Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA)

PW0-106
Chapter 1
Overview of Wireless Standards, Organizations,
and Fundamentals

Chapter 1 Overview

History of WLAN
Standards Organizations
Core, Distribution, and Access
Communications Fundamentals

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

History of WLAN
19th century research on electrical magnetic
radio frequency (RF)
First used by United Stated during WWII
Spread spectrum patented in 1942 but not
implemented until 1962
University of Hawaii developed ALOHAnet in
1970 to communicate between the islands

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

History of WLAN (continued)

900 MHz low speed commercial networks
were developed in the 1990s
IEEE began discussing WLAN
standardization in 1991
IEEE 802.11 was ratified in 1997
Initially deployed in warehousing and
manufacturing environments

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

History of WLAN (continued)

IEEE 802.11b was ratified in 1999
Introduced 11 Mbps transmission speed
Faster data rate and price decreases ignited
sales in home and small office environments
More than 1.75 billion Wi-Fi chipsets shipped
in 2012

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

Standards Organizations
Regulatory Domain Authorities, such as the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)
International Telecommunications Union
Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE)
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Wi-Fi Alliance
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

Regulatory Domain Authorities

Regulates communications within the country
of jurisdiction
Typically regulates
Licensed spectrum
Unlicensed spectrum

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

Regulatory Domain Authorities (continued)

Five areas of RF typically regulated

Frequency
Bandwidth
Maximum power of the intentional radiator (IR)
Maximum equivalent isotropically radiated power
(EIRP)
Use (indoor and/or outdoor)
Spectrum sharing rules

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

Regulatory Domain Authorities (continued)

FCC rules are published in the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR)
Divided into 50 titles
Title 47, Telecommunications
Relevant to wireless

Titles are divided into parts

Part 15, Radio Frequency Devices
Contains rules and regulations regarding 802.11

Certified Wireless Network Administrator: CWNA PW0-106

International Telecommunication Union

Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R)
Global hierarchy for management of the RF
spectrum worldwide
Tasked by the United Nations
Maintains database of worldwide frequency
assignments
Coordinates spectrum management through
five administrative regions

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Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

(IEEE)
Mission is to foster technological innovation
and excellence for the benefit of humanity
Global professional society
More than 400,000 members worldwide
Best known for its LAN standards
IEEE 802 project

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Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

(IEEE) (continued)
Subdivided into working groups
Groups develop standards that address
specific problems or needs
Group numbers assigned sequentially; eg.
802.1, 802.2,
Revisions or amendments are assigned
sequential letters
eg. 802.11a,b,c,ac,ad,ae

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)

Goal to make the Internet work better

No membership fees
Open to anyone
Part of the Internet Society (ISOC)
Made up of many working groups
A working group creates documents known
as a Request for Comments (RFC)

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Wi-Fi Alliance

Global, nonprofit industry association

More than 550 member companies
Devoted to promoting the growth of WLANs
Main task is to provide hardware certification
testing
Founded in 1999 as the Wireless Ethernet
Compatibility Alliance (WECA)
Changed its name in 2002

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Example of Wi-Fi Interoperability Certificate

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Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Programs

Core Technology & Security

Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM)
WMM Power Save (WMM-PS)
Wi-Fi Protected Setup - Security
Wi-Fi Direct
CWG-RF Multimedia
Voice Personal - Application

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Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Programs (cont.)

Voice Enterprise
Tunneled Direct Link Setup
Passpoint
WMM-Admission Control
IBSS with Wi-Fi Protected Setup
Miracast

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International Organization for Standardization

(ISO)
Global, nongovernmental organization
Responsible for Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) model
OSI model developed in the late 1970s

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OSI Model and 802.11

The IEEE 802.11-2012 standard

defines mechanisms only at the
Physical layer and MAC
sublayer of the Data-Link layer

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Core, Distribution, and Access

Core
High-speed backbone
Performs high-speed switching
Distribution
Routes traffic between VLANs and subnets
Wireless bridging between buildings
Access
Delivery of traffic to end user
Typically where 802.11 operates
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Communications Fundamentals

Amplitude
Wavelength
Frequency
Phase
Carrier Signals
Keying Methods
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK)
Frequency Shift Keying (FSK)
Phase Shift Keying (PSK)

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Amplitude and Wavelength

Wavelength is the distance between

similar points on back-to-back waves
Typically measured from peak to peak

Amplitude is the
height, force, or
power of the wave

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Frequency

Number of waves generated per second

One wave = one oscillation
Measured in hertz (Hz)
Hertz = one oscillation per second
2.4 GHz = 2.4 billion oscillations per second

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Phase
Relationship between two waves with the
same frequency
Measured in degrees
One wavelength = 360 degrees

These waves
are 90 degrees
out of phase
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Carrier Signal
Data consists of 0 and 1 bits
RF signal can represent data by fluctuating
or altering its RF properties
Properties that can be altered
Amplitude
Frequency
Phase

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Keying Methods
Method of manipulating a signal to represent
multiple pieces of data
Three types of keying methods
Amplitude-shift keying (ASK)
Frequency-shift keying (FSK)
Phase-shift keying (PSK)
Two techniques used to represent data
Current state
State transition
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Keying Techniques
Current State
Current value of the signal is used to
distinguish between 0s and 1s
Current value or level at a specific time
State Transition
A change or transition of the signal is used
to distinguish between 0s and 1s
Presence of a change or lack of presence
of a change determines 0 or 1
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Amplitude-Shift Keying (ASK)

Amplitude or height of a signal represents
the binary data
Current state technique
One level represents 0
Different level represents 1

An example of ASK
(ASCII code of an
upper-case K)

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Frequency-Shift Keying (FSK)

Frequency of the wave is varied to represent
the binary data
Current state technique
One frequency represents 0
Different frequency represents 1

An example of FSK
(ASCII code of an
upper-case K)

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Phase-Shift Keying (PSK)

Phase of the wave is varied to represent the
binary data
State transition technique
Change of phase represents 0 or 1
Lack of phase change represents 1 or 0

An example of PSK
(ASCII code of an
upper-case K)

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Multiple Phase-Shift Keying (PSK)

Can encode multiple bits per symbol
Uses four phases, each of which is capable
of representing two binary values (00, 01, 10,
or 11

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Chapter 1 Summary
History of WLANs
Roles of standards organizations
Relationship between 802.11 and Core,
Distribution, and Access
Communications Fundamentals

Amplitude
Wavelength
Frequency
Phase
Carrier signals & keying methods

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