As WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks) become increasingly common, it's becoming vital to be able to test them for proper performance and to optimize their operation. This book, written by a member of the IEEE committee that develops WLAN standards, is the first book addressing that need. It covers test equipment and methods for the RF (wireless) and physical layers of WLAN, protocols, the application layer, and manufacturing testing. The emphasis throughout is on underlying engineering principles along with modern metrics and methodologies, ensuring this book gives both a solid theoretical background along with field-proven techniques and applications.Much of the subject material is drawn from the author's own hands-on experience in the field, as an architect and engineer of WLAN test equipment, and a writer of standards for measuring WLAN equipment performance. A particularly engaging chapter deals with manufacturing test, describing some of the different manufacturing test setups and equipment. A concise introduction to deployment testing of "hotspots" and WLANs in enterprises is also provided. *Gives proven techniques for maximizing the coverage area and performance of wireless networks *Author's insider position on the IEEE committee developing standards for WLAN testing ensures timeliness and technical integrity of the material *Includes coverage of newer multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) wireless networks
Author(s): Tom Alexander
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 268
Front cover......Page 1
Optimizing and Testing WLANs......Page 4
Copyright page......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
1.1 IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks......Page 16
1.2 WLAN Standards Today......Page 18
1.3 Inside WLAN Devices......Page 28
1.4 The RF Layer......Page 34
2.1 Metrology: the Science of Measurement......Page 42
2.2 The Nomenclature of Measurement......Page 43
2.3 Measurement Quality Factors......Page 46
2.4 The WLAN Engineer's Toolbox......Page 48
2.5 Test Setups and Test Processes......Page 52
2.6 Repeatability......Page 63
3.1 Wired vs. Wireless......Page 70
3.2 Types of Environments......Page 71
3.3 Outdoor and Indoor OTA......Page 74
3.4 Chambered OTA Testing......Page 79
3.5 Conducted Test Setups......Page 84
3.6 Repeatability......Page 87
4.1 Types of PHY Layer Measurements......Page 90
4.2 Transmitter Tests......Page 92
4.3 Receiver Tests......Page 105
4.4 Electromagnetic Compatibility Testing......Page 109
4.5 System Performance Tests......Page 114
4.6 Getting the DUT to Respond......Page 120
5.1 An Introduction to Protocol Testing......Page 124
5.2 Conformance and Functional Testing......Page 126
5.3 Interoperability Testing......Page 132
5.4 Performance Testing......Page 136
5.5 Standardized Benchmark Testing......Page 148
6.1 System-level Measurements......Page 152
6.2 Application Traffic Mixes......Page 161
6.3 VoIP Testing......Page 165
6.4 Video and Multimedia......Page 173
6.5 Relevance and Repeatability......Page 177
7.1 The WLAN Manufacturing Flow......Page 180
7.2 Manufacturing Test Setups......Page 186
7.3 Radio Calibration......Page 190
7.4 Programming......Page 191
7.5 Functional and System Testing......Page 192
7.6 Failure Patterns......Page 194
8.1 Enterprise WLANs......Page 196
8.2 Hot-spots......Page 203
8.3 The Site Survey......Page 205
8.4 Propagation Analysis and Prediction......Page 211
8.5 Maintenance and Monitoring......Page 217
9.1 What is MIMO?......Page 222
9.2 The IEEE 802.11n PHY......Page 234
9.3 A New PLCP/MAC Layer......Page 240
9.4 The MIMO Testing Challenge......Page 246
9.5 Channel Emulation......Page 248
9.6 Testing 802.11n MIMO Devices......Page 252
A.1 FCC Part 15......Page 256
A.2 IEEE 802.11......Page 257
A.4 CTIA......Page 258
A.5 IETF BMWG......Page 259
Appendix B: Selected Bibliography......Page 260
D......Page 264
I......Page 265
P......Page 266
V......Page 267
W......Page 268
