Practical WiFi

PRACTICAL WIFI

Topics

A two and a half day programme for ICT managers and end users implementing, qualifying or specifying WIFI access systems.

Objective

* To review present and likely future 802.11 a, b and g WiFi radio systems, including data rates, coverage and capacity capabilities.
* To study how Public Hot Spot connectivity can be integrated with private network functionality.
* To qualify the practical implementation issues of adding WiFi to existing IT networks including access security and data security implications.
* To review related SIM/USIM based access control proposals and related UMA (Universal Mobile Access) work items.
* To study present user hardware form factors and functionality including PDA devices, lap tops and cellular/WiFi phones.
* To study present user software form factor and functionality including PDA based software, lap top based software and cellular/WiFi software.
* To validate present WiFi based IP voice/IP PABX product platforms and identify key performance considerations including range, capacity and mobility capabilities.
* To review present access point products and their hardware and software functionality (configuration capability).
* To case study a cross section of indoor WiFi installations to show how planning and installation good practice can save money and improve the end user experience.
* To case study a cross section of outdoor WiFi installations including point to point and point to multipoint and mesh network topologies.
* To review specialist WiFi applications including WiFi CCTV.
* To analyse how WiFi coexists with other access technologies including TETRA, existing and new second and third generation cellular systems, cordless systems (DECT in Europe and Asia) and personal access network technologies including Bluetooth and UWB (Ultra Wide Band) radio systems.

Scope

This programme is directly relevant to ICT managers responsible for wireless connectivity within major end user communities and to vendors requiring an external perspective of end user expectations. It has parallel relevance for engineers and product and market managers involved in defining future WiFi /cellular handset and network design policy and/or for managers and team leaders with responsibility for strategic technology planning. Typical delegate organisations include major corporates, local councils presently deploying WiFi systems into indoor and outdoor urban ('legible city') or rural (wireless broadband access) applications, specialist users ( fire, police, ambulance) and end users in the transport and logistics industry.

The companion programme, 'WiFi Workshop, covers common ground on Day 1 and Day 2 but analysed from a handset and network design perspective.

DAY 1

18.30 Registration and Welcome

19.00 - 21.00 Dinner

21.00 - 22.00
WiFi Market Dynamics

WiFi devices and WiFi standards, present and future addressable markets,application segments, cost and performance benchmarks over time, the role of the Hot Spot Operator (HSO), the HSO GUI (graphical user interface) and its impact on end user application profiles, plug in WiFi and related lap top and PDA form factors, present WiFi /cellular products and possible future functionality, SIM/USIM based WiFi and related UMA (Universal Mobile Access) work items, standards and regulatory issues and their future impact on end user applications.

DAY 2

08.00 - 09.00 Breakfast

09.00 - 10.30
WiFi Radio Performance

Data rates, coverage and capacity trade offs in WiFi systems, factors determining access point and user device sensitivity, the 'end to end' channel, source coding, data packet lengths, MAC address and MAC retry overheads, IP address and TCP/IP retry overheads, traffic shaping and mobility management overheads, UDP and packet loss, differentiating data rates and throughput rates, impact of address and traffic shaping/mobility management overheads on the 'link budget', impact of address and packet shaping/mobility management overheads on user device duty cycles, frame formats and channel coding, Barker codes, Complementary Code Keying, Packet Binary Convolutional Coding, spreading gain and coding gain, the OFDM multiplex, bandwidth gain versus processor overheads, typical practical performance trade offs

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee

11.00 - 12.30 Private Network/Public Network Access
Private network access and security control, mutual authentication procedures, transport layer security, tunnelled transport layer security, logins and passwords versus certificates, WEP, WPA and 802.1 AES security, key sizes, initialization vectors, differentiating authentication and encryption, AES stream encryption techniques, WEP and AES frame body overheads (Initialisation Vector and Integrity Check overheads), impact of security procedures on access delay, processor overhead and transmission and storage bandwidth, UMA work on roaming/handover between cellular and WiFi public and private networks, measurement and(make before break) handover procedures, authentication and security procedures, QOS policy transparency,the UMA network controller (UNC),signalling load and handover stability issues, key performance indices(KPI's) in access control, session success rates, dropped call rates, packet loss and packet delay, integration of KPI's and Service Level Agreements and Service Level Guarantees, role of the SIM and USIM in access control and QOS provisioning.

12.30 - 13.30 Lunch

13.30 - 15.00
WiFi User Hardware

Hardware form factor and functionality,PDA devices with plug in or integrated WiFi, lap top devices with plug in or integrated WiFi, cellular handsets with plug in or integrated WiFi, typical platform power and user duty cycles, sensitivity comparisons between plug in and integrated devices, application layer hardware comparisons, the CPU, DSP functionality, memory options, display capabilities (contrast, resolution, brightness, refresh rates), camera modules and related peripheral devices, USB and related connector technologies, read/write speeds and their impact on application performance, hardware evolution, adaptive frequency scaling and voltage scaling, watt per megabyte performance comparisons..

15.00 - 15.30 Tea

15.30 - 17.00 WiFi User Software
The communications protocol stack, how user hardware form factor determines software form factor, the WiFi cellular GUI (Graphical User Interface), 'best connect broadband' protocols and related billing/cost and access management issues, the applications processor and application layer KPI's (Key Performance Indices), power management and power down modes, power policy management, impact on application latency (delay) and delay variability, multi threading, multi tasking and task prioritisation, interrupt latency, context switching and inter process communication protocols, definition of 'real time' in operating system design, what 'real time' means from a user perspective, the 'cost' of real time processes.

19.00 - 21.00 Dinner

21.00 - 22.00 Special Interest Session
Delegates are encouraged to nominate topics of particular interest to be addressed in this session.

DAY 3

08.00 - 09.00 Breakfast

09.00 - 10.30
WiFi LAN Network Design

IP voice/IP PABX product platforms, integrating voice and data and device management in WiFi systems, 'new' WiFi functionality, handover, power control, pre- authentication, measurement reporting, resource management beacons, integration of WiFi and GSM MAHO (Mobile Assisted Handover) measurement protocols, mesh network and 'ad hoc' network protocols and related protocol scaling issues, Wireless Media Extensions, Extended Data Channel Access (EDCA), background/ best effort, video TXOP and voice TXOP (transmit opportunities), hybrid controlled channel access (HCCA), queue positions, access categories and service types, QOS and SLA specification implications of HCCA and EDCA functionality.

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee

11.00 - 12.30
WiFi Access Points

Review of present 802.11 a, b and g access point hardware and software, channel and band plans and their impact on system planning, configuration parameters, beacon intervals, RTS thresholds, fragmentation thesholds, DTM intervals, preamble types, data rates, retry limits, active scan timing and passive scan timing, timing intervals and frame structures, differences between 802.11 b and a and g and what this means for the end user experience, the transition from a contention 'MAC' (medium access control) to a connection oriented MAC, related impact on default values, typical access delays and related optimisation opportunities, typical throughput issues and related optimisation opportunities, setting security thresholds in WiFi, good practice guidelines on security and authentication policies, rogue access point detection and control, the use of coverage boundaries as an access security procedure.

12.30 - 13.30 Lunch

13.30 - 15.00

Practical Case Studies

This session case studies a number of 'real life' WiFi system deployments including corporate and specialist user indoor applications, urban outdoor 'legible city' applications(including WiFi CCTV),and 'rural reach' wireless broadband (including fixed point to point WiFi backhaul provision). The case studies identify good practice planning methods and work through the 'future proofing' needed to deliver robust single site or multi site wireless (WiFi ICT) systems.

15.00 - 15.30 Tea

15.30 - 17.00
WiFi Integration

A review of the potential integration of wide area, local area and personal area networks. Wide area technologies referenced include TETRA TEDS, cellular EDGE, HSDPA and wide area WiFi (802.16/802.20). Local area technologies addressed include DECT based voice and data systems. Personal area technologies include a comparison of WiFi 802.15 based options with existing Bluetooth product platforms together with an analysis of future Bluetooth capabilities including enhanced data rates(EDR) and radio layer flexibility (simultaneous voice, data and device control). The day finishes with an analysis of emerging Ultra Wide Band systems, in particular, the ability of Ultra Wide Band to provide broadband (several hundred megabit per second) access and sub centimetre positioning. We present a third party vendor independent perspective of how these technologies will change the corporate and specialist end user experience over the next 3 to 5 years and the related implications for users and ICT managers presently specifying system performance requirements.

17.00 Summary and Close