Wireless Principles

FUNDAMENTALS OF 802.11
RF Principles
• Wireless communication uses RF signals
• RF signals are electromagnetic waves
• Waves decrease in energy without obstruction due to free-path-loss

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RF Principles cont.
• Objects in the path of the RF signal cause signal degradation
• Wave energy is lost due to absorption by some materials
• Wave reflections do not cause a change in amplitude but can cause multipath interference

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RF Principles - Multipathing
• Occurs when the same delayed signal arrives at receiver due to reflections
• Can cause interference if signals are significantly out of phase

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RF Principles – Signal and Noise
• Relative Signal Strength Index (RSSI) is measured in decibel-milliwatts (dbm)
• RSSI is a negative value. Closer to 0 is better
• Signal to Noise ratio (SNR) is calculated by SNR = RSSI – Noise floor

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Wireless Standards
802.11a 802.11b 802.11g 802.11n 802.11ac
Max throughput 54Mbps 11Mbps 54Mbps 600Mbps 2.3Gbps
Year released 1999 1999 2003 2009 2013
Frequency 5Ghz 2.4Ghz 2.4Ghz 2.4+5Ghz 5Ghz

• ISM (2.4GHz) - 3 nonoverlapping frequencies @ 22Mhz

• UNII (5GHz) - 12 nonoverlapping frequencies @ 40Mhz

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SSID – Service Set Identifier
• The ‘name’ of the wireless network
• Equates to a VLAN on a wired network
• Can be 2 to 32 characters long
• At layer 2, wireless uses CSMA/CA. Each station listens before transmitting.
Encryption
• Currently 2 enterprise-level encryption standards: WPA and WPA2
WPA WPA2
• Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) • Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
• RC4 encryption algorithm • CCMP encryption algorithm (stronger)
• Legacy protocol • Personal (PSK) and Enterprise (802.1x)
• Created as a ‘patch’ to WEP

• 4-way handshake used by both standards ->

Q&A
If a main and reflected wireless signal are received 180 degrees out of phase, what will happen
to the received signal on the client device?

A. The signal will be amplified

B. The signal will be degraded, but only a small amount
C. The signal will be completely canceled out
Q&A
What are the 3 non-overlapping channels in the 2.4GHz frequency spectrum of 802.11 ?

A. 1, 5, 10
B. 2, 6, 11
C. 1, 6, 11
D. 1, 7, 11