Wireless In Education

Mark Ciampa
Western Kentucky University

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 Wireless Is Changing
Travel
 Boeing – Installing wireless networks on
airplanes for passenger use during flights
 70+ US Airports – Provide wireless Internet
access in lounge & waiting areas
 Marriott, Four Seasons, Wyndham Hotels,
Motel 6 – Provide lobby, check in, meeting
room, public area access
 Trains – Montreal to Toronto route

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 Wireless Is Changing
Work
 Business conference rooms - Access to data
during meetings gives 100+ minutes daily
 Radio Frequency ID – Transponders used as
barcode alternatives
 Video Pill – Wireless camera in capsule for
endoscopy used at 268 US hospitals
 e-Suds – Students check for empty washer,
add softener, receive e-mail when finished

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 Wireless Is Changing
Recreation
 Starbucks, Borders, McDonald’s, Schlotzky’s –
Wireless networks for customers
 3Com Stadium – Access statistics, view
instant replays, order concessions
 Golf US Open – Walking scorers submitted
immediate results
 KOA – Provides wireless access
 Linksys – Stream pictures & MP3 to TV/stereo

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Public Hotspots
2002 2003
Retail 11,109 50,287
Hotels 2,274 11,687
Other 1,369 9,105
TOTAL 14,752 71,079 5
 2007
 155M units sold annually (2002-22.5M,
2003-41.3M) with revenue $700M
 98% all notebooks wireless (2003-
42%)
 31M frequent and 35M infrequent
hotspot users with revenue $9B
 25,000 hotels wireless access

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Wireless Is Changing All
Sectors
 Finance – Receive stock quotes realtime
 Health Care – Hospitals comply 2006
FDA regulation drug dispersal
 Manufacturing – Forklifts send & receive
data (saved 1 plant $1M annually)
 Retail – Radio Frequency ID
 Transportation – Communicate drivers

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Wireless Is Changing All
Sectors
 Logistics – FedEx handles 3.5M
packages daily, wireless handhelds save
10 seconds each stop
 Government – Police send and receive
data to patrol cars
 Military – Send repair information
 Construction – Supervisors see number
workers on project, instant costing

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 Wireless Is Changing
Campuses
 Massachusetts Task Force – Wireless
technology on all campuses
 Wake Forest – Wireless adapter included
in tuition
 Michigan – Wireless on all high school
campuses
 University of Tennessee – Wireless
campus (1,500 access points)
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 Wireless Is Changing
Education
 Changing when and where
students access data
 Changing how students learn

 Changing how teach students in

wireless setting
 Changing what teach students

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Wireless In Education
 Define “wireless”
 Explain how it works

 Types of wireless

networks
 How impacts education

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Outcome Statements
 List 2 wireless technologies
 Explain what an access point does

 List 3 basic wireless security tools

 Tell how wireless impacts higher

education

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What Wireless Is and
How It Works

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 “Wireless”
 Generically used of any
device without wires
 More precisely 2-way data

transmission without wires

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 Wireless Devices
Pocket PC Running Windows CE
High agility/mobility factor
Lowest student per device
cost ratio
Stronger Application
Development opportunity
than Palm OS
Simple document creation
Handheld PC Running Windows CE
High agility/mobility factor
Lower student per device
cost ratio
Improved form factor for
student use
Maximized integration
requires MS infrastructure
Notebook Running Windows XP
Complete 1:1 computing
solution
Anytime/Anywhere Learning
Full document creation tool
Opportunity for greatest
impact on learning
Highest 1:1 cost ratio
Wireless Technologies
 Infrared (IR)
 Radio frequency (RF)

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 Infrared (IR)
 Uses infrared light (similar
characteristics visible light)
 Objects can obstruct

transmission
 Limited distance

 Line of sight transmission

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Line of Sight

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Radio Frequency (RF)
 Uses radio waves (similar to
commercial radio)
 Unlicensed spectrum

 Radio waves travel long

distances with less obstruction

 Provides true mobility

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Radio Waves

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Types of Wireless
Networks

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Scope

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 Wireless
Personal Area Networks

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 Wireless
Personal Area Networks
 1-to-1 or small group
transmissions
 Limited distance

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 IrDA
 Wireless data connection using
infrared light
 Found on notebook computers,
printers, digital cameras, PDAs
 Functions like serial port
 Range 3 feet
 Bandwidth 115 Kbps - 16 Mbps
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 IrDA Limitations
 Limited range
 Must align devices

 Objects can obstruct

transmission
 Moderate speed

 Only between 2 devices

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 Bluetooth
 Uses RF instead of IR
 Radio transceivers built into
microprocessor
 Automatically creates piconet when
devices come in range each other
 Range 30 feet
 Bandwidth 1 Mbps
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Radio Frequency ID (RFID)
 Unpowered microchips transmit
data using RF
 Active, semi-passive, or passive

 Read-only or read-write

 Wal-Mart, McCarran Airport, US

Dept Defense, Michelin

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RFID Size

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 Wireless
Wide Area Networks

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Wide Area Network
 Fixed baseband wireless – last
mile connection alternative to
DSL, cable modem or ISDN
 Fixed broadband wireless – long

distance connection alternative

to T1 or fiber optic connection
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 Wide Area Network
Examples
 Digital Cellular Telephony
 Free Space Optics

 Local/Multichannel Multipoint

Distribution Service
 WiMax (802.16)

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 Wireless
Local Area Networks

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 Wireless LANs
 Same function of standard LAN
but without wires
 Based on IEEE standards

 Also called “Wi-Fi”

 Range 150-375 feet

 Bandwidth 11-108 Mbps

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Components of WLAN
 Wireless NIC
 Access Point (AP)

 Integrated software

support in Windows XP &

Windows Mobile 2003
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 WLAN Modes
Peer-to-peer/Ad hoc
Infrastructure

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 Peer-to-Peer
 Creates “private network”
 No connection to other

networks
 Only requires wireless NIC

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 Infrastructure
 Creates “public network”
 Connects to other

networks
 Requires wireless NIC and

AP
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Infrastructure

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Wireless LAN Cells
 Create “cells” of coverage
similar to cellular
telephones
 Cells overlap to provide

automatic roaming
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Wireless LAN Cells

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IEEE WLAN Standards
 802.11 (1997) – 2 Mbps
 802.11b (1999) – 11 Mbps

 802.11a (2001) – 54 Mbps

 802.11g (2003) – 24 Mbps

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 802.11b
 11 Mbps
 DSSS

 3 non-overlapping channels

 2.4 GHz

 Range 375 feet

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 802.11a
 54 Mbps (108 Mbps proprietary)
 OFDM

 8 non-overlapping channels

 5 GHz

 Range 150 feet

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 802.11g
 22 Mbps (54 Mbps proprietary)
 OFDM

 3 non-overlapping channels

 2.4 GHz

 Range 200 feet

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 Comparison
 802.11b – Wider area but
slower speed
 802.11a – Faster speed but

smaller area
 802.11g – Good balance of

area and speed

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Recent Developments
 Dual band AP and wireless NICs
 Wireless access port – dumb AP
connected to wireless switch
 Wireless bridge – makes any device
with standard NIC wireless (Xbox)
 Device “hop” through other WLAN
devices to reach AP

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Recent Developments
 Intel Centrino - Pentium-M
mobile processor with
802.11b miniPCI wireless
NIC
 VoIP on WLAN

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 Home Wireless
 Connect all home computer equipment
without cables
 Share broadband Internet connection
 Combination AP, router, network
address translation and firewall
 Microsoft selling hardware
 2003 Cisco purchased Linksys $500M

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WLAN Security

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 Unique Challenges
 Unauthorized users intercept
signal and use network
 Hackers view transmitted data

 Employees install rogue

access points

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 Security Levels
 Basic Security
 Intermediate Security

 Advanced Security

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 Basic Security
 Active scanning SSID
 MAC address filtering

 WEP encryption &

authentication
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 Association
 Association – Establishes link between
wireless devices and AP
 Based on Service Set Identifier (SSID) –
network name all devices use
 SSID serves as “network password”
 SSID can be sent by AP or manually
installed on each wireless device

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 Active Scanning
 SSID manually installed on each
wireless device in advance
 Device sends SSID to AP

 “Here’s the SSID, let me in!”

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 Passive Scanning
 AP freely sends SSID to all
devices
 Device listens for SSID

 “Will you give me the SSID to

join this wireless network?”

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Active Scanning SSID
 AP should be set for active
scanning
 Default on most systems is

passive scanning
 BUT: May limit roaming

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 MAC Address Filter
 MAC address of each authorized
device is manually entered into AP
 Also called “Access Control List”
 Only devices on AP list are
permitted association
 BUT: MAC address can be spoofed

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 WEP
 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) –
Data encrypted with up to 4 shared
keys
 Provides both encryption and
authentication
 BUT: Flaws in WEP and can be
broken by “sniffing” packets

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Intermediate Security
 Deploy outside firewall
 Use virtual private network

(VPN) solution
 Wi-Fi Protected Access

(WPA) – software &

firmware upgrade
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WPA Encryption
 Temporal Key Integrity
Protocol (TKIP)
 2 keys

 Per-packet basis

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WPA Access Control
 Uses 802.1x
 Port-based authentication

 Traffic blocked until client

authenticated by back-end
server
 Optional Pre-Sharked Key (PSK)

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 Advanced Security
 802.11i – New IEEE security
standard
 Uses advanced AES block

cipher encryption
 Due released early 2004

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Wireless Technology
In Education

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Wireless Technology in
Education
 Kindergarten – 12
 Higher education

 Libraries

 Curriculum

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 K-12 Uses
 Computers-on-wheels (COWs)
 Extend network with minimal costs
 Use with outdoor projects
 Administrators in hallways
determine where student should be
 Bus drivers record who boarded

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 K-12 Pedagogy
 Used to deliver curriculum in classroom
 Better supports “constructing” knowledge
from experience, interpretation, structured
interactions with peers and teachers
 Teachers direct students in project-oriented
activities vs. lecturing (“Individualized active
learning”)
 Helps students apply critical thinking skills

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 K-12 Pedagogy
 “K-12 learning proceeds most
rapidly when learners have
frequent opportunities to apply
ideas they are learning and
when feedback on success or
failure of an idea comes almost
immediately”
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Higher Education Uses
 Provide access outside computer lab:
classroom, dining hall, quad, dorms
 Create coverage where wiring
prohibited because building design,
asbestos, portable classrooms
 Mobile VoIP telephones in classrooms

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Higher Education Uses
 Create wireless networked labs in
regular classrooms
 Make temporary networked classroom
 Faculty can bring in own notebook
computer and instantly be connected
 Reduces number of open access
computer labs
 Planet3 & CompTIA WLAN certifications
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Higher Education Uses
 Make latest research data
immediately available during
experiments for comparison
 Increase student computer use

across disciplines

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Higher Education Pedagogy
 Used to extend class time
 Allows studying to take place
outside traditional learning areas
 Students communicate and
research topics outside class while
devoting class time to discussion
and analysis

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 Wireless In Education
 “When each student got their
own pencil, teaching changed.
When each student got their
own book, teaching changed.
When each student has a
wireless notebook, teaching will
change again!”
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 Library Uses
 Provide access in the stacks:
perform catalog search without
returning to catalog computer
 Determine status of a book

 Used with RFID for inventory

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 Curriculum
 Ubiquity of wireless requires part of
curriculum
 Student interest based on 25%
homes with computers have
multiple computers and networks
 Need instruction on wireless
deployment and security

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 Curriculum
 Several schools now adding
“Wireless Networking” course or
track
 Some schools adding wireless

coverage to traditional
networking course
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Outcome Statements
 List 2 wireless technologies
 Explain what an access point does

 List 3 basic wireless security tools

 Tell how wireless impacts higher

education

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Wireless In Education

Mark Ciampa
Western Kentucky University
mark.ciampa@wku.edu

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