
• Used for two primary reasons:
– Alternative to an organization’s wired backhaul
connection
• i.e., T1, T3, T4 lines
– Fiber Optics
• Very expensive to install backhaul connections
• Often less expensive to use a WMAN to link remote
sites

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 25

 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks
(continued)
• Used for two primary reasons (continued):
– Overcome last mile connection
• Connection that begins at a fast Internet service
provider, goes through local neighborhood, and ends
at the home or office
• Slower-speed connection
– Bottleneck

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 26

 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks:
Free Space Optics
• Optical, wireless, point-to-point, line-of-sight
wireless technology
– Able to transmit at speed comparable to Fiber Optics
– Transmissions sent by low-powered IR beams
• Advantages compared to fiber optic and RF:
– Lower installation costs
– Faster installation
– Scaling transmission speed
– Good security
• Atmospheric conditions can affect transmission
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 27
 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks:
Local Multipoint Distribution Service
(LMDS)
• LMDS provides wide variety of wireless services
– High-frequency, low-powered RF waves have limited
range
– Point-to-multipoint signal transmission
• Signals transmitted back are point-to-point
– Voice, data, Internet, and video traffic
– Local carrier determines services offered
• LMDS network is composed of cells
– Cell size affected by line of site, antenna height,
overlapping cells, and rainfall
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 28
 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks:
LMDS (continued)

Figure 12-11: LMDS cell

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 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks:
Multichannel Multipoint Distribution
Service (MMDS)
• Many similarities to LMDS
– Differs in area of transmission
– Higher downstream transmission, lower upstream
transmission, greater range
• In homes, alternative to cable modems and DSL
service
• For businesses, alternative to T1 or fiber optic
connections
• MMDS hub typically located at a very high point
– On top of building, towers, mountains
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 30
 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks:
MMDS (continued)
• Hub uses point-to-multipoint architecture
– Multiplexes communications to multiple users
– Tower has backhaul connection
• MMDS uses cells
– Single MMDS cell as large as 100 LDMS cells
• Receiving end uses pizza box antenna
• Advantages:
– Transmission range, cell size, low vulnerability to
poor weather conditions
• Still requires line-of-site, not encrypted
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 31
 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks:
IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX)
• High potential
– Can connect IEEE 802.11 hotspots to Internet
– Can provide alternative to cable and DSL for last
mile connection
– Up to 50 kilometers of linear service area range
– Does not require direct line of sight
– Provides shared data rates up to 70 Mbps
• Uses scheduling system
– Device competes once for initial network entry

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 32

 Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks:
IEEE 802.16 (continued)
• Currently addresses only devices in fixed positions
– 802.16e will add mobile devices to the standard
• IEEE 802.20 standard: Sets standards for mobility
over large areas
– Will permit users to roam at high speeds
• WiMAX base stations installed by a wireless
Internet service provider (wireless ISP) can send
high-speed Internet connections to homes and
businesses in a radius of up to 50 km (31 miles)

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 33

 Wireless Wide Area Networks
(WWANS)
• Wireless networks extending beyond 50 kilometers
(31 miles)
• Two primary technologies:
– Digital cellular telephony
– Satellites

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 34

 Digital Cellular Telephony
• Two keys to cellular telephone networks:
– Coverage area divided into cells
• Cell transmitter at center
• Mobile devices communicate with cell center via RF
• Transmitters connected to base station,
• Each base station connected to a mobile
telecommunications switching office (MTSO)
– Link between cellular and wired telephone network
– All transmitters and cell phones operate at low power
• Enables frequency reuse

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 35

 Digital Cellular Telephony (continued)

Figure 12-13: Frequency reuse

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 36
 Satellites
• Satellite use falls into three broad categories:
– Acquire scientific data, perform research
– Examine Earth
• Military and weather satellites
– “Reflectors”
• Relay signals
• Communications, navigation, broadcast

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 37

 Satellites (continued)
• Satellite systems classified by type of orbit:
– Low earth orbiting (LEO): Small area of earth
coverage
• Over 225 satellites needed for total coverage of earth
• Must travel very fast
– Medium earth orbiting (MEO): Larger area of
coverage than LEO
• Do not need to travel as fast
– Geosynchronous earth orbiting (GEO): orbit
matches earth’s rotation
• “Fixed” position
• Very large coverage area
CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 38
 Satellites (continued)

Figure 12-14: LEO coverage area

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 The Future of Wireless Networks
• IEEE 802.11 subcommittees currently at work:
– 802.11d: Supplementary to 802.11 MAC layer
• Promote worldwide use of 802.11 WLANs
– 802.11f: Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP)
• Will assist with faster handoff from one AP to another
– 802.11h: Supplement to MAC layer to comply with
European regulations for 5 GHz WLANs
– 802.11j: Incorporates Japanese regulatory
extensions to 802.11a standard
– 802.11s: Defines a mesh wireless network
• Devices configure themselves and are intelligent

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 40

 Summary
• WPANs encompass technology that is designed for
portable devices, typically PDAs, cell phones, and
tablet or laptop computers at transmission speeds
lower than the other types of networks
• The IEEE 802.15 standards address wireless
personal area networks
• RFID is not a standard but is a technology that
uses RF tags to transmit information
• IrDA technology uses infrared transmissions to
transmit data at speeds from 9,600 bps to 16 Mbps

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 41

 Summary (continued)
• FSO is an optical, wireless, point-to-point wireless
metropolitan area network technology
• LMDS can provide a wide variety of wireless
services, including high-speed Internet access,
real-time multimedia file transfer, remote access to
local area networks, interactive video, video-on-
demand, video conferencing, and telephone
• MMDS has many of similarities to LMDS, yet has a
longer distance range

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 42

 Summary (continued)
• The IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) standard holds great
promise for providing higher throughput rates for
fixed location and mobile users
• Wireless wide area network (WWAN) technology
encompasses digital cellular telephony and satellite
• The future of wireless networks is hard to predict,
but most experts agree that wireless networks will
be faster, more global, and easier to use in the
years ahead

CWNA Guide to Wireless LANs, Second Edition 43