Wireless Technologies

Computer Network II (NET461)

Chapter 4
Part I: Frequencies of Radio Transmission

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Frequencies of Radio Transmission

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Frequencies of Radio Transmission

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Frequencies of Radio Transmission

Frequency and Wavelength are inversely related.

• Higher Frequency => Lower Wavelength
• Lower Frequency => Higher Wavelength
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 Frequencies of Radio Transmission
What is Electromagnetic waves?

• Electromagnetic waves are classified and arranged based on the frequencies,

and this classification is called EM Spectrum.

• The EM Spectrum is divided into different bands from super lower frequency
(could be a fraction of 1 Hertz) to super upper frequency (≈ 10 ^ 24 Hertz).

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Frequencies of Radio Transmission

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Frequencies of Radio Transmission

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Frequencies of Radio Transmission

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 Frequencies of Radio Transmission
a) Radio Frequency Range
– 30 MHz to 1 GHz
– Relatively, low frequency so cannot be focused in one direction so
omnidirectional antennas are used. It is used for TV and Radio transmission.

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 Frequencies of Radio Transmission (cont.)
b) Microwave Frequency Range
– 1 GHz to 100 GHz
– directional beams are possible, so directional antenna is used; we use it when
point to point transmission required. For example, satellite transmission.
c) Infrared Frequency Range
– Roughly, 3x10 to 2x10 Hz
11 14

– Used for short distances because cannot penetrate to objects (e.g. concrete
walls).

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 Radio Frequencies
• Description of Broadcast Radio Transmission:
– Omnidirectional; it works on low frequencies, so we cannot do
directional transmission.
– Antennas do not require to have dish shape
– Antennas do not need to be rigidly mounted to a precise alignment
• Applications:
– Broadcast Radio
– Broadcast TV
– CAB radio - Taxi
– Cellular phones
– Microwave Links :
A microwave link is a communications system that uses a beam of radio waves in the microwave
frequency range to transmit video, audio, or data between two locations, which can be from just
a few feet or meters to several miles or kilometers apart.
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– WiFi Networks
 Radio Frequencies
• Transmission Characteristics
– Because of longer wavelength radio waves relatively suffer less attenuation
Attenuation is the loss of signal strength in networking cables or connections. This typically is
measured in decibels (dB) or voltage and can occur due to a variety of factors.
– Less sensitive to rainfall
– Main source of impairment is multipath interference. Reflection from land,
water, and human made objects can create multiple paths; as signal travels in
different paths, actual signals intensity decreases, due to this, signal to noise
ratio (SNR) reduces which is not desired.

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 Infrared Frequencies
• Description of Infrared Frequencies
– Ranges between 300 GHz to 400 THz.
– achieved using transceivers that modulate non-coherent infrared light
– transceivers must be within line of sight of each other directly or via
reflection
• Applications
– TV remote control is a famous example
• Transmission Characteristics
– does not penetrate walls
– no licenses required
– no frequency allocation issues
– Short distance
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 Bluetooth Frequencies
• Bluetooth® technology uses the 2.4 GHz spectrum band (2400 to 2483.5 MHz), which
enables a good balance between range and throughput.
• The 2.4 GHz band is available worldwide, making BB a true standard for low-power
wireless connectivity.
• BB is a standard wireless communication protocol. It's a "language" that lets multiple
devices talk to each other wirelessly.
• Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi vs. Infrared Frequencies:
– Bluetooth works at 2.4GHz frequency while Wi-Fi based networks work at 2.4,
3.6 and 5 GHz, and infrared work at 300 GHz to 400 THz.
– BB avoids interference from other wireless devices.
– BB has lower power consumption.
– BB has range better than Infrared communication.
– BB is used for voice and data transfer between devices not for Internet as Wi-Fi.
– Not secured compared to Wi-Fi that require password and encryption. 15
 Microwave Frequencies
• Terrestrial Microwave Terrestrial Microwave
• Satellite Microwave • Transmission Characteristics of
Terrestrial Microwave
– Signal travels from ground
station to ground station
– Line of sight is required,
therefore, parabolic dish
antenna is used

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 Terrestrial Microwave (cont.)
• Description of Common Microwave Antenna
– Parabolic dish - 3 meter in diameter
– Rigidly fixed antenna
– Focused a narrow beam
– Transmitting and receiving antennas are mounted precisely in the
same direction to achieve line of sight

Earth
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 Terrestrial Microwave (cont.)
– Located at substantial heights above ground level; because in
urban areas high rising buildings are an obstacle to achieve line of
sight to overcome this problem theses antennas are mounted on
substantial height.
– Due to attenuation, particularly rainfall, it requires repeaters (or
amplifiers). When we want to do long distance transmission, from
one earth station to another earth station, because of the distance
signal attenuates (or reduces its strength), therefore, signal cannot
travel long distance.
– Now, to solve this problem repeaters or amplifiers are used.
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Terrestrial Microwave (cont.)

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Review Questions

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 Question 1
What is a microwave link?

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End of Part I

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 Part II
1. Frequencies of Radio Transmission: (Satellite)
2. Cellular (or Mobile) Communication Systems

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 Satellite Microwave
• Description of Communication Satellite
– Communication satellite is a microwave relay
station; Receive signal from one earth station
amplify or repeat it and transmit to another
earth station.
– Used to link two or more ground based
microwave transmitter/receiver
– Receives transmissions on one frequency
band (uplink), amplifies or repeats the signal
and transmits it on another frequency Relay station is an amplifier
(downlink); basically, communication satellite for restoring the strength of
a transmitted signal.
rotates in the orbit of earth to maintain the Synonyms: booster, booster
direct line of sight. amplifier, booster station,
relay link, relay transmitter.
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 Satellite Microwave (cont.)
• Transmission Characteristics of Satellite Microwaves
– Optimum range is 1 – 10 GHz
– Below 1 GHz significant natural noise (solar, galactic, atmospheric, and
manmade)
– Above 10 GHz higher attenuation due to atmospheric absorption
– Mostly used 5.925 GHz to 6.425 GHz for uplink and 3.7 GHz to 4.2 GHz for
downlink referred as 4/6 GHz band
– Due to saturation 12/14 GHz band has been developed. Uplink 14 to 14.5
while downlink 11.7 to 12.2 GHz
– Long propagation delay of about 250 m/s which is noticeable in telephone
conversation
– Broadcast in nature and suitable for TV broadcast service

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 Satellite Microwave (cont.)
• Applications of Satellite Microwave
– Long distance telephone transmission
– Television distribution
• Microwave links provide TV signals to local Cable TV (CATV) and
then these signals are distributed to subscribers via coaxial
cable.
– Private business networks
• Provides short point-to-point links between buildings

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2. Cellular (or Mobile) Systems
1G Mobile Communication Systems
• 1 st
Generation of Mobile • Poor voice quality
Cellular Systems • Short battery life
• Developed & Deployed in early • Large phone size
in 1980s • No security
• Generally known as Advanced • Limited number of
Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS) subscribers
• Analog Systems • No roaming between
• Only voice service 1G operators

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 2G Mobile Communication Systems
• 2nd Generation of Mobile Communication Systems
• Launched in early 1990s
• Popular system were:
– Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)
• Primarily developed in the Europe then
deployed worldwide
• Enabled Digital Systems
• Roaming between operators using same 2G system
• Support Short Message Service (SMS)
• Increased security with enabled voice encryption
• Low data rate service 9.6 – 14.4 kbps
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 3G and 3.5G Mobile Communication
Systems
• 3rd
generation technology deployed in mid 2000s by Japan’s NTT
DoCoMo and formed the basis of its Freedom of Multimedia
Access (FOMA) 3G Network.
• It uses Wideband CDMA (WCDMA): Wideband Code Division
Multiple Access
• WCDMA is the most commonly used variant of the Universal
Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).
• Wideband code division multiple access (CDMA) has emerged as
the mainstream air interface solution for the third-generation
networks. In Europe, Japan, Korea, and the United States,
wideband CDMA systems are currently being standardized.
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 3G and 3.5G Mobile Communication
Systems
• It offers greater security than 2G predecessors. By allowing the UE (User
Equipment) to authenticate the network it is attaching to, the user can be sure the
network is the intended one and not an impersonator.
• It allows multiple users to share a channel at the same time, thus, WCDMA is able
to artificially increase a signal's bandwidth, where WCDMA uses two 5 MHz
channels.
• WCDMA enables Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) carriers to
provide a higher data rate than the Enhanced Data GSM Evolution (EDGE)
network. Supporting both voice and data, WCDMA provides a modest speed
increase, and many GSM operators jumped to high speed packet access (HSPA) for
data.
• HSPA refers to two specific protocols used in tandem, high speed downlink packet access
(HSDPA) and high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA).

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 More about 3G Mobile Communication
Systems
Pros Cons
• Send/Receive large email messages • Expensive fees for 3G spectrum
• Improved web browsing experience (or high licenses fee)
• More security • It was expensive to build; new
infrastructure installation was
• Video conferencing
required
• 3D gaming
• High frequency bandwidth
• TV streaming requirement
• Mobile TV • Expensive 3G phones
• Live video streaming on mobile phone • Large cellphones relatively
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 4G Mobile Communication Systems
• 4G refers to 4th
generation of mobile communication systems
• There are two examples of 4G systems:
– Long Term Evolution of 3G (LTE) – widely deployed worldwide.
– WiMAX (developed by IEEE, and deployed in late 2009),
• WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It is a family
of wireless broadband communication standards based on the IEEE 802.16 set of
standards.
• WiMax handle a larger inter-operable network. WiMax can be used to provide
internet services such as mobile data and WiFi spots.
• WiMAX operates in between 10 and 66 GHz Line of Sight (LOS) at a range up to 50
km (30 miles) and 2 to 11GHz non Line-of-Sight (NLOS) typically up to 6 - 10 km (4
- 6 miles) for fixed customer premises equipment (CPE).
• It is still widely used for wireless Internet access especially outside the U.S.
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 4G Mobile Communication Systems
• Long Term Evolution (LTE) provides a data rate of 100 Mbps in downlink and 50
Mbps in uplink
• LTE can targets the data rate of 1Gbps
– Low data rate LTE is defined by:
• lower latency (the time it takes for data to travel in the network) and
increased bandwidth
• low power
• low complexity
• delay tolerant
• While HSPA in 3G is definitely good enough, however, the LTE networks(in their
current state) are 20-30% faster.
• All the services in LTE, including voice, are carried over IP packets
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 More about 4G Mobile Communication
Systems
Pros Cons
• Provides high data rate so • Battery drains quickly
multimedia services can be used. • More complicated in
• High quality of service (QoS) implementation
• High security • Need complicated hardware
• Provides any kind of service devices
anywhere any time as per user • Expensive equipment required to
requirements implement 4G
• Features included: more security,
high speed, high capacity so more
subscribers, and low cost per bit, etc.
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 5G Mobile Communication Systems
• 5G is the 5th generation mobile network.
• It is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G,
and 4G networks.
• 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed
to connect virtually everyone and everything
together including machines, objects, and devices.
• 5G networks expand broadband wireless services
beyond mobile internet to Internet of Things (IoT)
and critical communications segments with speed
up to X10 compared to 4G LTE.

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 5G Mobile Communication Systems
• It is not only the increase in bitrate that made 5G distinct from the 4G but
rather 5G is also advanced in terms of:
– High increased peak bit rate
– Larger data volume per unit area (i.e. high system spectral efficiency
that refers to the information rate that can be transmitted over a
given bandwidth in a specific communication system
– significantly faster than 4G, delivering up to 20 Gigabits-per-second
(Gbps) peak data rates and 100+ Megabits-per-second (Mbps) average
data rates
– Low latency = Increased bandwidth = Speed data to travel

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5G Mobile Communication Systems
– High capacity to allow more devices connectivity concurrently and
instantaneously
– Lower battery consumption
– Better connectivity irrespective of the geographic region, in which you
are located
– A larger number of supporting devices
– Lower cost of infrastructural development
– Higher reliability of the communication

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Evolution of Digital Mobile Standards

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End of Part II

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Part III: Wireless / Wi-Fi

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 3. Wireless / Wi-Fi
• Wi-Fi was created in 1999/2000 by the Wi-Fi Alliance
• It is a set of wireless local (limited range) area network (LAN)
protocols designed for short-distance connectivity
• Ranges between 2.4 GHz – 5 GHz
• Access to the Internet is most commonly done via a wireless router /
access point within a specific boundary
• Wi-Fi is managed based on the IEEE 802.11 technical standards

* IEEE : the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

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 What is IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN
802.11b
• 2.4-5 GHz unlicensed spectrum 802.11a
• up to 11 Mbps – 5-6 GHz range
• Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) in – up to 54 Mbps
physical layer to reduce overall signal
interference 802.11g
– all hosts use same chipping code. – 2.4-5 GHz range
– DSSS technology breaks down the – up to 54 Mbps
transmitted stream of data into small pieces
across a frequency channel.
802.11n: multiple antennae
– A redundant bit pattern (known as a chipping
– 2.4-5 GHz range
code) is generated for each bit transmitted.
– up to 200 Mbps
– Generally, the longer the chipping code, the
more likely it is that the original transmitted
data will be properly received. 42
 Characteristics of IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN
• All types use CSMA/CA for multiple access /
collision avoidance
• All types have base-station and ad-hoc network
versions
• Mobile ad hoc networks are self-configuring,
dynamic networks in which nodes are free to
move.
• These wireless networks lack the complexities of
infrastructure setup and administration, enabling
devices to create and join networks "on the fly"

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 802.11 LAN Architecture
• Wireless host communicates with base Internet
station
• base station = access point (AP)
• Basic Service Set (BSS) gives control & hub, switch
security to form an ad hoc self-contained or router
network with station-to-station traffic
flowing directly, receiving data transmitted BSS 1
by another station, and only filtering traffic
based on the MAC address of the receiver.
• There are two modes of wireless network: BSS 2
• infrastructure mode, this mode
consists of:
• wireless hosts
• access point (AP) or base station
• ad hoc mode: hosts only 44
 802.11: Channels & association
• The IEEE 802.11b standard defines 14 frequency channels.
• Governmental restrictions of frequency allocations in wireless networking
apply in certain countries. In North America for example, the Federal
Communications Commission and Industry Canada allow manufacturers and users to
use channels 1 through 11.
• Thus, 802.11b: 2.4GHz-2.484GHz spectrum divided into 11 channels at different
frequencies.
– AP admin chooses frequency for AP
– interference possible: channel can be same as that chosen by neighboring AP!
• host: must associate with an AP
– scans channels, listening for beacon frames (or information signal frames)
containing AP’s name (Service Set Identifier: SSID) and MAC address
– selects AP to associate with
– may perform authentication
– will typically run DHCP to get IP address in AP’s subnet 45
802.11: Channels, association

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 Association with passive/active scanning
• Association is the process to register wireless devices
with AP / Router and gain full access

• Association happens on infrastructure mode not an ad

hoc mode

• To establish the association process, there are two

methods: 1- active scanning and 2- passive scanning
 Association with passive/active scanning
BBS 1 BBS 1 BBS 2
BBS 2

1
1 1 2 2 AP 2
AP 1 AP 2 AP 1 3
2 3 4

H1 H1

Passive scanning Active scanning

1. Aps broadcast Beacon frames (or 1. Wireless device send a Probe Request frame
information signal frames) broadcast from H1
2. Association Request frame sent: H1 to 2. Probe Response frames sent from Aps include
selected AP SSIDs
3. Association Response frame sent from 3. Association Request frame sent: H1 to
selected AP to H1 selected AP
4. Association Response frame sent from
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selected AP to H1
Re-Association Method

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 Ethernet vs. Wi-Fi Netwroks
Media Access Method:
•Ethernet : CSMA/CD - Carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection
•Wi-Fi: CSMA/CA - Carrier-sense multiple access with collision avoidance
•Ethernet : use layer 2 switches
•Wi-Fi: use access points as a layer 2 bridges connecting between Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks

Ethernet Data frame:

•Preamble: tells the receiver that a frame is coming and where the frame starts
•Destination: holding recipient’s MAC address
•Source: holding sender’s MAC address
•Type: holding recipient’s basic type of data such as IPv4 or IPv6
•Data: frame payload such as IP packet
•FCS: Free check sequence is an error checking mechanism 12
 Ethernet vs. Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi Frame:
Wi-Fi has three types of frames:
1.Management frame: association, re-association, probe, beacon
2.Control frame: media access and data delivery
3.Data frame : carrying data
Wi-Fi Data Frame:
•Frame control: holding the protocol in use, type of frame, and type of security used
•Duration: tells how long the field’s transmission will take and telling other devices to
know when the channel is available again
•Address 1: Source / sender’s MAC address
•Address 2: transmitter address refers to AP’ MAC address
•Address 3: receiver address refers to AP’s MAC address * The Wi-Fi frame has a bigger MAC header than
•Sequence Controls: tells how a large packet is fragmented the Ethernet MAC header which means the Wi-Fi
traffic is not as efficient as Ethernet in terms of
•Address 4: destination/recipient’s MAC address speed and reliability.
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 802.11 Frame: Addressing - Extra
2 bytes 2 6 6 6 2 6 0 - 2312 4
frame address address address seq address
duration payload CRC
control 1 2 3 control 4

Address 1: Address 4: used only in ad hoc mode

(a) MAC address Address 3: MAC address
of wireless host of router interface to
to receive this frame which AP is attached
(b) MAC address
Address 2:
of wireless AP
(a) MAC address
to receive this frame
of wireless AP
transmitting this frame
(b) MAC address
of wireless host transmitting this frame
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 802.11 Frame: Addressing - Extra

Internet
H1 R1 router

R1 MAC addr H1 MAC addr

dest. address source address
Ethernet IEEE802.3 frame

AP MAC addr H1 MAC addr R1 MAC addr

address 1 address 2 address 3

Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 frame

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 802.11: Mobility within same subnet
• H1 detects weakening signal
from AP1, scan and find AP2 to
attach to
• H1 remains in same IP subnet
then IP address can remain same
• Switch: which AP is associated
with H1 ?
– Self-learning: switch will see
frame from H1 and
remember which interface
can be used to reach H1
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 Wireless Mesh Networks
• Wireless mesh networks are effective in sharing
internet connectivity because the more nodes
that are installed, the further the signal can
travel. And the more nodes you have, the
stronger and faster the internet connection
becomes for the user.
• Mesh Wi-Fi systems act like a traditional router-
and-range-extender setup to cover your home
with strong Wi-Fi signal.
• mesh Wi-Fi systems are typically two or more
routers placed throughout your home, and they
extend your Wi-Fi's signal to parts of your home
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that are too far from your main router.
 Wireless Mesh Networks
• Traditional router/extender setups usually broadcast their own unique networks,
and require you to manually switch your device connection between each
network. They also broadcast individual networks for the 2.4GHz band (slower
speeds, longer range) and 5GHz band (faster speeds, shorter range).
• but you typically need to manually connect your devices to the right network
that's best for where you are and what you're doing.
• Mesh systems fix this by broadcasting your Wi-Fi network under a single name,
including the satellite extender units and the different bands, and it acts like a
single network. That lets devices automatically switch between different mesh
units and bands automatically, depending on which one has the best signal
strength for where you are.
• For example, my smartphone is usually connected to the main mesh router
downstairs. When I move upstairs for the night, my phone will automatically
switch to the upstairs mesh satellite unit without me having to do anything. 56
End of Part III

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