Wireless LAN
PRESENTED BY
V.MURALI KRISHNA
INTRODUCTION
Wireless LAN (WLAN) is a flexible data
communication system implemented as an
extension to a wired LAN within a building or
campus.
Thus WLANs combine data connectivity with
user mobility.
Wireless LANs are based on a set of technologies
known by the IEEE specification number, 802.11
CHOICE OF WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
Wireless LAN offers the following productivity
and convenience over Wired Networks:
► Mobility
► Installation Speed and Simplicity
► Installation Flexibility
► Reduced Cost of Ownership
► Scalability
THE TECHNOLOGY
Wireless LANs use electromagnetic airwaves (radio or
infrared) to communicate information from one point to
another without relying on any physical connection.
The smallest building block of a wireless LAN is a Basic
Service Set (BSS), which consists of some number of
stations executing the same MAC protocol and
competing for the access to the same shared medium.
An Extended Service Set (ESS) consists of two or more
basic service sets interconnected by a distribution
system.
Extended Server
Service set
Distribution
Distribution
System
System
Basic
Access Basic Access
Service Set
Point Service Set Point
Station Station
Station Station Station Station
Typical 802.11 protocol stack
IEEE 802.11 WLAN Setup
The standard defines three types of stations based
on mobility:
► No Transition
► BSS Transition
► ESS Transition
The typical IEEE 802.11 protocol stack for
WLAN is shown as above
IEEE has also given some standards for Wireless LAN. They
are as follows
Standard Operating frequency Maximum Data Rate
IEEE 802.11 ► Frequency Hopping Spread
Spectrum in 2.4 GHz Band
► Direct Sequence Spread 1or 2 Mbps
Spectrum in 2.4 GHz Band
► Infra Red
IEEE 802.11b ► Direct Sequence Spread 5.5 or 11 Mbps
Spectrum in 2.4 GHz Band
IEEE802.11a ► Orthogonal Frequency Division Up to 54 Mbps
Multiplexing in 5 GHz Band
If channel is sensed
idle for an amount of
time equal to or
greater than the
Distributed Inter
Frame Space (DIFS), a
station is then
allowed to transmit.
This frame will be
successfully
transmitted to the
destination if no
interference occurs.
Data Transmission and acknowledgement in IEEE
802.11
When a receiving station receives the complete frame it waits for a short period of
time and sends an explicit acknowledgement frame back to the sender.
NARROWBAND TECHNOLOGY
Narrowband radio system transmits and receives
user information on a specific radio frequency.
Undesirable crosstalk between communication
channels is avoided by carefully coordinating
different users on different channel frequencies. In
this system privacy and noninterference are
accomplished by the use of separate radio
frequencies. The receiver filters out all radio
signals except the ones on its distinguished
frequency.
SPREAD SPECTRUM TECHNOLOGY
Most wireless LAN systems use spread spectrum
technology. Designed to trade off band-width
efficiency for reliability, integrity, and security.
More bandwidth is consumed as compared to
Narrowband Technology but the signal produced
is louder and thus easier to detect provided that
the receiver knows the parameters of the spread
spectrum signal being broadcast.
FREQUENCY HOPPING SPREAD SPECTRUM TECHNOLOGY
Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) uses
a narrowband carrier that changes frequency in a
pattern known to both transmitter and receiver.
Properly synchronized, the net effect is to
maintain a single logical channel. To an
unintended receiver, FHSS appears to be short-
duration impulse noise.
DIRECT-SEQUENCE SPREAD SPECTRUM TECHNOLOGY
Direct-Sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
generates a redundant bit pattern for each bit to be
transmitted. This bit pattern is called CHIP
(Chipping Code). The longer the chip the greater
the probability that the original data can be
recovered. To an unintended receiver, DSSS
appears as low power wide band noise and is
rejected by most narrowband receivers.
INFRARED TECHNOLOGY
Infrared (IR) systems use very high frequencies
just below visible light in the electromagnetic
spectrum to carry data. IR is either directed or
diffused technology. Inexpensive directed systems
provide very limited range and are used for
personal area networks.
WIRELESS-LAN CONFIGURATION
A WLAN can be configured in two basic ways:
► Peer- to –Peer (ad hoc mode):
Ad-hoc LAN
► Client/Server (infrastructure networking):
Infrastructure Networking
THE WLAN TOPOLOGY
Wireless LAN Connectivity
THE SECURITY ISSUE
Authentication and Data Encryption system
known as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP).
WEP has got the following properties for providing
adequate security to Wireless LAN:
► Reasonably Strong Encryption
► Self Synchronizing
► Efficient
► Exportable
WEP – THEORY OF OPERATION
The encryption function E operates on P to produce C:
E k (P) = C
In the reverse process, the decryption function D
operates on C to produce P:
D k (C) = P
As illustrated in the figure below, note that if the same
key can be used for encryption and decryption then
D k (E k (P)) = P
Key Management Service
Key
Original
Plaintext
Ciphertext
Plaintext
Encryption Decryption
Eavesdropper
Generic Encryption / Decryption
Initialization
Vector
Key Sequence
Seed
WEP Ciphertext
Secret Key PRNG
Message
Plaintext
Integrity Algorithm
Integrity Check Value (ICV)
WEP Algorithm
IEEE 802.1x (Port based authentication)
WLAN security can be broken down into three
components –
► Authentication Mechanism
► Authentication Algorithm
► Data Frame Encryption
IEEE defines a port based authentication. The IEEE 802.1x
frames are treated as authentication message carriers. When
the client starts establishing wireless connection it sends the
authentication messages inside the IEEE frame to the Access
Point (AP). The AP then forwards the authentication message
to the authentication server.
IEEE 802.11i (Advanced encryption standard)
Another WLAN security specification IEEE802.11i
is under development. This standard also called
as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is
replacement for WEP.IEEE 802.11i incorporates an
entirely new privacy algorithm & authentication
mechanism. It uses the properties of RC4 & WEP
algorithms. The AES standard relies on Rijndael
symmetric encryption algorithm. It supports key
sizes of 128 bit, 192 bit, 256 bit.
REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS OF WLAN
The following list describes the applications made possible through the power and
flexibility of wireless LANs:
► Network managers implement wireless LAN to provide backup for mission-
critical application running on wired network.
► Training sites at corporations and students at universities use wireless
connectivity to ease access to information.
► Doctors and nurses in hospitals are more productive because hand held
computers with wireless LAN capability deliver patient information instantly.
► Students holding class on a campus access the catalog of the library.
► Warehouse workers use wireless LANs to exchange information with central
database, thereby increasing productivity.
► Network managers installing networked computers in order buildings find that
wireless LANs are a cost-effective network infrastructure solution.
CONCLUSION
Thus wireless LANs has gained strong popularity in a number of vertical
markets, including the health care, retail, manufacturing, warehousing and
academia. Today Wireless LANs are becoming more widely recognized as a
general purpose connectivity alternative for a broad range of people.
The result? That surprising conclusion that wireless LANs can be, in fact,
more secure than their wired counterparts.
With the emergence of a converged standard for wireless local area
networks (WLAN), the stage is set for a multimode marketplace. Much like
its wired predecessor, wireless Ethernet (802.11) will flourish in an
environment characterized by multimode operation. Converging the
separate 10- and 100-megabit per second technologies of wired Ethernet
into the now familiar 10/100 networks accelerated the market's acceptance
of wired Ethernet. The same should be expected of WLAN technology and
the merging of the 802.11b and 802.11a versions of the standard into 802.11g.
Wireless LAN
