Wireless Technology
Matthew Gast
Joint Techs February 2005
Salt Lake City, Utah

Why Wireless?
Flexibility
Ease of deployment of new users
Adaption to fluid user populations
Mobility
Not security or ease of use, though…

Important Wireless Concepts
Regulatory constraints
No irradiating neighbors, even if you don’t like them
Shannon limit - maximum data rate
Forward error correction
Some bits may be corrupted, but not all
Corruption may be different for different users
Spread spectrum
Squish signal across a wide band

Buzzword Compliance Map

Bluetooth
“Wireless wires”
Profiles adapt technology to different uses
Headset, serial port
Common uses
Keyboards, mice, etc.
Connecting GPRS uplinks and headsets
Slow (1-2 Mbps) to save power
Frequency hopping to save power

Telco-based Wireless
Higher-speed networks
GSM: GPRS, EDGE, 3G
CDMA: EV-DO
Not very fast
My experience is that GPRS peaks at 3 K/sec
Generally charged by the bit
When will they learn?
But what else can you do at 70 mph?

ATSC
Advanced Television Systems Committee
Better known as digital TV
For TV, an MPEG2 stream
~19.2 Mbps over TV coverage area
See coverage area on FCC at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html
HD requires full bandwidth; SD does not
Spare capacity can be used for “datacasting”

802.11
“Wireless Ethernet”
LAN replacement
But not really LAN speed until recently
Security is the big attention grabber
Sit still for the talk after mine...

The Edge of 802.11
High density & high capacity networks
802.11a is very helpful here
Better security with equal usability to wired backbone
Admission control
Keep your infestations out of my network
Differentiated access and policy implementation

802.11 Implementation Challenges
You have three channels in 802.11b/g
Limited capacity and backwards compatibility
802.11n
“Pre-n” products may not be upgradable to final standard
Security standards are still emerging
Macs don’t work in WPA mixed mode
RF “etiquette”
Local authorities can’t pre-empt FCC Part 15

Interesting Future Standards
802.1AE – MAC Security
802.1af – MAC Key Security
802.21 – Inter-IEEE 802 handoff

Thanks for Listening
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