Ch9 - 9.03 - Configuring Wireless Network & & 9.04 - Other Wireless Technologies

Question 1

Fat wireless access point

Answer 1

A fat wireless access
point is a stand-alone access point that can be configured either on its own or
with a wireless controller. The fat access point connects to your switches so
that wireless clients can gain access to the network

Question 2

Thin wireless access point

Answer 2

A thin wireless access
point cannot be configured on its own as a stand-alone device. A thin access
point is configured by a wireless controller, which is now part of the Ethernet
switch. The benefit of using wireless controllers with thin access points over a
bunch of stand-alone access points is that you have more centralized
management of the wireless features and security because you can push the
configuration out from the wireless controller to the access points.

Question 3

Other popular wireless standards: Infrared

Answer 3

Infrared wireless is the type of wireless communication that is used by TV
remote controls and some computer peripherals. Infrared is typically a line-ofsight
technology, which means that the signal is lost if anything blocks the
pathway between the two devices. With infrared, the two devices need to be
within one meter of each other.

Infrared devices contain a transceiver that sends and receives light signals
as on-off patterns to create the data that travels at transfer rates up to 4 Mbps.
Because line of sight is required, you may need to use a radio frequency
solution such as Bluetooth if this becomes an issue.

Question 4

Other popular wireless standards: Bluetooth

Answer 4

Bluetooth is a radio frequency wireless technology that allows systems to
connect to peripherals over a distance of up to 10 meters away. Bluetooth is
more flexible than infrared because it will automatically connect to other
Bluetooth devices and does not depend on line of sight; therefore, Bluetooth
is often used where infrared was used in the past. This is a popular technology
used by handheld devices to connect to other networking components.

Bluetooth is less susceptible to interference because it uses frequencyhopping
spread spectrum (FHSS), which means that it can hop between any
of 79 frequencies in the 2.4-GHz range. Bluetooth hops between frequencies
1,600 times per second and provides a transfer rate of up to 1 Mbps (original
Bluetooth), with more current implementations reaching 50 Mbps.

Question 5

Near Field Communication (NFC)

Answer 5

Another type of wireless communication that is becoming more common
today is known as Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC is a mobile device
standard that allows you to bring the mobile devices within inches of one
another to transfer information. Some common uses of NFC are to transfer
data such as contacts, to pay for items in a store, or even to transfer Wi-Fi
configuration information.

Question 6

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

Answer 6

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that involves a small
device, such as an ID badge or maybe a piece of equipment, containing a chip
and an antenna within a tag that is used to send radio waves containing data.
The data goes to a reader that is connected to a computer that can be reached
with distances of several feet. The major advantage of RFID is that because it
uses radio waves, there is no requirement for line of sight.