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Wireless Tutorial
August 12th, 2011 Go to comments
Wireless Encoding
When a wireless device sends data, there are some ways to encode the radio signal including frequency,
amplitude & phase.
Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum(FHSS): uses all frequencies in the band, hopping to different
ones after fixed time intervals. Of course the next frequency must be predetermined by the transmitter
and receiver.

The main idea of this method is signals sent on different frequencies will be received at different levels
of quality. By hopping to different frequencies, signals will be greatly improved the possibility that most
of it will get through. For example, suppose there is another device using the 150-250 kHz range. If our
device transmits in this range then the signals will be significantly interfered. By hopping at different
frequencies, there is only a small interference while transmitting and it is acceptable.
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS): This method transmits the signal over a wider frequency

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band than required by multiplying the original user data with a pseudo random spreading code. The
result is a wide-band signal which is very durable to noise. Even some bits in this signal are damaged
during transmission, some statistical techniques can recover the original data without the need for
retransmission.
Note: Spread spectrum here means the bandwidth used to transfer data is much wider than the
bandwidth needs to transfer that data.
Traditional communication systems use narrowband signal to transfer data because the required
bandwidth is minimum but the signal must have high power to cope with noise. Spread Spectrum does
the opposite way when transmitting the signal with much lower power level (can transmit below the
noise level) but with much wider bandwidth. Even if the noise affects some parts of the signal, the
receiver can easily recover the original data with some algorithms.

Now you understand the basic concept of DSSS. Lets discuss about the use of DSS in the 2.4 GHz
unlicensed band.
The 2.4 GHz band has a bandwidth of 82 MHz, with a range from 2.402 GHz to 2.483 GHz. In the
USA, this band has 11 different overlapping DSSS channels while in some other countries it can have up
to 14 channels. Channels 1, 6 and 11 have least interference with each other so they are preferred over
other channels.

Orthogonal Division Multiplexing (OFDM): encodes a single transmission into multiple sub-carriers
to save bandwidth. OFDM selects channels that overlap but do not interfere with each other by selecting

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the frequencies of the subcarriers so that at each subcarrier frequency, all other subcarriers do not
contribute to overall waveform.
In the picture below, notice that only the peaks of each subcarrier carry data. At the peak of each of the
subcarriers, the other two subcarriers have zero amplitude.

Below is a summary of the encoding classes which are used popularly in WLAN.
Encoding Used by
FHSS

The original 802.11 WLAN standards used FHSS, but the current standards (802.11a,
802.11b, and 802.11g) do not

DSSS

802.11b

OFDM

802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n

WLAN Security Standards

Security is one of the most concerns of people deploying a WLAN so we should grasp them.
Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
WEP is the original security protocol defined in the 802.11b standard so it is very weak comparing to
newer security protocols nowadays.
WEP is based on the RC4 encryption algorithm, with a secret key of 40 bits or 104 bits being combined
with a 24-bit Initialisation Vector (IV) to encrypt the data (so sometimes you will hear 64-bit or 128bit WEP key). But RC4 in WEP has been found to have weak keys and can be cracked easily within
minutes so it is not popular nowadays.
The weak points of WEP is the IV is too small and the secret key is static (the same key is used for both
encryption and decryption in the whole communication and never expires).
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)
In 2003, the Wi-Fi Alliance developed WPA to address WEPs weaknesses. Perhaps one of the most
important improvements of WPA is the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption, which
changes the encryption key dynamically for each data transmission. While still utilizing RC4 encryption,
TKIP utilizes a temporal encryption key that is regularly renewed, making it more difficult for a key to
be stolen. In addition, data integrity was improved through the use of the more robust hashing

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mechanism, the Michael Message Integrity Check (MMIC).

In general, WPA still uses RC4 encryption which is considered an insecure algorithm so many people
viewed WPA as a temporary solution for a new security standard to be released (WPA2).
Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
In 2004, the Wi-Fi Alliance updated the WPA specification by replacing the RC4 encryption algorithm
with Advanced Encryption Standard-Counter with CBC-MAC (AES-CCMP), calling the new standard
WPA2. AES is much stronger than the RC4 encryption but it requires modern hardware.
Standard Key Distribution

Encryption

WEP

Static Pre-Shared

Weak

WPA

Dynamic

TKIP

WPA2

Both (Static & Dynamic) AES

Wireless Interference
The 2.4 GHz & 5 GHz spectrum bands are unlicensed so many applications and devices operate on it,
which cause interference. Below is a quick view of the devices operating in these bands:
+ Cordless phones: operate on 3 frequencies, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5 GHz. As you can realize, 2.4
GHz and 5 GHz are the frequency bands of 802.11b/g and 802.11a wireless LANs.
Most of the cordless phones nowadays operate in 2.4 GHz band and they use frequency hopping spread
spectrum (FHSS) technology. As explained above, FHSS uses all frequencies in the the entire 2.4 GHz
spectrum while 802.11b/g uses DSSS which operates in about 1/3 of the 2.4 GHz band (1 channel) so
the use of the cordless phones can cause significant interference to your WLAN.

An example of cordless phone

+ Bluetooth: same as cordless phone, Bluetooth devices also operate in the 2.4 GHz band with FHSS
technology. Fortunately, Bluetooth does not cause as much trouble as cordless phone because it usually
transfers data in a short time (for example you copy some files from your laptop to your cellphone via
Bluetooth) within short range. Moreover, from version 1.2 Bluetooth defined the adaptive frequency
hopping (AFH) algorithm. This algorithm allows Bluetooth devices to periodically listen and mark
channels as good, bad, or unknown so it helps reduce the interference with our WLAN.

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+ Microwaves (mostly from oven): do not transmit data but emit high RF power and heating energy.
The magnetron tubes used in the microwave ovens radiate a continuous-wave-like at frequencies close
to 2.45 GHz (the center burst frequency is around 2.45 2.46 GHz) so they can interfere with the
WLAN.
+ Antenna: There are a number of 2.4 GHz antennas on the market today so they can interfere with your
wireless network.
+ Metal materials or materials that conduct electricity deflect Wi-Fi signals and create blind spots in
your coverage. Some of examples are metal siding and decorative metal plates.
+ Game controller, Digital Video Monitor, Wireless Video Camera, Wireless USB may also operate
at 2.4 GHz and cause interference too.
Pages: 1 2
Comments (58) Comments
Comment pages
Previous 1 2 787
1. John
August 12th, 2015
Can anybody tell us what to expect on CCNA wireless exam 640-722? I want to use PL dump
and request assistance narrowing down PL questions that are on exam. x152005@yahoo.com
2. Valentin
August 13th, 2015
Will Wi-Fi theme be on CCNA exam?
3. Anonymous
August 13th, 2015
fabulous
4. Tony
September 4th, 2015
Hi 9tut, I will be taking the 640-722. Can you send me the latest dump for CCNA_Wireless?
Appreciate it aeaster235@yahoo.com
5. nhial
September 29th, 2015
can anyone send me CD video of CCNAjuniornhial@gmail.comi will be grateful
6. WIRE
October 25th, 2015

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Get Latest Update 100% VALID DUMPS here:

Remove asterisk
wireless-tut.blog*s*p*o*t*.*c*o*m
7. Anonymous
November 5th, 2015
any labs for the 640-722 exam please send to juka1@ayhoo.com
thank you
8. ciscozel
November 16th, 2015
passed ccna wireless easy email massimokaba@gmail.com
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Previous 1 2 787
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