Wireless LANs

Introducing WLANs

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

Wireless Data Technologies

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

Wireless Data Technologies (Cont.)

WAN
(Wide Area Network)

MAN
(Metropolitan Area Network)

LAN
(Local Area Network)

PAN
(Personal Area Network)

PAN
Standards Speed Range Applications
Bluetooth <1 Mbps Short Peer to peer, device to device

LAN
IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g 154+ Mbps Medium Enterprise networks

MAN
802.16 MMDS, LMDS 22+ Mbps Mediumlong Fixed, lastmile access

WAN
GSM, GPRS, CDMA, 2.53G 10384 kbps Long PDAs, mobile phones, cellular access
Cisco Confidential

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Wireless LAN (WLAN)

A WLAN is a shared network. An access point is a shared device and functions like a shared Ethernet hub.

Data is transmitted over radio waves.

Two-way radio communications (half-duplex) are used. The same radio frequency is used for sending and receiving (transceiver).
Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

WLAN Evolution
Warehousing Retail Health care Education Businesses Home

802.1la - 5 GHz at 54 Mbps 802.1lb - 2.4 GHz at 11 Mbps 802.11g- 2.4 GHz at 54 Mbps (backward compatible with 802.11b)
Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

What Are WLANs?

They are:
Local In building or campus for mobile users Radio or infrared Not required to have RF licenses in most countries Using equipment owned by customers

They are not:

WAN or MAN networks Cellular phones networks

Packet data transmission via celluar phone networks

Cellular digital packet data (CDPD) General packet radio service (GPRS) 2.5G to 3G services

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

Similarities Between WLAN and LAN

A WLAN is an 802 LAN. Transmits data over the air vs. data over the wire Looks like a wired network to the user

Defines physical and data link layer

Uses MAC addresses The same protocols/applications run over both WLANs and LANs.

IP (network layer)
IPSec VPNs (IP-based) Web, FTP, SNMP (applications)

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

Differences Between WLAN and LAN

WLANs use radio waves as the physical layer. WLANs use CSMA/CA instead of CSMA/CD to access the network. CD is not possible because sending station cannot receive at the same time that it is transmitting and, therefore, cannot detect a collision. Instead, the Request To Send (RTS) and Clear To Send (CTS) protocols are used to avoid collisions. Radio waves have problems that are not found on wires.

Connectivity issues.
Multipath issues Privacy issues. WLANs use mobile clients.

Coverage problems
Interference, noise

No physical connection. Battery-powered. WLANs must meet country-specific RF regulations.

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

Summary
Different wireless data technologies with different characteristics are available. WLANs were introduced to provide local connectivity with higher data rates. WLANs use half-duplex transmission. WLANs have similarities and differences compared to wired LANS.

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

10

Session Number Presentation_ID

2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cisco Confidential

11