Wireless Part 1

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 WLAN
WLAN technology resides at OSI layers 1 and 2.
Standards created by IEEE 802.11 Working Group
802.11 = WiFi
Uses unlicensed bands of radio frequency (RF)
Uses CSMA/CA instead of CSMA/CD

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 Characteristics of RF
Attenuation: Concept defined
RF signals have different frequencies
Higher frequencies have more throughput.
Higher frequencies attenuate more quickly than lower
frequencies.
Designated frequencies = WiFi channels.
Wi-Fi transceivers come in two types:
2.4GHz
5GHz
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 Wi-Fi Device Terminology
Transceiver
Antenna
Stations
Access Point
Can also operate as Bridges and Mesh APs
Controller
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 Wi-Fi Frame Types and Handling
Three Wi-Fi frame types
Management
Control
Data
Wi-Fi frames utilize similar (but additional) headers to
wired Ethernet frames.
Wi-Fi requires that all unicast data frames be
acknowledged by receiver.

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 CSMA/CA
Comparison between CSMA/CD and CA
DCFthe heart of CSMA/CA
Distributed Coordination Function
Critical concepts for DCF
DIFS
Contention Windows
SIFS
Duration Value
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 WiFi Concepts
Wi-Fi Cell
Service Set
IBSS / AdHoc
BSS
SSID
Distribution System (DS)
ESSID
Site Survey
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 Entering the BSS
Passive vs Active Discovery
Probe Requests
Probe Responses
Beacons
Obtaining permission to enter:
Authentication Frames
Association Frames

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 Access Point Types
Autonomous/Standalone Access Point

Lightweight/Managed Access Point

WLAN Controller
(WLC)

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 Access Point Topologies (1)

AP as BaseStation

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 Access Point Topologies (2)

AP as Bridge

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 Access Point Topologies (3)

Mesh

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