Final Chapter One
Final Chapter One
Final Chapter One
1|Page
Types of wireless network
There are different types of wireless networks based on the geographical span/coverage
1.Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN)
Wireless personal area networks are systems that connect two personal or short ranged devices
that are located very close together, usually in the same room.
They generally have a coverage area of less than 30 feet. The two technologies that are
predominant in this sector are: Bluetooth and Infrared (IR) wireless communication.
2.Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN)
Wireless local area network or WLAN connects two or more transceivers using a wireless
distribution technique like OFDM. The devices connected with a WLAN are rendered mobile
within the local area; say a home or small office covered under the WLAN network. The most
common WLAN is: Wi-Fi
3. Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN)
WMANs are a connection of multiple networks in a metropolitan area. Several smaller networks
existing within a metro are connected wirelessly rather than laying copper or fiber cables.
E.g. wirelessly connecting individual WLANS of a single firm’s various office buildings which
are spread across a city. Eg. WiMAX
WiMax is a wireless broadband system which can deliver data at more than 30 megabits per
second. WiMAX is a 4G wireless technology.
Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN)
WWANs are communication networks that have to be maintained over very large areas, such as
states or countries, sometimes using satellite systems or transmission towers generally taken care
of by a service provider. E.g. Cellular or mobile communication system.
Wireless Communications for Voice and Data
The development of wireless technology has greatly enhanced the power of data communications
and used for different applications such as law enforcement agencies, marine agencies, and
transportation companies which used for managing deployed resources.
It is also used in mobilizing the business user to enabling basic telephone service for people
in the most remote areas of the globe.
2|Page
Wireless technology has improved intra- and intercorporate communications, enabling more
cost-effective control of such business resources as deployed sales forces and technical
service personnel.
Wireless Techniques: A Strategy for Worldwide Voice Communications
Cellular Voice
In cellular voice the cellular radio is used as a means of supporting local telephone service. This
is used in many undeveloped countries there is little or no infrastructure to support telephone
services. For this reason, it is common in some parts of South America, Asia, Russia, and
Eastern Europe for a subscriber to wait as long as one year to get local telephone service.
Because of this situation, wireless subscriber penetration has grown at about 45% per year. As a
result, wireless local loop (WLL) systems are being installed around the world at an accelerated
rate to reduce the time to service.
3|Page
The users of the PBX phone system can communicate internally (within their company) and
externally (with the outside world), using different communication channels like Voice over IP,
ISDN or analog. A PBX also allows you to have more phones than physical phone lines (PTSN)
and allows free calls between users. Additionally, it provides features like transfer calls,
voicemail, call recording, interactive voice menus (IVRs) and call queues.
Time and technology, however, have changed the consumer telephony landscape, with the flag-
bearer being the Open-Standards-based IP PBX. The point of the “IP” in this new era is that the
phone calls are delivered using the Internet Protocol as the underlying transport technology.
PBX phone systems are available as hosted or virtual solutions and as on-premise solutions to be
run on your own hardware.
With a traditional PBX, you are typically constrained to a certain maximum number of outside
telephone lines (trunks) and to a certain maximum number of internal telephone devices or
extensions. Users of the PBX phone system (phones or extensions) share the outside lines for
making external phone calls.
Satellite Voice Services
Satellites are playing an increasing role in establishing still another layer of worldwide voice
communications. Two of the most widely heralded impending services are the Iridium and
Teledesic low earth orbital (LEO) systems. These systems will offer worldwide telephone
service through the use of a small handheld telephone similar to those now used for cellular
4|Page
systems. Iridium is owned by a consortium of international companies, one of which is Motorola,
Inc. Teledesic is owned by Microsoft Corp.
These satellite-based voice systems provide the capability to support both voice and data
communications in any remote area of the world
Wireless Considerations for a Data Communications Strategy
A variety of services are available to support wireless data communications. Wireless services
like Cellular Digital Packet Data, Enhanced Special Mobile Radio, Ardis Mobile Data, and RAM
Mobile Data support slightly different needs.
CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data) is a specification for supporting wireless access to the
Internet and other public packet-switched networks.
Cellular telephone and modem providers that offer CDPD support make it possible for mobile
users to get access to the Internet at up to 19.2 Kbps with 800 and 900MHZ of data transfer
range. Because CDPD is an open specification that adheres to the layered structure of the Open
Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, it has the ability to be extended in the future. CDPD
supports both the Internet Protocol and the ISO Connectionless Network Protocol (CLNP).
CDPD also supports IP multicast (one-to-many) service. It will also support the next level of IP,
IPv6. It includes assigning devices IP address and configuring for access to the cellular network.
Specialized Mobile Radio
It is two way radio systems in which two or more mobile wireless transceivers are linked by
single repeater. It operated at frequency of very high frequency (VHF) or ultra-high frequency
(UHF) with range of 30MHZ-3GHZ. The application of specialized mobile radio is a radio
dispatch for service fleets and taxicabs. SMR operators are assigned licenses for exclusive use of
assigned channels in a given area. Racotek is one provider of SMR wireless voice/data service
for a vehicle fleet management service that is based on SMR or trunk radios. A mobile radio
collocated in the vehicle with the mobile communications controller unit completes the
communications link. This system allows the dispatcher to send route information, messages, or
other information that cannot be sent over the radio to customers while they are en route to or
from a location. The range of the individual mobile transceiver is greater than the range of cell
phone sites.
5|Page
Commercial Mobile Data Communications Services
RAM Mobile Data
RAM Mobile Data is a joint venture between Bell South and RAM Broadcasting and provides a
two-way data communications service that is based on the Mobiltex network architecture. This
service is used by many companies for management of their field sales and service operations.
RAM Mobile Data provides mobile data communications service in 90 percent of the urban
business areas in the United States. Access speeds of up to 9.6K bps can be supported in all
areas; the common applications include e-mail and basic information access to the corporate data
center for mobile travelers. Some companies have greatly reduced their cellular telephone use by
deploying the lower-cost RAM mobile network to send e-mail and messages to corporate
personnel while traveling. A traveler equipped with a radio-enabled laptop or PDA can access
the nearest RAM base station. Other user companies, such as TransNet and MasterCard, use
RAM Mobile Data to provide access to their central hosts so that merchants in the field can
validate credit card purchases
Ardis Mobile Services. Ardis is a joint venture between IBM and Motorola and is composed of a
formerly private corporate network that supported deployed field sales forces and service
personnel. The network was originally designed by Motorola to support IBM’s 18,000 deployed
field service personnel. Access to the network ranges from 4.8K to 19.2K bps and can be reached
from within a building or from a moving vehicle. Laptops and PDAs equipped with an
Ardis/Modacom modem can be used to access company host computers to retrieve e-mail, enter
orders, access diagnostic information, or obtain product information. Salespeople equipped with
laptop computers can access product files to provide customers with product specifications as
well as check inventories, enter orders, and print on-the-spot order confirmations.
Satellite Data
Satellite systems are composed of a transmission device that is capable of receiving a signal from
a ground station. The signal is then amplified and rebroadcast to other earth stations capable of
receiving its signal. User signals neither originate or terminate on the satellite, although the
satellite does receive and act on signals from the earth that are used to control the satellite once it
6|Page
is in space. A satellite transmission originates at a single earth station and then passes through
the satellite and ends up at one or more earth stations.
A satellite communication system involves three basic elements: the space segment, the signal
element, and the ground segment. The space segment comprises the satellite and its launch
vehicle. The signal element comprises the frequency spectrum over which the satellite
communicates, and the ground segment comprises the earth station, antennae, multiplexer, and
access element.
Advantages of Satellite System
It is used for mobile and wireless communication applications independent of location.
It covers wide area of the earth hence entire country or region can be covered with just
one satellite.
It provides wider bandwidth based on SCPC or MCPC allocation types.
It co-exists with terrestrial microwave line of sight communication.
It is easy to install and manage the ground station sites.
It does not incur much of the costs per VSAT site.
It is used for voice, data, video and any other information transmission. Satellite system
can be interfaced with internet infrastructure to obtain internet service.
It is also used for GPS applications in various mobile devices for location determination.
It is easy to obtain service from one single provider and uniform service is available.
It has small fading margin on the order of about 3dB.
It is used in wide variety of applications which include weather forecasting, radio/TV
signal broadcasting, gathering intelligence in military, navigation of ships and aircrafts,
global mobile communication, connecting remote areas etc.
LEO and MEO satellite types have lower propagation delay and lower losses compare to
GEO satellite.
Wireless LANS
Wireless LANs are governed by the IEEE Wireless Local Area Networks Standard Working
Group Project 802.11. The 802.11 standard establishes the components and interface
requirements for a wireless LAN. The basic architecture established by the 802.11committee
organizes wireless LANS into basic service areas (BSAs) and access points (APs). Multiple
BSAs can be interconnected at the APs into an extended service area (ESA).
7|Page
The 802.11architecture defines two types of services and three different types of stations
The two types of 802.11 services are
1. Basic Services Set (BSS)
The basic services set contain stationary or mobile wireless stations and a central base station
called access point (AP).
2. Extend Service Set (ESS)
An extended service set is created by joining two or more basic service sets (BSS) having
access points (APs).
These extended networks are created by joining the access points of basic services sets
through a wired LAN known as distribution system.
IEEE 802.11 defines three types of stations on the basis of their mobility in wireless LAN. These
are:
1. No-transition .Mobility: These types of stations are either stationary i.e. immovable or move
only inside a BSS.
2. BSS-transition mobility: These types of stations can move from one BSS to another but the
movement is limited inside an ESS.
3. ESS-transition mobility: These types of stations can move from one ESS to another.
The protocols for this model are divided into two groups: the Media Access Control
specification and physical specifications (PHY). The IEEE divided the Physical layer into two
sub layers for wireless LANs.
The Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) sub layer receives data frames from the
MAC sub layer, and turns them into wireless frames that can be understood and transmitted by
the PMD sub layer.
It is sub layer provides carrier sense signal called clear channel assessment.
The role of this sub layer is to add preamble and physical header
8|Page
Preamble is used to the receiver timing is synchronize with timing of the sender and the physical
header contains the address and useful information about length of the frame and error correction
data.
The Physical Medium Dependent (PMD) sub layer defines the characteristics of the wireless
medium and the method used to transmit and receive data.
Handles the modulation and coding/decoding of signals
The Logical Link Control (LLC) sub layer deals with reliability and flow control.
The Media Access Control (MAC) sub layer deals with hardware addresses and methods of
access to the network.
There are different specifications for each radio frequency supported: 915 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and
5.2 GHz.
There are several different vendor approaches for supporting wireless LANs. For example,
Motorola’s Altair systems use the 18–19 GHz frequency range to support a microcellular
9|Page
approach. A series of intelligent antennae is used to establish microcells within the user's
building. These microcells are supported with low-powered, high-frequency radios designed to
support frequency reuse. This process results in a very efficient network.
Other manufacturers often use two basic components: the radio hub and the transceiver. In some
systems, a single hub can support up to 62 transceivers. The transceivers are attached to the
terminals and communicate with the hub using a line-of-sight arrangement.
Wireless LAN bridges are used to connect LANs in neighboring buildings. These devices
establish a point-to-point connection and may not be a complete system.
Infrared and laser technology can also be used to interconnect LANs in different buildings. This
technique places information on a beam of light and can support very wide bandwidth over a
short distance. In addition, this technology is immune to electric interference and is much more
secure than radio transmission. Although infrared and laser techniques do not require a Federal
Communications Commission license, users are responsible for any radio interference that
develops while they are operating in a densely occupied area. LCI (Lancaster PA) has been
developing laser systems for several years and has well over 750 mature systems installed.
Wireless Applications
Projections for wireless applications vary depending on the user and the interpretation of the
technology. There is no doubt that there will be a tremendous penetration in the basic telephone
service market. Wireless local loop access will allow more users in developing nations to enjoy
telephone service faster and at an affordable level. The continued decline in the cost of Personal
Computer Memory Card International Association cards for mobile radio will result in the
continued rise in the number of laptops and PDAs used for basic communications functions such
as E-Mail and information access, military, vehicle management etc.
Satellite and radio-based service will continue to support vehicle management and tracking.
Global positioning systems (GPS) will allow users to track vehicles and provision driver
information. Avis rental car agency is testing a system that tracks Avis cars and sends driver
information to fleets of specially equipped rental cars.
Other rental car agencies are using RAM Mobile Data to allow their service personnel to directly
process returned vehicles as they are driven onto the company ramps. Using a handheld data
10 | P a g e
entry terminal, the service person is able to enter the vehicle ID code and rental status. This
process allows the rental car location to more efficiently manage their available pool of cars.
High capacity load balancing: Each wired or wireless infrastructure must incorporate high
capacity load balancing.
High capacity load balancing means, when one access point is overloaded, the system will
actively shift users from one access point to another depending on the capacity which is
available.
Scalability: The growth in popularity of new wireless devices continuously increasing day by
day. The wireless networks have the ability to start small if necessary, but expand in terms of
coverage and capacity as needed - without having to overhaul or build an entirely new network.
11 | P a g e
Network management system: Now a day, wireless networks are much more complex and may
consist of hundreds or even thousands of access points, firewalls, switches, managed power and
various other components. The wireless networks have a smarter way of managing the entire
network from a centralized point.
Role based access control: Role based access control (RBAC) allows you to assign roles based
on what, who, where, when and how a user or device is trying to access your network. Once the
end user or role of the devices is defined, access control policies or rules can be enforced.
Mobile device management: Suppose, many mobile devices are accessing your wireless
network; now think about the thousands of applications are running on those mobile devices.
How do you plan on managing all of these devices and their applications, especially as devices
come and go from your business?
Mobile device management can provide control of how you will manage access to programs and
applications. Even you can remotely wipe the device if it is lost or stolen.
Roaming: You don't need to worry about dropped connections, slower speeds or any
disruption in service as you move throughout your office or even from building to building
wireless needs to be mobile first.
Roaming allows your end-users to successfully move from one access point to another
without ever noticing a dip in a performance.
For example, allowing a student to check their mail as they walk from one class to the next.
12 | P a g e
Switching: Basically, a network switch is the traffic cop of your wireless network which making
sure that everyone and every device gets to where they need to go.
Switching is an essential part of every fast, secure wireless network for several reasons:
It helps the traffic on your network flow more efficiently.
It minimizes unnecessary traffic.
It creates a better user experience by ensuring your traffic is going to the right places.
13 | P a g e
Use antivirus software, firewall, and encryption to protect all data and information
Issue and enforce timely updates of OS patches and virus definition files to every device
Continuously monitor, detect, block and log new threats or any malicious use of a device
Manage and maintain all configuration settings and security modules
Review firewall logs for intrusions
2. Controlling mobile access to enterprise resources
Register all mobile users on the enterprise directory servers
Authenticate all devices and mobile users prior to allowing access to enterprise
systems and resources
Apply, enforce and activate secure network protocols such as VPN, port management,
etc.
Ensure that all enterprise information is encrypted while in transit.
3. Enabling centralized enterprise IT management of all mobile devices
Deploy and enforce enterprise IT policies and mechanisms
Continuously monitor, manage and maintain (update) mobile devices
Perform comprehensive enterprise device and application lifecycle management
Provision devices centrally and manage all devices from a unified console
Manage and apply a common and streamlined set of IT policies for all mobile
users
Remotely control and assist mobile users
Clean devices of all sensitive information if lost or decommissioned
Power protection
Deals with the protection of electrical power systems from faults through the disconnection
of faulted parts from the rest of the electrical network.
A UPS is a device that sits between an A/C outlet (i.e. a wall outlet or power strip) and an
electronic device (such as a computer, server, or phone equipment) to prevent power
disturbances from affecting the performance and life of the electronic device and vital data.
14 | P a g e
Computer virus
Computer viruses remain the most common security threat, with 75 percent of small and
medium-sized businesses affected by at least one virus in the last year. Worms and viruses can
have a devastating effect on business continuity and profitability. Smarter, more destructive
viruses are spreading faster than ever, infecting entire offices in seconds. Cleaning the infected
computers takes much longer, and the process often results in lost orders, corrupted databases,
and angry customers.
As businesses struggle to update their computers with the latest operating systems and antivirus
software, new viruses can penetrate their defenses at any time. Meanwhile, employees spread
viruses and spyware by unwittingly accessing malicious Websites, downloading untrustworthy
material, or opening e-mail attachments. These attacks are unintentionally invited into the
organization, but can still cause significant financial losses.
Viruses can create minor damage or they can do severe destruction. Computer viruses can;
reduce memory space, damage disks, damage programs so that there are sudden failures or
increase the startup time and run time, erase files, and also corrupt the computer itself by slowing
the procedure down or changing the sequence of operations.
15 | P a g e
Backups have two distinct purposes.
The primary purpose is to recover data after its loss, be it by data deletion or corruption.
Data loss can be a common experience of computer users
The secondary purpose of backups is to recover data from an earlier time, according to a
user-defined data retention policy, typically configured within a backup application for
how long copies of data are required.
There are four most common backup methods
1. Full Backups
Full back up stores a copy of all files and typically occurs automatically according to a pre-set
schedule. Files are usually compressed to save space, however, even when compressed full
backups may consume a lot of storage. Additionally, full backups cause heavy access to the
backup disk, which shorten disk life and consume network bandwidth.
The advantage of full backups is the ease of restoration. Restoring a file requires only the file
name, location, and date from which to restore the data. Restoration is relatively straightforward
as long as the backup files from that date or time are available.
Although full backups are certainly comprehensive, they may be more robust than many
businesses require. It is important to consider that only a small percentage of files change from
one backup to another. Consequently, performing full backups will yield multiple identical
copies of files and consume valuable storage space on the backup medium.
2. Incremental Backups
Incremental backups save space by backing up only the files that have been created or changed
since the last backup. The advantage of incremental backups is that the volume of data is backed
up at each iteration is much smaller, which in turn saves space on the backup medium and uses
less network bandwidth.
However, incremental backups increase computing overhead, because each source file must be
compared with the last full back up as well as the incremental iterations to determine whether
data is new or changed. Additionally, it is more complex to locate a specific file to restore as it
may require searching several iterations.
16 | P a g e
3. Differential Backups
Differential backups are similar to incremental backups, except that each backup operation stores
the new and updated files since the last full backup. For example, if a full backup was performed
on Sunday and a file changed on Monday, that file will be part of every differential backup until
the next full backup is run.
Using differential backups simplifies recovery because only the last full backup and the last
differential backup is needed to create a complete restoration. As with incremental backups,
differential backups need to compare current and already-backed-up files to identify any
changes. However, differential backups require more space and network bandwidth compared
with incremental backups.
External drives
During the used, the data has to be copied onto some data storage medium.
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape data storage is a system for storing digital information on magnetic tape using
digital recording. Modern magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and
cassettes. The device that performs writing or reading of data is a tape drive. Autoloaders and
tape libraries automate cartridge handling.
Hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk, is an electromechanical data
storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital information using one or
more rigid rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material. The platters are paired
with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to
the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a random-access manner, meaning that individual blocks
of data can be stored or retrieved in any order and not only sequentially. HDDs are a type of non-
volatile storage, retaining stored data even when powered off.
The main advantages of hard disk storage are low access times, availability, capacity and ease of
use
Optical storage
Recordable CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs are commonly used with personal computers and
generally have low media unit costs. The use of an auto-changer or jukebox can make optical
17 | P a g e
discs a feasible option for larger-scale backup systems. Some optical storage systems allow for
cataloged data backups without human contact with the discs, allowing for longer data integrity.
SSD/Solid-state drive :also known as flash memory, thumb drives, USB flash
drives, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Secure Digital cards, etc., these devices are
relatively expensive for their low capacity in comparison to hard disk drives, but are very
convenient for backing up relatively low data volumes. A solid-state drive does not contain any
movable parts unlike its magnetic drive counterpart, making it less susceptible to physical
damage, and can have huge throughput in the order of 500Mbit/s to 6Gbit/s.
Remote backup service or cloud backup
As broadband Internet access becomes more widespread, remote backup services are gaining in
popularity. Backing up via the Internet to a remote location can protect against events such as
fires, floods, or earthquakes which could destroy locally stored backups.
Drawbacks to remote backup services are usually slower than local data storage devices, users
must trust a third party service provider to maintain the privacy and integrity of their data,
although confidentiality can be assured by encrypting the data before transmission to the backup
service with an encryption key known only to the user.
Data recovery centers
Data recovery is a process of salvaging (retrieving) inaccessible, lost, corrupted, damaged or
formatted data from secondary storage, removable media or files, when the data stored in
them cannot be accessed in a normal way.
Data recovery scenario involves an operating system failure, malfunction of a storage device,
logical failure of storage devices, accidental damage or deletion, etc.
Data transfers
Secure file transfer is data sharing via a secure, reliable delivery method. It is used to safeguard
proprietary and personal data in transit and at rest.
Physical security: lock and cases
Physical security describes security measures that are designed to deny unauthorized access to
facilities, equipment and resources and to protect personnel and property from damage or harm
(such as espionage, theft, or terrorist attacks). Physical security involves the use of multiple
layers of interdependent systems which include CCTV surveillance, security guards, protective
barriers, locks, access control protocols, and many other techniques.
18 | P a g e