An Academic Seminar On

Wireless Fidelity

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE NO

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Introduction IEEE Standards for Wi-Fi Wireless Networking Components Operation Modes Radio Technology Hot Spots Operation of Wi-Fi Security Advantages Limitations Conclusion References

2 3 5 7 9 13 15 16 17 18 19 20

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1. INTRODUCTION
Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, is freedom: it allows you to connect to the Internet from your couch at home, a bed in a hotel room or at a conference room at work without wires. How? Wi-Fi is a wireless technology like a cell phone. Wi-Fi enabled computers send and receives data indoors and out: anywhere within the range of a base station. And the best thing of all, its fast. In fact, its several times faster than the fastest cable modem connection.

However, you only have true freedom to be connected anywhere if your computer is configured with a Wi-Fi CERTIFIED radio (a PC Card or similar device). Wi-Fi certification means that you will be able to connect anywhere there are other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED productswhether you are at home, the office or corporate campus, or in airports, hotels, coffee shops and other public areas equipped with a Wi-Fi access available.

The Wi-Fi certified logo is your only assurance that the product has met rigorous interoperability testing requirements to assure products from different vendors will work together .The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED logo means that its a safe buy.

Wi-Fi certification comes from the Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit international trade organization that tests 802.11-based wireless equipment to make sure it meets the Wi-Fi standard and works with all other manufacturers Wi-Fi equipment on the market .Thanks to the Wi-Fi Alliance, you dont have to read the fine print or study technical journals: if it says Wi-Fi, it will work.

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2. IEEE Standards for Wi-Fi

The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has produced a set of standards and specifications for wireless networks under the title IEEE 802.11 that defines the format and structure of radio signals sent out by Wi-Fi networking routers and antennas. At the beginning the IEEE 802.11 was an extension technology for conventional or wired LANs. Now a day it has grown in to something much more capable, complex and confusing. With growth, new issues have arisen such as security, roaming among multiple access points, and even quality of services. These issues are dealt by extensions to the standard identified by the letters of the alphabet derived from the 802.11 task groups that created them:

802.11b 802.11b is the slowest and least expensive standard. 802.11b transmits in the 2.4 GHz frequency band of the radio spectrum. It can handle up to 11 megabits of data per second, and it uses complementary code keying (CCK) modulation to improve speeds.

802.11a The 802.11a supplement to 802.11 was published in 2001. It uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to provide transmission at 5 GHz frequency and can move up to 54 megabits of data per second

802.11g The 802.11g task group is working on a supplement to the 802.11 standard that defines a technology for operation at 2.4 GHz that offers higher data rates (up to 22 Mbps) using OFDM, while remaining backwards compatible to 802.11b.

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The 802.11n is the newest standard that is widely available. 802.11n operates on both the 2.4 GHz and the lesser used 5 GHz bands. This standard is significantly improves speed and range. For instance, although 802.11g theoretically moves 54 Megabytes of data per second to 600 Mbit/s. It was published by the end of 2009.

802.11ac 802.11ac is a standard under development which will provide high throughput in the 5 GHz band. This specification will enable multi-station WLAN throughput of at least 1 Gigabit per second and a maximum single link throughput of at least 500 megabit per second, by using wider RF bandwidth

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3. WIRELESS NETWORKING COMPONENTS

Wi-Fi is a generic term for IEEE 802.11b Ethernet standard. It operates in the unlicensed frequency band of 2.4 GHz with a maximum data rate of 11 Mbps.

IEEE 802.11b wireless networking consists of the following components:

Stations A station (STA) is a network node that is equipped with a wireless network device. A

personal computer with a wireless network adapter is known as a wireless client. Wireless clients can communicate directly with each other or through a wireless access point (AP). Wireless clients are mobile.

Figure1. Wireless station

Wireless Access Points A wireless AP is a wireless network node that acts as a bridge between STAs and a

wired network. A wireless AP contains:

At least one interface that connects the wireless AP to an existing wired network
(such as an Ethernet backbone).

A wireless network device with which it creates wireless connections with STAs. IEEE 802.1D bridging software, so that it can act as a transparent bridge between
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The wireless AP is similar to a cellular phone network's base station. Wireless clients communicate with both the wired network and other wireless clients through the wireless AP. Wireless APs are not mobile and act as peripheral bridge devices that extend a wired network.

Figure2. Access point

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4. OPERATION MODES
IEEE 802.11 defines two operating modes: Ad hoc mode and Infrastructure mode.

AD HOC MODE: In ad hoc mode, also known as peer-to-peer mode, wireless clients communicate directly with each other (without the use of a wireless AP). Two or more wireless clients who communicate using ad hoc mode form an Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS). Ad hoc mode is used to connect wireless clients when a wireless AP is not present.

Figure 3: The ad-hoc network structure in the 802.11 protocol

INFRA STRUCTURE MODE: In infrastructure mode, there is at least one wireless AP and one wireless client. The wireless client uses the wireless AP to access the resources of a wired network. The wired network can be an organization intranet or the Internet, depending on the placement of the wireless AP.

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Figure 4: The infrastructure network structure in the 802.11 protocol

A single wireless AP that supports one or multiple wireless clients is known as a Basic Service Set (BSS). A set of two or more wireless APs that are connected to the same wired network is known as an Extended Service Set (ESS). An ESS is a single logical network segment (also known as a subnet), and is identified by its Service Set Identifier (SSID). If the available physical areas of the wireless APs in an ESS overlap, then a wireless client can roam, or move from one location (with a wireless AP) to another (with a different wireless AP) while maintaining Network layer connectivity.

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5. RADIO TECHNOLOGY
Wi-Fi network uses radio technology called IEEE 802.11b to provide secure, fast, reliable, wireless connectivity. 11b defines the physical layer and media access control (MAC) sublayer for communications across a shared, wireless local area network (WLAN). At the physical layer, IEEE 802.11b operates at the radio frequency of 2.45 gigahertz (GHz) with a maximum bit rate of 11 Mbps. It uses the direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) transmission technique. At the MAC sublayer of the Data Link layer, 802.11b uses the carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) media access control (MAC) protocol

DIRECT SEQUENCE SPREAD SPECTRUM

Direct Sequence

is the best known Spread Spectrum Technique. A DSSS

transmitter converts an incoming data stream into a symbol stream where each symbol represents a group of one or more bits. Using a phase varying modulation technique, DSSS transmitter modulates or multiplies each symbol with a noise like code called chip sequence. This is also called processing gain. The multiplication operation in a DSSS transmitter artificially increases the used bandwidth based on the length of chip sequence.

When receiving the DSSS signal, a matched filter correlator is used. The correlator removes the PN sequence and recovers the original data stream. As shown in figure, the PN sequence spreads the transmitted bandwidth of the resulting signal (thus the term, spread spectrum) and reduces peak power. Note however, that total power is unchanged. Upon reception, the signal is correlated with the same PN sequence to reject narrow band interference and recover the original binary data (Fig. 5b). Regardless of whether the data rate is 1, 2, 5.5, or 11 Mbps, the channel bandwidth is about 20 MHz for DSSS systems. Therefore, the ISM band will accommodate up to three non-overlapping channels

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Figure 5a. Effect of PN Sequence on Transmit Spectrum

Figure 5b. Received Signal is correlated with PN to Recover Data and Reject Interference

Figure 7. Three Non-Overlapping DSSS Channels in the ISM Band

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CARRIER SENSE MULTIPLE ACCESS/COLLISION AVOIDANCE

The basic access method for 802.11 is the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) which uses Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA). This requires each station to listen for other users. If the channel is idle, the station may transmit. However if it is busy, each station waits until transmission stops, and then enters into a random back off procedure. This prevents multiple stations from seizing the medium immediately after completion of the preceding transmission.

Figure 8. CSMA/CD Back-off Algorithm

Packet reception in DCF requires acknowledgement as shown in figure. The period between completion of packet transmission and start of the ACK frame is one Short Inter Frame Space (SIFS). ACK frames have a higher priority than other traffic. Fast acknowledgement is one of the salient features of the 802.11 standard, because it requires ACKs to be handled at the MAC sub layer. Transmissions other than ACKs must wait at least one DCF inter frame space (DIFS) before transmitting data. If a transmitter senses a busy medium, it determines a random back-off period by setting an internal timer to an integer number of slot times. Upon expiration of a DIFS, the timer begins to decrement. If the timer reaches zero, the station may begin transmission. However, if the channel is seized by another station before the timer reaches zero, the timer setting is retained at the decremented value for subsequent transmission. B.TECH (ECE) Page 11

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Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) which utilizes multiple carriers (referred to as subcarriers), is technically not a spread spectrum technique because the subcarriers remain stationary and are not spread, but it serves the same purpose of spreading the signal power over a large band. It does this by breaking the signal up into parts and transmitting each of the parts on a different subcarrier at a different center frequency. Thus a fast transmission is sent as many slow transmissions, simultaneously, on many different frequencies.

This effective slowing of the symbol transmission rate, without slowing the actual data. Transmission rate makes OFDM resistant to inter symbol interference resulting from multipath. These different techniques for spreading the signals carrier, and the different digital modulation techniques employed to put information on the carrier, are central to defining the different wireless technologies and standards, as well as putting a perspective on interference issues among 802.11 LANs and Bluetooth networks

Cisco Centralized Key Management (CCKM)

CCK is a variation on M-ary Orthogonal Keying modulation, which uses I/Q modulation architecture with complex symbol structures. CCK allows the 802.11b for multi-channel operation in the 2.4 GHz band using the existing 802.11 DSSS channel structure scheme. The spreading employs the same chipping rate and spectrum shape as the 802.11 Barkers code word. Spreading functions, allows three non-interfering channels in the 2.4 to 2.483 GHz band.

CCK Modulation performs well in single-path channel. CCK Modulation does not achieve acceptable error probability in a multi-path channel with this detector.

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6. HOT SPOTS
Wi-Fi hotspots were first proposed 1993. A hotspot is a site that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi technology.

Hotspots may be found in coffee shops and various other public establishments throughout much of the developed world. Many consumer devices, personal computers can network to each other and connect to the Internet, mobile computers can connect to the Internet from any Wi-Fi hotspot, and digital cameras can transfer images wirelessly.

Figure 9. Hotspots

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Types of HotSpots 1. Free Wi-Fi hotspots a) Free Wi-Fi hotspots b) Open public network

2. Commercial hotspots Many services provide payment services to hotspot providers, for a monthly fee or commission from the end-user income

Figure 10. Hotspots

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7. OPERATION OF WI-FI
When a wireless adapter is turned on, it begins to scan across the wireless frequencies for wireless APs and other wireless clients in ad hoc mode. Assuming that the wireless client is configured to operate in infrastructure mode, the wireless adapter chooses a wireless AP with which to connect. This selection is made automatically by using an SSID and signal strength and frame error rate information. Next, the wireless adapter switches to the assigned channel of the selected wireless AP and negotiates the use of a port. This is known as establishing an association. If the signal strength of the wireless AP is too low, the error rate too high, or if instructed by the operating system (in the case of Windows XP), the wireless adapter scans for other wireless APs to determine whether a different wireless AP can provide a stronger signal or lower error rate. If such a wireless AP is located, the wireless adapter switches to the channel of that wireless AP and negotiates the use of a port. This is known as re association.

Re association with a different wireless AP can occur for several reasons. The signal can weaken as either the wireless adapter moves away from the wireless AP or the wireless AP becomes congested with too much traffic or interference. By switching to another wireless AP, the wireless adapter can distribute the load to other wireless APs, increasing the performance for other wireless clients. You can achieve contiguous coverage over large areas by placing your wireless APs so that their signal areas overlap slightly. As a wireless client roams across different signal areas, it can associate and re associate from one wireless AP to another, maintaining a continuous logical connection to the wired network.

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8. SECURITY

WEP ( wired equivalent privacy) o 64/128 bits. Using RC4 algorithm, almost permanent key, very week security.

WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) o TKIP (temporal key integrity protocol ) is used with a 128-bit "temporal key, but changes temporal keys every 10,000 packets and key depends on address and sequence number.

WPA2 ( Wi-Fi Protected Access II ) o AES (Advanced Encryption Standard ) method is Used. New, much more stronger encryption, protect against hacker frames in insertion. Need hardware accelerator. WPA2 is fully compatible with WPA.

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9. ADVANTAGES

o Its flexible: With a wireless network you and your staff can have uninterrupted access to people, information and tools as you and they move through the workplace with your mobile PC. o Its responsive: As you change your business operations your wireless network can change with you. o Its customized: Your wireless network can be configured the way you want it.even combined with your current wired network. o Its fast: From 11 to 54 Mbps throughput and advanced roaming capabilities provide reliable access to e-mail, the Internet, file sharing and other network resources away from the desk. o Its cost-effective: Expand and extend your existing network by simply adding more adapters and access points. Planning is a no brainier as you need to buy only what you need. o Its secure: Current standards utilizes 64- and 128-bit WEP encryption and help guard the network from intruders and protect data in transit. Add in technology and you have increased WLAN protection important for mission-critical data. In addition to the hard benefits of increased efficiency, productivity, manageability and cost savings, wireless networks will certainly make a This is a technology savvy company statement to the world.

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10. LIMITATIONS
Frequency spectrum used by IEEE 802.11b is shared by many other systems like
microwave ovens, cordless phones etc. This frequency sharing causes interference problem.

Security - Greater exposure to risks. Speed is Slower than cable Wi-Fi networks have limited range about 300 feet and Range is Affected by various
medium like walls, glass..etc.

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11. CONCLUSION

Wi-Fi provides freedom: freedom to physically move around your home or business and still stay connected to the Internet or local network; freedom to grow and move an office or business without having to install new cables and wires; freedom to be connected while traveling and on the road. Wireless Hotspots (airports, hotels, coffee shops, convention centers and any other place where someone can connect to a wireless network) are being installed worldwide. All this means Wi-Fi truly does provide unprecedented freedom. Plus, it is cool, and it is fun as those in the know say, Once you go wireless, you will never want to use a cable again. There are real and measurable benefits to using a wireless network versus a standard wired network. For a home installation customer, the greatest benefit is that there are no wites needed: you dont need to drill holes in walls and floors; you dont need to drag cables or hide them under rugs. One Wi-Fi access point can provide network access for any typically sized home. And if you live in a rental or a historical building, you may not be allowed to drill holes-that makes wireless your only solution.

Wi-Fi use is growing fast in homes, public access areas and businesses- both large and small. The Wi-Fi Alliance is active with many industry organizations and is working closely with manufacturers to make sure that existing Wi-Fi gear is compatible with wireless technologies developed in future.

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12. REFERENCES

1. Wi-Fi: Whats next, Paul S.Henry, Hui Luo, IEEE Communications Magazine, December 2002. 2. Wireless LANs and smart homes, Mahmoud Nagnshineh, IEEE Communications, August 2002. 3. Why Wi-Fi is so hot, Data Quest, June 2003. 4. Overview of IEEE 802.11 Security, www.techonline.com. Wireless

5. Wireless Networking Handbook, Jim Geier.

6. Wireless Digital Communications, Dr. Kamilo Feher.

7. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi_fi

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