Eventually, we went digital for everything and Ethernet over fiber essentially replaced the old broadband services. But those experiences working with analog modems paid off many years later as I ventured into wireless networks. All of a sudden, the work we used to do tuning the broadband system for proper signal and noise levels, as well as those basic skills with a spectrum analyzer, were relevant again.
These days, as many IT organizations begin to get their feet wet with wireless,
they are realizing that they need to enhance their analog RF technology skills
sets. Some are lucky enough to have one or two ham radio operators on staff,
and while there is a little retraining involved when moving to advanced
modulation schemes at gigahertz frequencies, these folks usually eat it up.
But what if you're not lucky enough to have someone with RF skills on staff?
Then it's time to go back to school. Many take the tried-and-true approach of
digging into manuals and reading books and whitepapers. For those of you who
have minimal RF experience, I enthusiastically recommend Carl J. Weisman's "The
Essential Guide to RF and Wireless" (Second Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2002).
Weisman explains RF technology with a humorous style written for people who
don't have engineering backgrounds.
I've found there is a glut of books on wireless networking these days, and most
of the authors are guilty of over-stretching, trying to cover all areas -- even
those where they don't have knowledge. Weisman doesn't try to do too much,
but what he does, he does quite well. He explains the fundamentals of RF circuit design, major RF components, antenna designs and the practical aspects of a variety of wireless networks.
For those of you who want to focus in more depth on wireless LAN technology,
give some thought to studying for certification as a CWNP (Certified Wireless
Network Professional). This is a new certification program developed by Planet3
Wireless. The program is similar in many respects to Cisco certification
programs, except that it is vendor neutral. The folks who put this program
together have many years of field experience installing and maintaining wireless LANs.
My staff at the Center for Emerging Network Technologies (CENT) at Syracuse
University has been evaluating the CWNP training materials, and we are quite
impressed by both the breadth and depth. In fact, we're planning to put some
graduate students through the training this summer. The program recently
received a bit of a visibility boost when it was endorsed by WLANA (Wireless
LAN Association), a nonprofit educational trade association dedicated to
advancing knowledge in the wireless LAN industry.
Of course, if you are really brave, you can do it the old-fashion way: Read white papers. Read manuals. Read the tutorials available through IEEE. Then get your hands on as much wireless gear as you can, set it all up and then try to break it. Download the evaluation copy of Airopeek from Wild Packets and learn the data and management frame formats. You might be surprised at how much
you can learn that way.
Check out some of the contents of Carl J. Weisman's "The Essential Guide to RF
and Wireless" online for free on Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0130354651/reader/1/002-1646102-4324018#reader-link
Check out the CWNP Web site.
http://www.cwne.com/index.html
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Send your comments on this column to Dave Molta at dmolta@nwc.com.
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