IS414 Business Networks Technology

Wireless LANs I
Introductory Slides

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 Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi)
• Wireless LAN standard: IEEE 802.11
• Wireless LAN IEEE802.11 also known as  Wireless Fidelity
(Wi-Fi)
• Wi-Fi is also know as Wireless Ethernet

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Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) 802.11 Standards

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 Wi-Fi Frequency Spectrum
• The common frequency spectrum (bands) used in Wi-Fi are
2.4GHz and 5 GHz
• The main difference between these two frequency bands are
the range and bandwidth that they provide.
o 2.4 GHz – more Wi-Fi coverage
o 5 GHz – faster speeds
• Within these Wi-Fi frequency bands, we have smaller bands
which are referred to as Wi-Fi channels

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 Wi-Fi Channels
• A channel is the medium through which wireless networks can
send and receive data.
• Each AP is configured to operate in one channel.
o 2.4 GHz – has total 11 channels, however 3 channels (1, 6, 11) are non-
overlapping channels and is recommended to be used in large offices
needing more than one access points (APs)
o 5 GHZ – 24 non-overlapping channels
• Wi-Fi is half-duplex, which means that on any channel, only one
device can talk at a time. If two devices try to talk at the same
time, they would interrupt each other.
o one-lane highway; traffic can only flow in one direction at a time.
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 Media Access Control
• Media Access Control - because a number of users access the
same channel, controlling access to the media is critical to
stop two uses using the channel at the same time resulting in
data collisions.
• Wi-Fi uses similar MAC protocol as wired Ethernet – collision
sense multiple access (CSMA)
o Wired Ethernet: CSMA/CD – collision detection
o Wireless Ethernet: CSMA/CA – collision avoidance

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 End

See you online on Wednesday evening 22nd April @5pm

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